Chapter 1138
Behind him, the others were slowly waking. Rose stretched like a cat beside the fire, her dress sliding dangerously up her thigh before she noticed Jude watching and offered a wink. Sophie stepped out of the treehouse barefoot, rubbing her eyes and smiling when she saw him. One by one, they joined the slow rhythm of morning, as if savoring the quiet while it lasted.
No new watchersigns. No false smiles. No second versions of themselves lingering near the trees.
Yet.
Still, Jude couldn’t shake the weight of the last sign, Yours. But not forever. It wasn’t a threat. It was a reminder. This moment, this fragile calm, it wouldn’t last.
Natalie and Grace took to making breakfast, slicing through fruits and wild roots with ease. Layla and Susan wandered to the river to wash the clay off their legs from the night before. Lucy took Jude’s arm and leaned against him, murmuring, "You look like you’re waiting for the sky to fall."
"Not the sky," he said. "Her."
Zoey joined them a second later, hair still damp from a rinse. "Then maybe don’t spend the whole morning brooding. Kiss someone."
Lucy grinned. "That’s always your answer."
"And it works."
She grabbed Jude’s face and kissed him before he could reply, her mouth confident and warm, her body pressing into his just enough to make his blood heat. He smiled as they parted, and even Zoey cracked a half-grin.
That was the energy that carried them through the morning, touches, teasing, stolen kisses. Emma and Stella worked quietly with ropes and tools, reinforcing traps along the nearby perimeter while Scarlet and Sophie reviewed their crude map of the island, marking spots where watchersigns had appeared and faded. But nothing felt urgent. The island let them breathe. And they breathed each other in like it was sacred.