Chapter 1470
"I felt something too," Jude said quietly. "When I was inside her. She gave herself completely, but she was also connected to something deeper. Something waiting."
Lucy pressed her lips to his shoulder. "Do we call again?"
Sophie stood, naked and regal, hands on hips, scanning the trees. "Not yet. If something else is coming, it’ll come on its own. The island’s watching now. Listening."
Susan stirred beside Stella, her voice low and curious. "Then what do we do?"
"We rest," Rose said. "And prepare."
"Prepare for what?" Emma asked.
Rose smiled faintly. "To receive. Whatever comes next, it will want more than our bodies. It’ll want our truth. And if we don’t offer it, it’ll take it anyway."
Sophie met her eyes. "Then we better choose to give."
By midday, the clearing had been cleaned - petals gone, moss smoothed, the scent of sex replaced by firewood and boiling herbs. They moved together with quiet efficiency, no longer needing to assign roles. Jude fetched water with Grace and Lucy, who splashed each other playfully as they filled gourds at the river, both still glowing from the night before. Emma and Natalie washed the blankets at the edge of the stream. Zoey sharpened her blade with a wet stone, more from habit than suspicion. Layla tended to a fresh scar on Susan’s thigh with practiced hands, her touch soothing.
Sophie sat with Jude again by the fire, her chin on her knees. "You’re different now."
He looked at her. "So are you."