Chapter 1723

Their bodies glowed. They burned. They ached and pleaded and came - again and again - until there was no part of them untouched, no breath unshared. When they collapsed, it was not exhaustion but satisfaction that wrapped them like vines. They curled in a circle again, limbs draped over each other, bodies sticky with love and glowing with island light.

And in the center of their circle, where the stone had vanished, a new shoot broke the earth.

Not a sapling.

A flower.

Wide open. Gold and violet.

And from its heart… a heartbeat.

A new rhythm.

Not just of the island.

But of them.

Jude looked around, eyes wet with tears he hadn't realized he'd shed. "What have we done?"

Rose crawled into his lap and kissed him slow, deep. "We've created the next part."

Sophie curled against his other side, her hand over his heart. "And we'll protect it."

Lucy pressed her lips to his cheek. "Together."