Elisabeth's POV
I exhaled slowly, pressing my back against the rough stone wall. My eyelids fluttered shut as I tried to silence the chaos swirling in my mind. The whispers, the shocked gasps, the piercing stares that had followed me through the ballroom like hunting dogs. I couldn't remember exactly how I'd escaped to this secluded corner, only that my legs had carried me here in a desperate flight.
The weight of countless eyes had burned through me, each gaze a blade cutting deeper into my composure. The judgment, the fear, the accusations hanging thick in the air. My feet had moved without conscious thought, carrying me away from the suffocating atmosphere of the grand hall until I found myself here, struggling to find my breath.
But breathing felt impossible. Not when Rosalyn's image haunted every blink of my eyes.
