Page 34 of A Fate Everlasting

My eyes caught on the House of Thrones opposite me, Dante’s house. I couldn’t spot him in the crowd.

“The entrance to Elsewhere has been breached,” Verrine spoke. Her hooked nose was upturned as she surveyed us down the beak of it. The words sent a shudder through the chapel. Behind me, someone let out a breath. “As you know, Evermore was built to protect the two ancient pathways that connect the Common World to the afterlives. One to the After, one to Elsewhere. We have sealed the breach, but the damage is done. A student is missing, and so is something very valuable. The Arcana Deck.” Verrine’s voice echoed off the chapel walls. “If you have any information, I urge you to step forward.Now.”

“Step forward,” the Thread echoed, urging me to stand. I could tell them. I could stand up, walk to the front, and confess everything.How I’d taken the cards, how Dante had set me up, how I hadn’t known what I was getting into. They had no choice but to expel me. My fingers curled into my skirt.Do it. Just say it.

“Please,” Verrine continued. “Don’t be afraid. We need information. If you have any idea who might have done this, please stand. Evermore has a zero tolerance policy. The culpable student will face expulsion. This means we will holdanimmediategraduation based on their present score. The Rift will decide their ultimate fate.”

What?That couldn’t be right. Had he always meant to vanish? Did he plan this the whole time? No. No—he couldn’t have. But deep down, I knew he had.

I thought that expulsion meant I would be kicked out of Evermore, let go, allowed to return home. Graduation was different. If I understood correctly, I’d have to face the thing they called the Rift. With a score like mine, where it currently sat and drifting ever lower…

I shuddered. I didn’t want to graduate. I didn’t want to be sent toeitherof the afterlives. I couldn’t confess, not now. It wasn’t fair. He knew I was desperate, and he used that.

Verrine’s eyes drifted toward me. I went still. A slow panic wrapped around me, squeezing the air from my lungs. I clenched my fists, forcing my breathing to stay even, my expression blank. I exhaled, swallowing down the confession that had nearly clawed its way up my throat.

This was deliberate. Dante had used me as a pawn, leveraged my desperation and ignorance, to make his escape.And I let him.

Maybe if I told her it was Dante, she’d let me go. I gritted my teeth and forced my hands to relax. I wasn’t gambling my life on the hope that Verrine would be merciful. Not yet.

Further down the pew, Ruby chewed on her lip, watching the Crucible flicker again. “Who do you think did it?” she whispered, craning her neck.

I forced my shoulders into a shrug. “No clue.” The lie tasted bitter on my tongue.

Ruby shifted uneasily. “I just…can’t imagine anything worse than this. Graduating alone? And after stealing something so powerful? It’s atruedeath sentence.”

“Might not be,” I whispered back as Verrine continued speaking. “What if it was an accident?”

“No way,” Ruby shook her head. “This is bad. And whoever is missing… they breached Elsewhere. You can’t just do that, you know? Only the dead can enter the afterlives.”

The words sent a cold shudder down my spine. I pressed my nails into my palms. I froze. If he was gone, really gone, then what did that make him?

“Only the dead?” I swallowed. Dante wasn’t dead, was he? He was in Lower Sixth, he hadn’t graduated. Hadn’t even been marked.

And yet, he was gone. Ruby tilted her head. “It had to be an Upper Sixth,” she concluded. “That makes more sense, doesn’t it? Someone marked. Someone powerful. No way someone in our year pulled this off.”

I nodded, keeping my head forward. If I agreed too quickly, she’d notice. If I hesitated, she’d notice. The last thing I needed was Ruby digging too deep. She sighed, pressing her hands together.

“Saints, can you imagine?” Lilibeth murmured. “One second you’re here, the next…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “You’re just gone. Like you never existed.”

Gone.I swallowed hard. I should have known better.

The next hour was a nightmare of strangled hymns and Godwin’s monotone sermon about integrity. I didn’t hear a word of it. The whole time, my thoughts twisted as I watched dark ribbons spiral through the belly of the Crucible. Judgement was coming for me, whether I confessed or not. I could feel it.

I didn’t know how I was going to survive inanysense of the word.

15

Iwas almost free. The crowd shifted, students peeling off toward the dining hall. If I could just?—

A hand clamped around my wrist. I froze.Dorian.His grip was tight, burning not from heat, but from another feeling, one that made my thoughts blur. He pulled me behind a stone pillar, eyes blazing, his lips set in a firm line. I braced myself as he hissed, “Do you have a death wish?”

His breath ghosted across my cheek, his lip curling just for a heartbeat like he enjoyed being the one to catch me.

“What?” I lifted my chin.He knew.“Are you going to tell on me?”

His expression barely shifted. Then, slowly, he let out a bitter laugh. “You stole my cards, Davenant.”

“They weren’t your cards.” I didn’t flinch. I wanted to, but not because I was afraid, from the way his voice dropped when he said my name. I forced the rhythm of my chest to even, all too aware of his fingers, ice-cold, against my skin. “They were in the Hall of Artifacts.”

---