Chapter 1679

The light above them dimmed slowly, as though the island itself had drawn a curtain to let them rest. The trees leaned inward, moss coiling around ankles and thighs like a lover refusing to release its grip. The beach no longer felt like a boundary between land and sea - it felt like a temple. A cradle. A pulsing, breathing shrine built from skin, salt, and light.

Jude lay on his back, sand clinging to his damp skin, Lucy curled against his left side, Rose breathing soft and slow on his chest. Their bodies glistened with the remnants of love and ritual, and when Jude looked past them to the shore, he saw the forest glowing - not with fire, but with life. The new arrivals were scattered across the moss and beach, some dozing, some locked in the lingering touches of connection, their bodies slowly absorbing the island's rhythm.