Chapter 1590
Jude felt it before she finished speaking - the pull in his chest, soft but insistent, like fingers tugging gently at his ribs. Around them, the others began to feel it too. One by one, they stood, stretching, brushing river water from their skin, their laughter fading into something quieter. Reverent.
They walked together, bare feet treading glowing moss, the path winding through luminous trees that parted at their approach. No one spoke much. There was no need. Everything was shared now - desire, wonder, even silence. It bound them closer than skin.
The tree loomed ahead, its blossoms unfurling slowly, its great trunk humming with a sound like breath.
The heartstone pedestal had changed.
It now hovered in the air, floating gently above the roots, spinning slowly, threads of gold drifting from it like sunbeams caught in water. Jude stepped forward without hesitation, his wives forming a circle around him.
"Touch it," Natalie said softly, her voice shaking slightly with anticipation.
He reached out. The moment his fingertips brushed the stone, warmth rushed through his body, a wave that lifted him from the earth and suspended him midair. The tree responded, the petals opening wide, golden light bathing them all in brilliance.
Visions returned.
But these weren’t of the past.
They were of what could be .
He saw homes - not just shelters, but sanctuaries grown from living wood, cradled in the crooks of trees, draped in vines, lit from within by soft fireflies. He saw love - new kinds, new shapes. The same women, his wives, but shown in moments not yet lived. A touch on a beach at dawn. A kiss beneath a waterfall. A moan shared under storm clouds. A child’s laughter - no, not just one child. Many.