All Chapters of Mate Rebound : Chapter 261 - Chapter 263

Elara's POV~The weeks dragged on, but the Academy woke up. The halls were noisy, students moving to and fro between classes, healers gliding across the courtyards, teachers’ voices in their classrooms. The silence made heavy by everything that had happened since the baby died started to be lifted, even if only a little.But it didn’t matter how much I lived; the shadow of what had happened never left me. People still whispered. They whispered about Lyra. About me. Of the choice that the elders had made. Some pitied me. Some judged me. I figured out later how to walk past them with my head held up, but every word reached me inside, and they cut deeper than I wanted to admit.The morning of my graduation, I stared at myself in the mirror, Academy robes draped across me. The fabric was heavy across my shoulders, and the color deep, rich. I ran my hands over the front and looked at it. My face appeared pale, but I could see the truth in my eyes. I was tired. I was older on the inside th