Chapter 1332
His wives moved around him, brushing against one another with lazy, satisfied grace, like waves returning to a tide. Sophie’s hand slipped into Emma’s, their fingers still slick from each other. Lucy knelt in the moss and pressed her lips softly to the tree’s roots, her hair spilling over her shoulders like a golden waterfall. Stella lay on her back nearby, legs curled up, her thighs glistening from their shared climax, eyes half-lidded in blissful surrender.
Zoey approached Jude again. She pressed her front to his back, slid her arms around his waist, and whispered, "It’s not done with us. I can feel it." Her breath tickled his skin. "You feel it too."
He nodded.
The hum returned - not loud, not urgent - but low and constant, vibrating in the roots, the petals, the air itself. It wasn’t calling. It was inviting . The song was no longer something separate. It was inside them now, just as the sap had been. Part of their veins, their rhythm, their breath.
"Look," Grace said.
They turned to her.
She stood at the edge of the chamber, where another passage had opened, this one framed by curved branches that bent like an arch, wrapped in flowering vines. The scent wafting from it was thick and sweet, like nectar and sweat and something darker - musk and fire and longing.
Without a word, they followed.
The tunnel was wide and sloped downward. Their bare feet padded softly on petals and moss. Every few paces, the walls pulsed with golden symbols - runes none of them had learned, but all somehow understood. They glowed as each person passed, whispering fragments of thought, desire, and truth into their minds.