Chapter 1589
Jude looked around the circle - at twelve radiant, glowing women, all bound to him, to each other, to the island. They were beyond marriage, beyond tribe, beyond blood. They were one.
And the island pulsed with that unity.
After they finished eating, they wandered again. But not in search of answers this time. They walked hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, pressing lazy kisses to necks and mouths, fingers drifting over skin with absent intimacy. They wove through the golden undergrowth like lovers lost in a story that would never need an ending.
By midday, the heat had thickened. The air wrapped around them like a lover’s embrace. The river called next.
It wasn’t the same river they had known. This one had grown wide and clear, with smooth stones beneath the water and glowing lilies floating atop it like lanterns. The current was slow, warm. Tempting.
Without a word, they undressed.
Even that felt different now - not lustful, not ashamed. Just natural. Like shedding skin to become something new again.
They entered the water together.
Jude led them in, arms open, water licking up his thighs, then his hips, his chest. It kissed every part of him like a welcome home. Lucy floated into him, wrapping her legs around his waist, sighing as her breasts pressed to his chest. "Everything tastes better. Feels better. Even you. "
He caught her mouth in his, slow and deep, as the others swam around them. Stella climbed onto a rock and dove in, her laugh ringing like a bell. Emma pulled Grace into the shallows and wrapped her arms around her waist. Susan and Natalie swayed together beneath the waterfall, the droplets cascading over their glowing bodies.
Rose floated beside Jude now, hands trailing down his back. "You were made for this," she said.