Chapter 52. Condemned by Falsehood

Anastasia's POV

"What's going on here?" Henrik questions behind Raven, his deep, firm voice tinged with concern and suspicion.

There's a circle of people around me, all staring at me with disdain and disbelief. Eyes like daggers pierce through me, and the weight of judgment hangs on my shoulders like a leaden armor. Whispered conversations, full of insinuation and venom, echo in my mind, amplifying the deafening silence that settles between us. My racing heart pounds against my ribs with an almost painful force. It feels like at any moment it could burst, spilling my anxiety and panic onto the polished marble floor. The hall, vast and reverberating, seems to shrink around me, the walls closing in like a suffocating embrace.

What am I going to do now? How will I reverse all of this?

The ballroom, with its enormous chandeliers casting a diffuse glow of colored lights, tints the air with a spectrum of colors that seem to mock my situatio