Elena’s POV
“I didn’t do anything! I swear. Please, listen to me!”
My voice echoed off the tall marble walls of the palace hall as the guards seized my arms and began dragging me forward. Their faces remained stony, unaffected by my pleas. One of them, taller and broader than the rest, tightened his grip when I tried to dig my heels into the floor.
“You’ve got the wrong person!” I insisted, breath coming in shallow bursts as panic clawed at my throat. “I want to speak to Prince Giovanni! Please, let me speak to him!”
No one listened. Not the courtiers who passed with startled glances, nor the servants who lowered their eyes, clearly instructed to stay silent. I was alone. Utterly, terrifyingly alone.
The palace I had once seen as a symbol of opportunity now twisted before my eyes into
