Page 57 of A Fate Everlasting

Before I could respond, Verrine clapped her hands, coldness returning. “As I was saying,” she barked. “In lieu of the Archangel Committee being present to sign off on moving the Rift, the Archdemon Committee will be visiting to execute the order instead.”

At last Marcus spoke, clearing his throat before he said, “But Headmistress, that goes against the entire purpose ofhavingtwo High Councils! They exist to avoid bias. Of course they’d love to double their numbers.”

“Well,” Verrine’s smile widened. “Fate has a funny way of working things out.” A murmur of unease spread like wildfire. “But it isneverwrong. Until the council arrives, I implore you to resume classes as normal. And before you consider acting out, remember.” Her gaze swept the room, calculating. “You may very well upset your future leaders.”

The silence that followed was absolute. This wasn’t a warning anymore, it was a sentencing.

26

“Idon’t know what’s going on anymore,” Ruby said when the dorm door clicked shut. Her arms were still folded, her lips pursed, but the furrow in her brow told me she wanted to talk about it. “I’m still furious with you, but we need answers. Something’s up. There’s no way you did this to all of us.”

I loosed a breath, rubbing my temples. “I know.”

“I’m serious, Arabella. We need answers. Now.” She crossed the room, her voice urgent. “It’s clear that something deeper is going on here. The Crucible is obviously broken, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was being tampered with. If we can find evidence that this is true, we can present it to the High Council. Even the Archdaemons can’t fight against proof like that.”

“How can we possibly prove that the Crucible is broken?”

Ruby began to pace. “We find Verrine’s records. We prove that the dip happened unnaturally and overnight.”

I frowned. “And you expect me to just waltz in andgrab them?”

Ruby scoffed. “No. I expect us both to waltz in, find what we need, and get the fuckoutbefore she knows we were even there.”

I stared at her. She was serious. “Ruby, that’s insane.”

“It’s necessary.” She did not blink. “Unless you want to just wait until they drag us to the Rift?”

I clenched my jaw as I reached for my school sweater. I hated that she was right. I hated that we had no other choice. “If we get caught, this wasyouridea.”

Ruby broke a smile. “Naturally.”

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as we wove through the darkened corridors, avoiding pools of lantern light spilling from the sconces. Every flicker of a shadow felt like a watchful eye, and every creak of the floorboards made my breath hitch. Ruby had sent a quick message to Dorian, who confirmed Verrine was in the astronomy tower for the next hour.

This was reckless.Insane.I should have stayed in the dorms, but I was already slipping through the heavy wooden doors of Verrine’s office behind the Crucible, closing them softly behind me. Inside, moonlight striped the parquet floor and the Crucible machinery thrummed behind the wall.

Ruby didn’t hesitate. She went straight for the desk, rifling through drawers, skimming parchments. I moved toward the bookshelves, scanning for anything out of place. Minutes passed. Too many. Nothing.

I clenched my fists, sweat pooling in my palms. “There’s nothing here,” I whispered, voice quavering. Every second that passed without evidence was a second closer to defeat. What if we were wrong? Worse, what if the slate showed thiswasmy fault?

Ruby paused, her hands faltering. “Maybe we were wrong.”

I turned toward the case, heart sinking. What if the system wasn’t rigged? What if we were just failing? “No,” I said. “We’reonto something. Ifeelit.” But even as I said it, doubt sunk in my stomach like lead.

Ruby’s head snapped to the desk, to the drawers inside it. “The archives,” she whispered. Her hands moved fast, working at the lock with a pin she pulled from her hair. “Keep watch. I need to focus.”

I nodded, scanning. The room was too clean, like it had been scrubbed of every single one of Verrine’s perfectly kept secrets. My hands grazed the polished wood of Verrine’s desk, drumming away the tension. I held my breath as she clicked the lock.

Ruby moved quickly, prying open a drawer with careful hands, her fingers skimming over a set of tablet-sized slates stacked neatly inside. We’d actually done it.

“Ah ha! This is what we need. Verrine’s administrative access,” she whispered, reaching for a thicker slate at the back. “This slate can access everything. The ether scores for both years, the rankings, the Rift’s experience logs from years prior, students vying for enrolment?—”

I grabbed it before she could finish, but the screen stayed dark. I tapped it. Once. Twice. Nothing. “Dead?” I hissed.

“No,” Ruby muttered, snatching another and pressing her palm against the corner sensor. The slate buzzed. “It’s bio-linked. Try the side instead. Quickly.”

I did as she said. The screen flickered to life. Everything inside me stilled.I was in.

I scrolled, blood thumping, not sure what I was looking for. But it became clear almost instantly. The ether log wasn’t just incorrect. It had been edited. The changes were there, written in crisp, glaring text.

---