Chapter 1425
They cleaned themselves in the stream just outside the flower’s mouth, the water cool but not biting. Jude helped Natalie untangle her hair, fingers gentle, methodical. Stella bathed Layla, her hands caressing more than scrubbing, and Layla tilted her head back into the flow, her expression blissful. Rose watched them all from a flat rock, legs crossed, arms resting lightly on her knees. She wasn’t meditating, just... being. Present. A sentinel of their transformation.
As they dressed - though not everyone chose to - Jude couldn’t help but notice how different even that act had become. Clothes weren’t shame now. They were decoration. Fabric floated over skin like silk over flame, unable to hide what glowed beneath.
"What now?" Lucy asked as she stepped beside him, her palm warm in his.
He looked to Rose.
But Rose looked to the forest.
"She wants us to move again."
"To where?" Susan asked, voice still husky with pleasure.
"There’s something new. She’s building through us now," Rose murmured. "I feel it. She needs a sanctuary. A shrine."
"For what?" Sophie said.
Rose turned to her, eyes gleaming. "For the next bloom."
The air thickened. Everyone went still.