Chapter 1106

The clearing was still thick with the scent of sweet pollen and smoke from the ritual fire, its flames now reduced to curling trails of embers that hissed as dew-laced leaves fell into it. Jude stood still, breath ragged, heart pounding. Around him, Sophie and Emma watched in tense silence, eyes fixed on the spot where the earth had opened, where something had begun to rise. The corrupted wives stood in a semicircle, Rose at the center, flanked by Layla and Zoey, their hands linked and bare feet pressed into the mossy ground. Susan, Grace, Lucy, and Natalie had formed the outer ring, heads tilted back, hair loose and catching the moonlight. Their smiles were beatific, possessed, beautiful in a way that made Jude's skin crawl.