Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1663

Chapter 1663: Chapter 1663

Near the river, Lucy found the perfect clearing. Sunlight danced through wide leaves. The earth was soft, fertile, damp with potential.

They began building with their hands, their arms, their bodies. No tools. No blueprints. The wood shaped itself beneath their palms, bending without splintering. Branches joined where fingers pressed. Moss crawled upward to pad each surface. Vines wrapped pillars like ribbons, weaving windows and walls.

By dusk, the structure stood.

Not a house.

A sanctuary.

Circular like the spiral, open to the sky, with wide sleeping platforms and a single raised center of polished stone where the golden glow still flickered faintly. They gathered there - dirty, laughing, tired, glowing - and sat in a circle once more.

Jude stood in the center, arms open.

"I don’t have the right words," he said. "Only the truth."

He looked at each of them.

"You are my life. You are my pulse. You are the breath I never knew I was missing."

He turned to Scarlet.

"And you... you carry our future."

Scarlet’s hand went to her belly again, her smile soft and proud.

"We are more than what we were," Jude said. "Not just lovers. Not just wives. We are the spiral. We are the light. And whatever comes next... we meet it as one."

The fire crackled softly beside them.

One by one, they rose.

Lucy stepped into his arms first, her kiss soft and slow.

Zoey followed, then Emma, then Natalie and Grace.

Stella kissed his neck. Susan kissed his hand. Scarlet kissed his lips with tears in her eyes.

Sophie lingered at the edge of the circle, watching.

Then finally, finally, she stepped forward, her arms wrapping around him in fierce silence. When she pulled back, there was a softness in her eyes that hadn’t been there in weeks.

"I trust you," she whispered.

His voice was thick. "Thank you."

They settled together on the moss floor, forming a great, warm knot of limbs and hearts and breath. Lucy curled into his side. Zoey pressed against his back. Grace slid between his legs, laying her head on his chest. One by one, the others joined, until he was buried in love, in trust, in heat.

And as the moon rose overhead, full and gold, the sanctuary breathed with them.

The spiral pulsed beneath.

And the first night of their new beginning passed in light.

By morning, the air was thicker - not with heat, but with promise. The light had changed again, shifting to something warmer, softer, as though the island had draped a golden shawl over the canopy. Jude stirred slowly beneath a tangle of limbs, his hand resting gently on Lucy’s hip, her breath warm on his neck. Around him, the others slept close, their bodies curved around his like petals around a stem. And yet something in his chest pulsed faster than rest would allow.

He slipped free with care, pressing a kiss to Sophie’s temple as she murmured in her sleep. His bare feet touched the moss, and it pulsed gently in response, like a heart greeting another. The sanctuary was quiet except for the slow rhythm of breath and the faint crackle of a rekindling fire. But the sky was restless - gold clouds drifting and twisting into strange shapes overhead, like the island was dreaming again.

Outside the sanctuary, the forest shimmered. Flowers opened in his wake. Trees shifted subtly. A trail revealed itself without effort, winding between the roots and into the deeper woods. He followed it without question.

Minutes passed - or hours. Time no longer obeyed any rules here. But the deeper he walked, the more vivid the air became. He could feel it all: the breath of the roots, the warmth in the wind, the steady thrum of life not just beneath his skin but inside it. It guided him.

And then, at the base of a vast silverleaf tree he had never seen before, he found her.

Alara.

She stood barefoot, radiant as ever, wearing nothing but a woven circlet of ivy and gold around her brow. She smiled without surprise, as if she’d been waiting for him.

"You’ve come," she said softly.

"I had to."

"You’re not here for answers anymore." She stepped toward him. "You’re here because you are the answer now."

He nodded slowly. "Scarlet... she’s carrying. The others will too. I feel it."

"It is the nature of the spiral," Alara said. "Union breeds creation. And your creation is pure. Chosen."

"But why us?" he asked. "Why this?"

Alara tilted her head. "Because the world forgot. And someone had to remember."

She placed a hand over his heart. Her fingers glowed. "You are the heart, Jude. Not just theirs - but the island’s."

His breath caught.

"You must return," she said. "There is more to come. The next spiral. The next opening. But for that, you must be grounded. You must become root."

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead, then turned and disappeared into the trees like smoke. The forest quieted.

And then, behind him - footsteps.

He turned to see Lucy approaching, her wrap barely clinging to her hips, her cheeks flushed with more than exertion.

"I woke and you were gone," she said.

He held out a hand. "Come see."

She came to his side and gasped as she saw the tree, the clearing, the spot where Alara had just stood. "This is new."

"No," he whispered. "It’s old. We just weren’t ready."

She nodded, slipping her hand into his. "Let’s go back."

Back at the sanctuary, the others were already awake. Scarlet was cradled in Natalie’s arms, their foreheads pressed together as they whispered. Emma and Sophie were sharpening tools beside the fire. Grace hummed a tune as she braided Susan’s hair, the two of them nestled close. Zoey had already left to hunt, but her blade lay glowing where she’d rested last.

Jude and Lucy stepped into the clearing, and the entire group turned.

"You saw her again," Rose said.

He nodded.