CHAPTER 0248

AUDREY'S POV

The air in the grand hall was stifling, the silence so heavy that I could hear the frantic beat of my own heart pounding in my chest. The marble floor beneath me was cold, but that coldness was nothing compared to the fear that slithered through every corner of my body.

I sat down on the bare floor, just like the rest of them. Around me, people huddled together in a tight circle, thei