Chapter 1636
The stars didn’t fall - they descended. Drifting slowly, shimmering with golden fire, they slipped through the strange sky like they had been watching since the beginning, waiting for this precise moment to return.
Jude lay still, Lucy curled tight against his chest, Rose’s breath warm at his shoulder, and the others tangled around them like vines and silk and starlight. But his eyes were open, watching the slow descent of a star no bigger than a fist, pulsing gently, making no sound as it hovered above them.
It paused just above their circle.
Then it touched down, resting at the center of their spiral of bodies, where their heat still rose from the moss.
None of them moved.
Until Sophie rose, naked and gleaming, her lips parted with awe.
She stepped forward, drawn like a tide pulled by moonlight. The star pulsed as she approached, as though recognizing her. Jude held his breath.
She reached out - and the light moved.
Not away.
Into her.
There was no flash. No explosion.