Jude stepped forward, moving with instinct, unthinking. The new woman looked at him, then at all of them, her lips parting in a slow, sensual smile. She walked toward him, stopped inches away, and raised a hand to touch his cheek.
"You made me," she said.
Her voice was wind and thunder.
He swallowed. "What are you?"
"Desire," she said. "Memory. Rebirth. The first daughter of your love."
At that, the others rose.
Sophie. Rose. Lucy. Emma. Layla. Zoey. Grace. Stella. Scarlet. Natalie. Elira.
All standing now, bodies still nude, still damp, still shining with sex and divinity. The circle closed again, and the woman stepped into the middle, kneeling before Jude.
"I want to know what you are," she whispered.
And Jude knew what she meant.
She wanted to feel him.
To be claimed.
To remember what her body had been created from.
He glanced at the others.