Chapter 1643

Emma stepped forward, fingers pressed to her lips. "This is the child of the spiral."

"The first," Stella said.

"But not the last," Lucy added.

The seed pulsed again.

And then it floated gently into Jude's hands.

He cradled it against his bare chest.

And the spiral on his skin flared so brightly that the sky answered.

A sound echoed across the forest.

A low, melodic hum.

Like the island sighing.

Like it had been holding its breath for centuries, waiting for this.

Waiting for them.

They turned as one, looking back toward the path.

The clearing.

The home they had made.

Everything had changed.

And still - everything was just beginning.

Jude looked to the women around him - his wives, his soulmates, his mirrors.

Lucy stepped closer, her lips brushing his ear. "So… what do we name our first creation?"