Chapter 1384
Jude lay on the moss-covered bed in the center, tangled between Lucy and Emma, their legs draped over his, their hands resting across his stomach and chest. Their skin was flushed and soft, marked with faint spirals of gold and black that had become permanent - not tattoos, not burns, but living echoes of their awakening. Lucy had fallen asleep, lips parted against Jude’s neck, her breath hot and steady. Emma was awake still, tracing slow circles over his ribs with her fingertip.
"They’ll never find us, will they?" she whispered.
Jude blinked slowly, staring up at the arching ceiling above them. "Who?"
"The world. The life we left. Whoever we were before." She shifted closer, pressing a kiss to his collarbone. "I can’t even remember what we were escaping anymore."
He turned to look at her, brushing a curl from her cheek. "Maybe we weren’t escaping. Maybe we were being summoned."
Emma smiled faintly. "You sound like Rose."
He didn’t deny it.
Because Rose wasn’t just a person anymore. She had become the voice of the island, the echo of its desire. Not corrupted. Not possessed. Chosen.
From the corner of the dome, soft gasps and moans rose again. Grace was pinned beneath Stella, her fingers locked in her hair, her back arching as Stella’s tongue moved between her thighs with slow, skilled devotion. Across from them, Sophie stood against a pillar, eyes closed, her body pressed between her mirror and Zoey, their mouths devouring her neck and chest, hands sliding up her stomach.
Natalie was in the bathing pool, half-submerged, her legs spread beneath the surface as Susan knelt behind her, kissing her shoulder while her fingers moved lazily between Natalie’s legs. The sound of water lapping gently against skin made Lucy stir in her sleep, her body instinctively pressing tighter against Jude.
He kissed her temple.