Chapter 1601
The first rays of morning filtered through the trees like liquid gold, sliding down the bark in long fingers of warmth. Dew shimmered on the petals around them, and tiny silver-winged insects danced lazily in the air, drawn to the heat that still radiated from the lovers’ skin. Jude stirred first, his body wrapped around Lucy’s, her bare back nestled tight against his chest. Her hair was tangled with grass and blossoms, and his arm was draped possessively across her stomach, fingers still curled from the night’s rhythm.
He didn’t want to move.
But something called him.
Not sound. Not light.
A pull from deep inside the earth, the same way the tide is pulled to the moon.
Lucy shifted. "You feel it too."
Her voice was drowsy, but her eyes were open now, watching him from beneath her lashes.
He nodded. "Something’s waking again."
Emma was already sitting upright across the clearing, legs crossed, her eyes fixed on the horizon. Zoey stretched cat-like beside her, her long limbs glistening in the golden mist.
Sophie rose last, slow and regal, one hand on her belly, the other brushing over her twins where they slept, curled together like two halves of a whole.
Susan came to Jude’s side, her robe loose and forgotten, her steps silent as breath. "The ground’s warmer," she said. "It’s humming."