Chapter 1175

Rose extended a hand across the stream, her fingers delicate and pale, glowing faintly. The water lapped at her feet, the current sluggish, thick, as though reluctant to flow past her. The thing beneath stirred again, the surface of the stream quivering, hinting at coils or limbs too large to name, too dark to see clearly.

Lucy was at Jude's side now, blade drawn, her voice low and fierce. "She's not alone. That thing-it's using her, Jude. It's *through* her. You step in that water, you might not come back out."

Sophie grabbed his other hand, fingers digging in. "Please. We'll find another way. We'll save her-but not like this."

Jude's heart raced. He looked at Rose's face, at the shimmer of tears that glistened in her silver-lit eyes, and saw the agony there. A silent plea. A war within. And he knew that stepping into that stream would be surrender-not just of himself, but of everything they had left.