Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1687

And when the sun dipped low, bathing the world in rose and violet, they built a fire that needed no flame. The logs glowed softly on their own, like the warmth came from memory.

They gathered around it, sitting close, skin brushing skin, laughter spilling easily.

Jude held Lucy in his lap, her legs draped over his. Grace leaned against his side. Zoey played with Emma’s hair while Natalie hummed a tune that made the fire dance.

Rose, across from him, watched them all. Her smile was quiet. Knowing.

He met her gaze. "Are we done changing?"

She shook her head. "We’ve only just begun."

The fire pulsed between them, and the stars above blinked into life - slowly, like shy promises.

Sophie reached out and touched the center of the circle. "We should give it a name."

"This place?" Stella asked.

"This world," Sophie said.

They fell silent, considering.

Then Lucy whispered, "Alaria."

A hush.

Then Rose nodded. "It’s perfect."

Jude leaned forward and pressed his palm to the moss. "Welcome home, Alaria."

And the land answered.

Not in words.

In breath.

In warmth.

In the slow opening of a new golden flower at the center of their circle.

The first of many.

The flower opened slowly, its petals glistening like molten sunlight, each edge traced with flickers of silver and deep violet. As it unfurled fully, a soft scent filled the air - rich, intoxicating, familiar yet entirely new. Jude inhaled it, and it hit him like memory and prophecy combined. The others were still, spellbound. Lucy leaned into him, her breath catching in her throat, and he felt her heart stutter in time with his. Around them, the air grew warmer, pulsing gently with the rhythm of the flower’s bloom.

Then something shifted.

Not in the sky, or the land - but in them.

A low vibration passed from the flower into the moss, into their bodies, into their joined circle. It wasn’t painful. It was like being reminded of something you’d forgotten since birth.

Grace blinked, her eyes wide. "It’s speaking."

Stella’s lips parted. "No. It’s... dreaming."

"The flower?" Zoey asked, voice hushed.

"No," Rose said, staring into the bloom’s heart. "Us. It’s dreaming us."

Jude didn’t speak. He couldn’t. His body was tingling, like every nerve was awakening, like his senses had turned inside out. The bond between them all - already deep - seemed to bloom further, linking every heart, every breath, every shared moment of pleasure, pain, joy, and desire into something crystalline and eternal.

Lucy was the first to move.

She slid off his lap and onto her knees before the flower, her fingers brushing the tips of its petals. As she touched it, golden light passed through her fingertips and into her skin, tracing lines of soft fire up her arms. She gasped, shivering, then looked back at him with a look that was all invitation and wonder.

"It’s asking us to make something," she whispered.

Emma stepped forward next, joining Lucy at the bloom. "What does it want?"

"It doesn’t want anything," Sophie said, rising. "It offers. Like the pool. Like the heartstone."

Jude stood slowly, heart pounding, as the others circled the flower. He stepped beside Lucy, brushing his hand against hers. The moment their skin touched, the flower flared - gold and silver and violet - and their bond lit up like fire through glass.

Around the circle, the others joined in. Hands touching. Eyes locked. Breath shared. And the flower pulsed in response.

Rose stepped into the center. Her hair glowed like living flame, her eyes soft with meaning. "If Alaria is ours," she said, "then this is how we give it life."

She knelt and pressed both palms to the moss beside the bloom. "Not just by building. Not just by walking it. But by loving it. Together."

Jude reached out. "And by loving each other."

They all moved closer now, the circle closing in, hearts open, bodies warm, energy buzzing in the air like an impending storm of light and desire. The first touch was between Rose and Grace - a lingering kiss, gentle, reverent. Then Emma leaned into Sophie, their hands slipping together like they had always belonged. Jude kissed Lucy slowly, his fingers in her hair, his body humming with the energy that had begun to gather around them like fireflies.

Clothing became irrelevant. Their skin glowed where it met. The flower’s scent thickened in the air, seductive and lush, coaxing sighs, laughter, moans, and breathless promises.

It wasn’t hurried.

It wasn’t chaos.

It was a slow blooming of sensation and unity, each body meeting the next, every kiss a vow, every touch a prayer. They worshipped one another, learned each other again under the light of twin moons and the sway of stars that seemed to dance just for them.

Jude found himself between Emma and Zoey, their lips on his chest, their hands guiding him with reverent hunger. He turned to Lucy, who beckoned him closer with a smile that shimmered, and he lowered himself to her, sinking into her heat with a groan that echoed in the night. Her legs wrapped around him, anchoring him in that perfect rhythm, and their joined breath sent a shiver through the glowing moss beneath them.

Rose lay to one side, tangled with Grace and Stella, their bodies a knot of movement and music. Natalie rode Sophie with slow, grinding rhythm, their fingers laced, foreheads touching, breath joined in a silent chant.

Scarlet and Susan kissed with abandon under a tree, limbs entwined, moving together as if in a slow, ancient dance.

And overhead, the stars sang.

Not literally - but it felt that way.

Every gasp and sigh, every whispered name, every cry of ecstasy fed the flower’s light, until it rose in a golden flare, illuminating the entire clearing. As Jude reached his peak with Lucy, their bodies arching together in perfect surrender, the light exploded in a burst that shook the very ground.