Page 56 of A Fate Everlasting

Esmerelda’s mouth opened, probably to protest, but Verrine silenced her with a single cutting glance. A hush blanketed the room once more. She scanned the crowd, reading the alarmed expressions like a bird of prey. I locked eyes with Dorian again, and too quickly he looked away.

Verrine continued. “You deserve the truth,” she saidsmoothly. “We cannot promise that the Rift will not move forward. The Rift is law. The Rift is order. The Rift is your ultimate fate.”

The panic that had been held at bay exploded. Chatter erupted, students rising from their pews.

“This is bullshit!” Oliver Vance from House Seraphim sprang up. “My ether sat at 1,200! Now it’s -41. How is that fate?” His slicked-back hair gleamed beneath the chandeliers, making his waxen face look even paler. “Now I’m set to become some wandering wraith in Elsewhere for eternity? Or worse, actually die?”

Verrine’s smile thinned. “Perhaps you’ll consider Elsewhere’s officer-training corps, Mr Vance.”

“This isn’t fair!” Lilibeth squeaked, rising.

Murmurs turned to shouting. Fear twisted into something wild and uncontrolled as it circled the room. For Verrine, that would not do. She clicked her tongue, then raised a single hand. The weight of her authority simmered the noise. “Now, now,” she said in that mockingly patient tone of hers. “Evermore has and always will be a middle ground. A bridge between realms. Some of you feel entitled to the After because your parents or ancestors reside there.” Her cold stare swept the room, daring anyone to speak. “But I urge you to reconsider your perspective.”

A slate that had evaded confiscation pinged from somewhere in the gallery, the single note slicing the hush before dying away. A candle guttered overhead, like the entire hall seemed to inhale at once.

“Reconsider how?” Lilibeth murmured to herself, her hands steepled in prayer.

“There is no need to fear,” Verrine murmured, voice too saccharine. “Elsewhere is not a prison. It is a bridge, it is an opportunity. It contains the finest institutionsand the most desirable militaristic positions. The powerful do not just Ascend, my dear students. They make the best of the path their fate has carved out for them.” She narrowed her eyes on mine. “Whichever direction it flows.”

This was a sales pitch. She was giving us a sales pitch for daemonhood. She wanted us to see Elsewhere as an honor. It was almost convincing. Almost. That was what scared me most, that some part of me wanted to believe that becoming a Daemon wouldn’t be so bad.

“You’re kidding,” I hissed. “She can’t expect us to believe that. Can you imagine her living in Elsewhere?”

Lilibeth stroked the ends of her long braids nervously. “But she’s a Daemon, Arabella.”

My breath stilled. “What?” The chapel floor might have lurched beneath me. Suddenly all the strangeness I’d sensed in Verrine snapped into focus like a painting turned right-side up.

“Not widely known,” Lilibeth whispered. “But Verrine is a High Daemon of the Nephilim stratum. A Headmistress is supposed to be neutral, but between you and me…” Lilibeth’s lips curled. “She’s anything but. You’d think she makeseffingcommission.” I’d never heard Lilibeth swear, or come close to it.

I had assumed Verrine’s power began and ended with Evermore. That she was simply a headmistress, a gatekeeper between realms. I was wrong. I studied Godwin. His usual warmth was gone, his features taut. An Angel married to a Daemon.

Verrine’s speech continued. “Some of you will be chosen to lead. Not just survive, butrise. The Archdemon Committee offers more than judgment. They offer scholarships. Patronage. Power. And a select few of you will be invited to join the council’s junior cohort, if you prove yourselves worthy.” She smiled thinly. “Something to consider, in the wake of all of this.”

“How does an Angel fall in love with a High Daemon?” Ihissed, making no effort to hide my horror as I watched Verrine. It was like seeing her with new eyes, unmasked. It all made perfect sense.

Lilibeth smirked. “Who said anything about love?”

A chill crawled over my skin.

“And Godwin?” I pushed.

“Look at him,” Lilibeth murmured. “He hates this. It’s tearing him apart. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes the Fall himself by the end of the year.”

I stiffened. “That’s possible?”

“An Angel can always Fall,” she whispered. “But once Fallen, you canneverAscend. The only way is down.”

“I once believed in the After too,” Verrine’s voice carried. For a moment, her voice trembled, emotion peeking through the cracks. “But belief is a luxury, and Evermore is not a place for luxuries. It is a place for action.”

“And Verrine?” I whispered, my eyes still fixed on her speech. “She’d allow that, allow a teacher to become…what, a Fallen Angel?”

“She would want nothing more.” Lilibeth leaned in. “Between you and me, she has an obsession with them, Fallen Angels.”

“Why?”

“You tell me. Come on. Haven’t you noticed the focus on it in our curriculum, this year?” Lilibeth made a face. “It’s a taboo. It’s suspect.”

A ripple of ice slid down my spine. I hadn’t.

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