Chapter 1474

Not the ordinary breeze of the island, not the playful gusts that stirred the palm fronds or danced across the water's surface. This one was warmer - charged, humming, as if the island itself exhaled through them, into them, with them. The ground beneath their naked bodies still pulsed faintly, the stone no longer cold, but warm like skin, like breath. The glowing orb above the dais had dimmed, but its light remained in each of their eyes. They glowed faintly now, not unnaturally, not like possession - but like memory made flesh.

Rose stood first, bare and bold, her hair tumbling down her back in wild waves, the golden symbols on her skin now calm, resting. She walked to Jude, knelt beside him, and kissed his chest softly - right over his heart.

"It heard you," she said.