Chapter 1332

His wives moved around him, brushing against one another with lazy, satisfied grace, like waves returning to a tide. Sophie's hand slipped into Emma's, their fingers still slick from each other. Lucy knelt in the moss and pressed her lips softly to the tree's roots, her hair spilling over her shoulders like a golden waterfall. Stella lay on her back nearby, legs curled up, her thighs glistening from their shared climax, eyes half-lidded in blissful surrender.

Zoey approached Jude again. She pressed her front to his back, slid her arms around his waist, and whispered, "It's not done with us. I can feel it." Her breath tickled his skin. "You feel it too."

He nodded.

The hum returned - not loud, not urgent - but low and constant, vibrating in the roots, the petals, the air itself. It wasn't calling. It was inviting . The song was no longer something separate. It was inside them now, just as the sap had been. Part of their veins, their rhythm, their breath.