Chapter 1605

It moved beneath the island - not like an animal or a beast, but like a breath too old to have shape. A sigh from before the sky had names. It coiled through the roots beneath their feet, slow and endless, listening to the rhythm of what they had become. It wasn't darkness. It wasn't light. It was memory. The island's oldest one. The one that had waited.

Jude stirred in the cradle of roots, sunlight flickering across his bare skin. Lucy lay half atop him, her breath warm against his throat. Zoey and Stella were curled together nearby, tangled in each other's limbs, their skin still glowing faintly from the night's joining. Rose sat by the open arch, her knees drawn to her chest, watching the sky change. The clouds above swirled with violet and gold now, no longer chaotic - but patterned. Designed.

He rose without waking Lucy, and Rose looked over at him as he approached. Her expression was quiet, thoughtful.