Chapter 170: Ever after

Zara’s POV

Today, we were leaving.

Below me, students hurried back and forth in pressed uniforms, their shoes clicking on the cobblestones. Laughter echoed from the courtyard. Somewhere near the east wing, someone was already taking pictures, the sharp clicks of cameras punctuating the air.

I blinked, almost in disbelief. It’s real. This is it.

It felt impossible that the semesters had gone by so quickly. I remembered the first time I walked through these very gates, small and tensed, clutching my bag as if it were a shield.

A knock came at the door again, snapping me from my thoughts.

“Zara, are you ready or do I have to drag you out?” Alex’s voice rang sharp as ever, but softer beneath it was the tremor of excitement.

I smiled. “Two minutes.”

“Make it one,” she shot back.

I took one last look at the room that had been mine for years. The bed I’d cried in. The desk covered with old notes and textbooks. The window where I had stared out countless nights, wishing to be anywhere but here. Now, I wasn’t ready to let it go.

When I stepped out into the hall, Alex was waiting in her pale lavender dress, fitted at the waist and flowing at the skirt. Her hair was swept up, her smile uncharacteristically bright.

“You look like you actually enjoyed being here,” she teased, giving me a once-over.

I glanced down at myself. I’d chosen a soft silver dress — simple but graceful, the color shifting faintly when the light hit it, almost like scales.

“Maybe I did,” I admitted.

She looped her arm through mine. “Come on, before Zarek eats all the breakfast.”

.

The Great Hall looked different today. The long tables were cleared of books and papers, instead dressed with white tablecloths, polished cutlery, and vases of fresh wildflowers. The smell of roasted potatoes, buttered rolls, and herbs filled the air. For once, the Hall wasn’t a place of whispered gossip or tense assemblies. It felt like celebration.

Zarek was already there, slouched at one of the tables in a dark suit that somehow managed to look both sharp and careless. He had a plate stacked ridiculously high with eggs and sausages.

“You’re late,” he said through a mouthful of food. “I was about to start without you.”

“You already did,” I said, sliding into the seat across from him.

He grinned, unbothered. “Fair point.”

Alex rolled her eyes but sat beside me, reaching for a glass of orange juice.

“Where’s Jace?” I asked, scanning the room.

“Talking to the headmaster,” Zarek said. “Probably getting one last lecture about responsibility.”

As if on cue, Jace appeared in the doorway, dressed in a crisp black suit that looked like it was made for him. He caught my eye immediately, his lips tugging into that easy smile I had grown far too accustomed to.

“Finally,” he said, taking the empty seat beside me. “Thought I’d missed breakfast.”

“You wish,” Zarek muttered, guarding his plate like treasure.

For a while, it was just us — eating, laughing, and reminiscing.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Alex said softly, fiddling with her glass. “Feels like yesterday we were sneaking out on curfews.”

“You were sneaking,” Zarek corrected. “I was smart enough to stay in bed.”

“You mean lazy,” she shot back, smirking.

Their bickering felt so normal, so us, that I found myself smiling. Even now, with everything we had survived, some things never changed.

.

The last photos was taken. tudents posed in groups, arms slung around shoulders, laughing even as tears brimmed in their eyes. Teachers lined up with their graduating classes. Parents pressed flowers into hands, snapping pictures at every turn.

“Come here,” Alex said, pulling me and Jace into a photo. Zarek, reluctantly, stepped in at the last second. The camera flashed, freezing us together — four figures bound by years of chaos and friendship.

“Frame that one,” Zarek muttered. “Proof I tolerated you all.”

“Tolerated?” Alex scoffed. “You’d be lost without us.”

Jace chuckled under his breath. I just shook my head, because we all knew the truth: we were bound, in ways deeper than tolerance, deeper even than choice.

.

As the sun began to dip low, painting the courtyard in gold, people slowly drifted away. Some left with their families, others lingered in small groups, reluctant to say goodbye.

I found myself wandering the grounds one last time. The training fields, where I’d spilled blood and sweat. The library, where I’d hidden in corners, desperate to find answers. The forest edge, where I had once feared the shadows — and later, claimed them as my own.

When I reached the gates, the others were waiting.

Jace with his steady presence at my side. Alex with her arms crossed, trying to mask the emotion in her eyes. Zarek, hands in his pockets, smirk still in place — though for a moment, I thought I saw something softer beneath it.

Beside him stood a girl I didn’t recognize, laughing at something he’d said. She touched his arm casually, like they’d known each other for months.

For a heartbeat, I wondered if she was his girlfriend. But the thought slipped away as quickly as it came. Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn’t. Either way, it wasn’t my story to tell.

I looked back at the Academy one last time. At the towering gates, the halls, the place that had broken me and rebuilt me all at once.

Jace nudged me, his voice low enough only I could hear. “You’re thinking too much again.”

“Am I not allowed to think?” I whispered back.

“Not tonight.” He leaned closer, his lips brushing my temple. “Tonight you’re mine.”

The bond between us pulsed, hot and sure, and I let myself lean into him, smiling despite the flutter in my chest.

Because he was right.

“Ready?” Jace asked quietly.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’m ready.”

And so we left — together. Jace’s hand in mine, Alex’s laughter trailing behind us, Zarek’s smirk never fading. The Academy shrinking behind us with every step, until it was only a memory.

The chapter of our teenage years, finally closed.

But the story? The story was only just beginning.

THE END.

Author note💌

To everyone who read this story, whether you followed from the beginning, joined halfway, or just stumbled across it — thank you. This book was more than just chapters and words for me; it was a journey of self-discovery, of learning to write through fear, a different genre, and of watching these characters grow with me.

I know we live in a world full of stories, and the fact that you chose to spend time with mine means everything. To every single reader who clicked, added, or commented, you gave me the courage to finish.

This might not be the most popular book out there, but it will always be special to me — because it’s proof that even the cursed can find their light, that broken people can heal, and that every ending is really the start of something new.

So, from the bottom of my heart: thank you for walking through Blackwood Academy with Zara, Jace, Alex, and Zarek. Their story has ended — but maybe one day, we’ll meet them again.