Chapter 1182
But even as he spoke, the pool stirred. Not the surface-no ripple marred its mirror-like calm-but beneath, deep down, something shifted. A shape, dark and vast, uncoiled at the bottom, rising slowly toward the light.
Jude’s heart seized. He reached for Rose, for Sophie, drawing them back. "Stay together," he said, voice steady despite the chill that raced down his spine. "Stay ready."
The shape came closer, its outline clearer now-like a great serpent or root, dark as shadow, moving with the slow, inevitable grace of the sea itself. The glow of the spiral brightened, as if feeding the thing’s ascent, and the hum filled the clearing so that it was no longer sound but the very air they breathed.
Lucy stepped beside him, her blade raised. "Say the word."
Zoey flanked him on the other side, her stance wide, prepared. "We’re with you."
Jude’s gaze stayed locked on the pool, on the shape rising toward them, his mind racing. He felt his wives at his sides, behind him, surrounding him. Their strength was his. Their love, his armor.
And whatever came out of that pool, whatever waited beneath the water’s surface, he would face it. Not alone.
Together. Always together.
The pool darkened as the shape within drew nearer to the surface, the glow of the spiral casting eerie patterns across the water’s mirror-like sheen. Jude felt his pulse quicken, the weight of the moment pressing on his chest. The air grew colder still, and the hum that filled the clearing was no longer something beneath their feet but something within them, as if the island’s heartbeat had merged with their own.