Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1566

Chapter 1566: Chapter 1566

Natalie paused near a reflective pond, her body swaying in rhythm with a melody the water offered her. Susan had stopped altogether, lying in a sun-drenched field, arms stretched, soaking in every heartbeat of the land.

Lucy... Lucy was in a grove that pulsed like a womb, golden leaves falling around her in slow, sacred spirals. Grace’s emotions fluttered across Jude’s consciousness like a hundred butterflies - curious, eager, reverent. Sophie burned in a way that sent tingles down his spine - resisting still, questioning, but undeniably drawn forward.

Rose.

He felt her most clearly.

Her journey was not linear. She wove her way in spirals, backtracking, touching places Jude hadn’t noticed yet, awakening old stones and singing softly into the earth. Her thread wasn’t just golden. It was deep - rooted in something older than the island itself.

He took a step.

The moss responded, glowing beneath him.

He walked with slow purpose toward the pedestal where the mirror had once stood. In its place now was a flower. Unlike any he had seen. Midnight petals. A golden core. Pulsing gently. Alive. It opened as he approached, unfolding like a secret.

From within rose a single seed.

He held out his hand. The seed floated to him, resting in his palm.

It was warm. It pulsed.

And when he closed his fingers around it, the island sighed.

The sky above shimmered.

And suddenly he was elsewhere.

Not physically. Not completely. But drawn. Pulled.

He saw through Zoey’s eyes as she approached the base of the volcano, her fingers tracing the cracks in the blackened rock, a trail of crimson light guiding her into a cave that pulsed like a furnace. She wasn’t afraid. She was grinning, fire dancing in her gaze.

He saw Emma walking through a field of silver reeds, the wind slicing in perfect patterns around her body. She moved like a warrior, her hand reaching instinctively for something not yet visible.

He saw Lucy kneeling in the golden grove, her fingers deep in the soil, her mouth parted in silent reverence as vines curled up her arms like lovers’ hands.

Each vision burned into him. Each step they took awakened something in the island - and something in him.

He opened his eyes.

He was no longer just the tree.

He was the seed .

The potential.

The axis.

And he knew what had to come next.

Jude walked from the glade with steady, determined steps. The forest did not bow this time. It watched. Alert. Expectant.

He moved eastward first, toward the place where Lucy’s golden thread had disappeared. The trees here were tall and bowed in arches, their branches braided with thick ropes of glowing ivy. As he stepped through the grove’s threshold, the air thickened - fragrant and soft. Every breath he took made his skin warmer. Every step sent small tremors of pleasure up his spine.

Lucy was waiting for him, kneeling beneath the largest tree, her hands cupped around a sapling pulsing with golden light. She looked up when he approached, her expression unreadable.

"I knew you’d come," she said softly.

He knelt behind her and slid his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him without hesitation, their bodies fitting with familiar grace. Her breath hitched when his lips brushed the curve of her neck.

"The island gave me this," she whispered, lifting the sapling slightly. "It’s... us. A beginning."

"It gave me a seed," he replied. "A different kind. But I think they’re meant for each other."

She turned her head, and they kissed - slow, deep, sacred. As they did, the sapling between them began to glow brighter. Light spilled over their bodies. Their breath synchronized. Her thighs parted instinctively as she turned fully toward him, straddling his lap.

"Then let’s plant it," she whispered.

Their joining was not frantic. It was deliberate. Their bodies moved in a rhythm echoed by the trees themselves. The vines curled around them like arms. The golden leaves fell in spirals, catching on Lucy’s hair, her skin, Jude’s shoulders. They moved together in slow, steady pulses - rooting the seed in pleasure, in connection, in love.

When they came together, the sapling burst into bloom, golden petals erupting around them like stars.

Lucy wept softly into his chest, and Jude held her for a long while.

When they dressed again, Lucy took the blooming sapling and placed it gently into the ground. As soon as her hands left the soil, the tree rooted itself, thickened, and grew until its canopy shaded them both.

"We’ve made the first one," she whispered. "Now the others."

Jude kissed her again, then turned westward.

Emma was next.

The forest darkened the further he went, silver light reflecting off pale bark. He found her standing still in the middle of a clearing, facing a sword embedded in stone. It pulsed with silver light, singing a song only she could hear.

She sensed him without turning.

"It’s mine," she said. "But I don’t want to take it alone."

He stepped beside her. "Then don’t."

Together, their hands closed around the hilt. Together, they pulled.

The sword rose effortlessly.

The light blazed.

And the next path began.

One by one, he would find them.

One by one, they would unlock what the island was asking.

And when they came together again...

They would no longer be a circle.

They would be a pantheon .

Jude and Emma stood in the silver clearing, the sword between them glowing like a captured moon. Its hilt was warm, not from heat but from presence, as though the blade knew it had finally been claimed. Emma looked at Jude, her breath catching as their fingers lingered on the hilt together.

"I felt like I’d waited my whole life to touch this," she whispered.

"It waited for you," he said softly.

She tilted her head, eyes narrowing just a little. "I’m not the kind who believes in destiny."

"You don’t need to believe in it," he replied. "It’s already inside you. I can see."