Page 86 of A Fate Everlasting

“Isn’t it wonderful,” the man with black eyes rasped, his voice curling through the low hum of the Crossed Keys. “Now that the Archangels are gone, we canreallymake ourselves at home.”

Suddenly, the pub felt fuller, the air brimming with something I hadn’t noticed before, something that had been waiting. I turned my head slightly. A man at the far end of the bar laughed, tilting his glass back, ale sloshing over the rim.

A woman with a jagged-toothed grin leaned against a pillar, tapping her nails against the wood. Around the fire, a group gathered, though I couldn’t see their faces, their voices lilting in a language I didn’t understand. It was an ancient tongue, maybe Latin. A dozen, no…two dozenpairs of eyes flickered toward me.

The pub carried on as normal. The bartender with the thick mustache cleaned his glass, the servers weaved between tables, the mortals went on laughing, drinking, talking—oblivious.They were completely oblivious.

Dorian went still beside me. I felt him tense, felt the moment he realized, the moment he understood. I grabbed his wrist. Hard. It clicked all at once. We hadn’t escaped, not really.

“This is bad, Dorian. I don’t think we can leave Evermore.” I shoved back from the table. “Not like this.”

“Davenant.” His voice dropped an octave. “What are you saying?”

“Look around us,” I hissed. “Don’t you see? All of this is bleeding into the Common World too. We’ll never be safe. No one willeverbe safe unless we fix this and free the Archangels. Running is not the answer.”

He pressed his lips into a thin white line, his hands makingtight fists that he clenched and unclenched as he scanned the room. Finally, he nodded, a grim expression settling into his features as he stood.

The man at the bar tilted his head, still smiling. “Leaving so soon?”

I turned, the woman leaning against the pillar blocking my exit. She grinned, all teeth. “Stay.” Behind her, a dozen more shadows moved.

“No, thank you,” I snapped, trying to keep my voice firm. “We have to go back.”

I didn’t look at Dorian. I couldn’t. I remained fixed on the doorway, on the shifting figures just beyond it, the Daemons who no longer needed to hide. The world was already slipping, the veil between realms thinning with every breath. If we ran now, we’d only be delaying the inevitable.

I let out a long exhale as we stood outside the pub, rain spitting from the heavy clouds above. Dorian tilted his head down the street, toward the figures watching us from the alley. He could see it, too. There was no escape.

With Dante in charge, the gates to Elsewhere had been fractured and the boundaries between worlds were growing thinner.

“Surely there’s an island somewhere,” Dorian wasn’t looking at me. “Somewhere we can be free from all of this.”

“Dorian.” I lowered my voice. We both knew it was a ridiculous suggestion. There was no hiding from this, no pretending it wasn’t real.

He looked back to me. “It doesn’t have to be you.” He spoke the words so quietly, I almost didn’t catch them. Then, “Does it?”

“It does,” I nodded bitterly. “I have to play into Dante’s hand,” I said, forcing the words through my teeth. “I’m the only one that can. I think that’s the only way.”

“I could—” Dorian’s expression twisted, his lips parting like he was about to argue, but I didn’t give him the chance.

“No,” I shook my head. “The High King needs me for something, which means Dante does too. I just have to let him think I’ve given in, that I’ve surrendered to whatever plan they have for me.”Falling.I forced my shoulders back, steadying myself. “Then I can take the deck. Once we get the cards, you’ll find Godwin. He’ll know how to release the Archangels.”Maybe.

Dorian’s nostrils flared. His hands flexed like he wanted to hit something, like he wanted to grab me and shake sense into me. “You trust my father?”

I nodded. This was the only way. Dorian’s jaw tensed. “You shouldn’t have to be the one to do this.” He didn’t reach for me, but his eyes did, like if I gave him a single sign, he’d stop me.

I didn’t.

“So, I find Godwin,” Dorian said at last.

“And I get the cards,” I agreed, voice steady despite the storm rising in my chest. I searched his expression. His eyes burned into mine, a violet storm so otherworldly.

Then, grimly, he nodded. “Let’s end this.”

The gates groaned open, the sound low and hollow, echoing into the night. Evermore did not resist me. It welcomed me back like I had never left. The outer sentries were recalled. Dante must have ordered the perimeter cleared for something.

I slipped through the entrance, my heart thundering. A chill skittered over my skin as the gates groaned shut behind me. Darkness coiled at the edges of the path, pressing against the corridors. I didn’t care to inspect it closer.

Tension locked in my chest.The Arcana Deck. That was all that mattered now.

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