Chapter 942
He turned it slightly, and sure enough, all twelve wives were there, frozen in miniature, standing around him.
Ashra nodded. "It’s begun."
Jude placed the stone down. "Then we meet it on our terms."
They set out that afternoon toward the western edge of the island, the one they had rarely explored. That land had always felt barren, cracked rock, wind-swept plains, and jagged cliffs that dropped into nothing. But if the island was constructing a mirror, if it was truly trying to reflect them, then it would do so in the place most unlike them. It would build contrast. Definition. Opposition.
The walk was long and silent. Even the usual banter died quickly. The further west they moved, the more the island’s pulse faded, like walking out of a dream into a painting where nothing moved. Eventually, the trees ended, and they stepped onto the cracked stone plain. No birds. No insects. Just wind.
Serena stopped and knelt, brushing her hand across the rock. "Too clean. Nothing grows here."
Jude looked out across the flatness and pointed. "There."
Far in the distance, something shimmered, like heat rising from the earth, but shaped, held in a fixed point.
They approached slowly, weapons drawn. As they neared, the shimmer solidified into a structure, round, perfectly symmetrical, like a pearl sliced in half and placed on the ground. Smooth stone. No markings. Just a single entrance, open, unguarded.
Jude glanced at Ashra. "A temple?"
She shook her head. "A question."