She took his hand and placed it on her breast. Her heart beat beneath it - steady, strong, electric. "Feel it. Not just me. All of it. Every root. Every drop. Every breath."
And as he closed his eyes, he did.
He saw the forest pulsing in rhythm with their hearts.
He saw the others - Lucy, Sophie, Emma, Grace, Stella, Zoey, Layla, Susan, Natalie, Scarlet - moving through the trees like priestesses. Lovers. Wives. And something more.
He felt their connection deepen.
And the song rose once again, louder now, drawing them forward.
Toward whatever came next.
The air thickened with warmth as Jude opened his eyes. Rose was still watching him, her body impossibly close, her skin gleaming with the same golden shimmer that pulsed in the trees. Behind her, the waterfall danced, the spray catching the morning sun like shards of crystal light. And far below, he could hear them - his wives - laughing, humming, whispering. The song never stopped now. It lingered on the edge of everything.
