Chapter 1315

Around them, the others moved slowly, sensually. Not out of urgency now, but out of reverence. Sophie lay across Zoey's lap, her mouth open as Zoey fed her ripe fruit, juice dripping down her chin, her breasts rising and falling with lazy breaths. Grace and Stella were face to face, their bodies still wrapped in a cocoon of limbs and kisses. Scarlet and Susan bathed in the shallow pool beneath the altar tree, their laughter soft, erotic, made of steam and touch.

The keepers had not left.

They stood in a half-circle around the altar, their bodies coated in gold-lit sweat, their eyes never blinking, watching Jude with silent understanding. One of them stepped forward - tall, pale, with raven-dark hair that spilled over her breasts like ink. She knelt before him and pressed her forehead to the base of his spine.

He flinched, but she only breathed there. Deep. Slow.