Chapter 28. Katherine’s Test

Alison’s POV

A cold gust swept through the room, rustling the drapes as I sat in the corner, staring at nothing. The disaster from the other day still fresh in my mind like a broken record. Their faces sneering, judging and burned into my memory. Even now, days later, I couldn’t escape the suffocating weight of it.

Katherine’s scathing voice had been the loudest of them all, piercing through me like a dagger. I should’ve been used to her disdain by now, but her words carried a venom that still stung. Her verdict lingered in the air: You’re not good enough. You’ll never be good enough.

I curled up tighter in the chair, pulling the blanket around me. How had things spiraled so far out of control?

A sharp knock at the door jolted me from my thoughts. I sat up, my pulse quickening. “Yes?”

The door creaked open, and a maid stepped inside, her expression carefully blank. “Good morning Miss Alison, Lady Katherine requests your presence in her quarters i