Archer's POV 

The commotion in the hallway drew everyone's alarmed attention from the dinner table. Shouts echoed, then Keegan appeared supporting mother's distressingly still form. Dark blood stained her robes and face.

"What has happened?" Father demanded, rushing over with the others. But none needed ask as the gruesome truth became painfully clear. Mother had taken her own life, reasons unknown. An icy void opened within me. I know why. 

She chooses this for herself.

In the chaotic hours that followed, I retreated numbly to the solitude of the grounds, tormented by guilt and questions. What had driven the proud Alpha female to such an extreme end? She had appeared...