Chapter 1334

The song echoed upward, folding into the canopy like heat into summer wind. Jude lay at the heart of it all, his chest slick with sweat and silver liquid, his arms entwined around bodies that trembled and shifted and sighed against him. Rose rested against his left side, her breath warm on his neck, her leg draped across his hip. Lucy curled on his right, her fingers laced between his, the rise and fall of her chest moving in perfect harmony with his own.

Above them, the vines still cradled the living bed like a lover unwilling to let go.

The light filtering through the newly opened canopy above was different now. No longer golden, or pulsing - it was soft, almost shy, a pale indigo glow like starlight at dusk. The petals drifting through it shimmered faintly, weightless as breath.

Sophie stirred beside Emma, stretching out languidly before propping herself on her elbows. "It's quiet now," she murmured. "But it's not over."