It's Clarissa, Amias's mother.
She stands framed in the doorway, the light from the corridor casting her in sharp relief against the abundant chaos of his room.
Amias has spent a lifetime viewing his mother with a lens of cynical hatred. She's the woman who betrayed their Alpha, destroyed their family's standing, and used her son as a bargaining chip for her own ambition. He remembers the pearl-gray dress suit, the tightly swept bun meant to project unearned prestige, the shiny smile she always wears.
But tonight, the smile is cracked.
For the first time in a long time, maybe for the first time since he was a small boy and the scandal broke, Amias doesn't see the ambitious schemer. He sees a frail, weak woman.
