Chapter 1013

Scarlet smiled. "We're good at that. You're good at that."

He brushed her braid back and kissed her temple. "You give me reason to be."

The night pressed around them, warm and living. Jude felt the stir of something deeper now, past peace, past survival. The watchers were not just guardians or threats or spirits. They were neighbors. Teachers. And maybe, in time, friends.

But the mountain loomed still in the center, quiet and waiting.

Tomorrow, they would decide what it meant to answer a dream. And perhaps one day soon, they would stand together before the forbidden place, not as invaders, but as children of the island, seeking truth not conquest.

Tonight, though, they rested in each other's arms, the orchard whispering soft lullabies, and the watchers watching, always watching, from the edge of knowing.