Chapter 1150
"She’s fighting me," Rose whispered. "I, I’m still here, but she, she knows now."
"Then hold on to me," Jude said. "Hold on."
Behind them, Sophie’s voice rang out. "She’s pushing through the others! They’re in pain!"
"Lucy, watch the circle!" Zoey shouted. "Don’t let them break the formation!"
Stella and Emma had already darted toward the archways, blade and fists ready, flanking the circle where roots had begun to creep upward through the floor again, curling toward the group like curious fingers. Above them, the pulse of light from the watcher stone filtered faintly down the spiral. The wives they’d left outside, Susan, Grace, Natalie, Layla, and Scarlet, were screaming into the sky, their bodies arching, glowing with the same furious energy the island now pulsed with.
"She’s trying to take them back," Rose whispered, tears streaking her cheeks now. "She’s angry you pulled me away."
"Then let her be angry," Jude said, cupping her face. "But she doesn’t get you. Not now."
Rose let out a shuddering breath. "I can feel the others... the things she made me do. I remember Layla. Her smile. The way she looked at me after we kissed. I pulled her in. I seduced her. I didn’t even fight. I wanted you so badly, I let her use me as bait."
"It wasn’t you," Jude said. "It was her."
"It was both of us," Rose said, brokenly. "I loved you so much, I became the easiest door for her to walk through."
He held her tighter. "We’ll get them back. We’re going to break this."