Chapter 1318
When Jude opened his eyes, the sky above the treetop canopy had shifted to a molten gold, stained with amber streaks and deep orange fire. The light wasn’t just sunset - it was something older, something sacred. The forest shimmered with the residue of touch and breath, heavy with musk and sweetness, like the very air was laced with the echo of moans. He was still on the altar, the living throne of moss and vine, and every inch of his skin buzzed like it remembered every kiss, every tongue, every slow grind of hips against his.
Lucy was the first he saw - curled up along his side, one leg draped over his thighs, her arm across his chest, lips parted with a sleepy smile. Her skin glowed in the light like she’d been anointed, and her fingers twitched faintly against him as if she dreamed of touching him still. Zoey was sprawled across his legs, one hand between her own thighs even in sleep, her hair tangled across his stomach, smelling of sweat, sex, and island flowers. Sophie was half-sitting near his shoulder, awake but quiet, eyes tracing the shapes of the petals above them.
"You’re still with us," she murmured, not a question.
He turned his head to her. "I wasn’t sure I would be."
"You weren’t," she said softly, brushing a hand down his chest. "But we pulled you back."
He lifted a hand and tangled his fingers with hers. Her palm was warm, still trembling faintly. "You didn’t seem afraid."
"I was," she whispered, leaning down to kiss his jaw. "But I wanted to follow you more than I wanted to run."
Emma stirred nearby, naked and covered in dew. She stretched like a panther, the curve of her body gleaming. "He was glowing," she said sleepily. "In the dark. His skin... lit from the inside."
"That’s not just him anymore," Stella said from the other side of the altar. She was sitting cross-legged, arms resting on her knees, eyes heavy-lidded. "That’s the island’s light. It’s in all of us now."