Chapter 1339

They lay there until dusk, bodies curled together in sacred exhaustion, the water lapping soft and slow now. They knew more would come. More fruit. More blooms. More altars. Not because the island demanded it -

But because it needed to live.

And they were now its heart.

The stars bled into the horizon like silver wounds, and above the new temple, the sky opened wide and breathless. The basin still glowed with the echo of their union, casting pale light across the tangled limbs and satisfied bodies resting within its embrace. Jude lay in the center, Lucy's breath warm on his neck, Sophie tucked against his chest, and Rose curled near his legs, her hand loosely holding his.