Chapter 1582

The sea raged below. The stone glowed brighter. The forest sang in rising rhythm. And the six lovers moved together in breathless symmetry. Bodies melted. Boundaries vanished. Jude laid Lucy down beside the memory stone and entered her slowly, her legs wrapping around his waist, their kisses wild and messy and unending. Kira straddled Coren, her hips already finding his rhythm, her mouth desperate on his throat. Elian and Mira lay entwined, her body riding his with soft cries and whispered devotion.

Golden light flowed from the cliffs, arcing into the sky, met halfway by a beam from the heartstone deep in the forest.

And then the stones connected.

The island pulsed once.

Twice.

And bloomed anew.

When it was done, the six lay in a circle, breathless, trembling, changed. A symbol now glowed faintly on their skin - small, curling runes just above the heart, each unique but clearly part of the same whole.

The mark of awakening.