Principal Valois could still hear the words spoken to her last night. Sleep had refused to come as she kept searching for a way out. It had been years since she chose to walk with the Patriarch, believing it would bring her peace, but peace never came. Instead, things had only grown worse.
The very person she had once tried to protect was now being turned into bait to satisfy the Patriarch's command. The more she thought about it, the more fear gripped her. She knew she had never been a good mother to Renn. He had grown up believing his mother was dead, only to later discover the painful truth. By then, resentment had already filled his heart. He hated her, and she understood why. Renn would never accept her as his mother, and she no longer blamed him.
