Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1705 - 1704

Chapter 1705: Chapter 1704

Later that evening, when the sun dipped low behind the trees and painted the sky in fiery hues, the others gathered around the fire. No one spoke at first. The crackling flames filled the silence with warmth, and the golden canopy above them seemed to breathe with them.

Emma finally broke it. "What does this mean for us?"

Jude looked up. "It means we’re part of something bigger than we understood. The rituals, the heartstone, Alara... this was never just about sex. Or power. It was always about life."

Natalie nodded, fingers laced together in her lap. "We’re building something."

Zoey leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "And it’s just starting."

Rose smiled faintly. "We’ve touched something that’s been asleep for centuries. Now it’s awake."

Sophie stood and walked to Lucy, kneeling beside her and pressing her lips gently to her forehead. "Do you think... there’ll be more?" Her voice cracked just slightly, like the hope in her chest was too big to hold in.

Lucy opened her eyes, shimmering and soft. "I think the island will give us what we’re ready for."

Jude’s breath caught. He looked around at them all - his wives, his lovers, his companions. Twelve hearts bound to his. Twelve women who had chosen this life beside him. He remembered Alara’s kiss, her words echoing still:

You are the root. The seed. The pulse.

He stood slowly, the firelight dancing across his bare skin. "If this is our home now, then we have to treat it like one. Not just survive here. Thrive. Build. Grow. Live."

Stella rose beside him. "Then we need more than fire and food. We need a future."

Sophie joined them. "We need to choose who we’ll become."

The fire pulsed higher, as if stirred by their unity.

The night deepened. One by one, the others began to drift off, curling around Lucy’s resting form. Jude remained awake, watching the flames, feeling the heartbeat beneath the ground, listening to the breathing trees.

And then Rose sat beside him again.

She didn’t speak right away. Just leaned her head against his shoulder and stared into the fire with him.

"She’s going to change everything," she said after a while.

"I know."

"We all are. But her first."

Jude wrapped an arm around her waist. "You’re not afraid?"

"No," she said. "Because we chose this. Together."

He turned and kissed her. It was soft, lingering, without urgency. When they pulled apart, she was smiling again, like she always did when she knew something he didn’t.

"We’re going to need names," she murmured.

"For what?"

"For the world we’re building."

He chuckled. "I’m open to suggestions."

Rose shifted into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "How about Eden?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Too biblical."

"Sanctum?"

"Too cold."

She smiled wickedly. "Okay, then you name it."

Jude looked out at the trees, the stars peeking through golden leaves, the faint glow of his wives sleeping peacefully beneath the roots of a living tree. He placed a hand over his heart, feeling not just his own pulse - but theirs. All of theirs.

"Liora," he said.

Rose tilted her head. "What does it mean?"

He looked into her eyes. "Light. For all of us."

She kissed him again, and this time, it wasn’t soft.

It was promise.

And in the distance, somewhere deep in the island’s bones, something answered. A soft rumble. A ripple of heat.

The seed had been planted.

Now it would grow.

By morning, the sky had shifted from gold to a soft, luminous white, like the island itself had exhaled after a long-held breath. Dew clung to the vines in perfect beads, each one glowing faintly as if kissed by starlight. Jude rose from where he lay curled with Rose and Lucy, the warmth of their bodies still pressed faintly into his skin. The air was sweet with something new - fresh, alive, tinged with that same golden scent he had come to recognize as the island’s way of saying yes.

Lucy stirred first, stretching with the languid grace of someone entirely content. Her fingers traced along Jude’s bare chest before she looked up at him. "It’s stronger today," she whispered.

He nodded. "I feel it too."

Rose sat up beside them, brushing golden pollen from her shoulder. "The seed is growing."

Lucy smiled and placed a hand to her belly. "It’s like it’s humming in me."

The others began to stir around them, one by one. Grace sat cross-legged near the fire, rubbing her eyes. Zoey rolled onto her stomach and yawned into the moss. Emma and Sophie exchanged a long, quiet kiss before rising. Stella brought fresh water from the spring, droplets sparkling down her arms as she moved.

Natalie stood still for a moment, just watching them all, her expression unreadable until her lips parted in a breathy smile. "We’re different," she said softly.

Sophie nodded. "We’re more."

Susan stepped close to Lucy and brushed a lock of hair from her brow. "You slept so peacefully."

"I felt safe," Lucy murmured. "I think the island is protecting me now."

Jude stood slowly, the others naturally turning toward him, their eyes drawn to the subtle glow beneath his skin, that constant shimmer that hadn’t left him since the heartstone. He didn’t need to speak to command their attention anymore. They simply listened.

"There’s more to come," he said. "I don’t know what, or when, but... something has begun."

Rose stepped beside him, her arm brushing his. "We need to prepare."

"For what?" Grace asked.

"For life," Rose answered. "The kind that needs shelter. Nourishment. Roots."

Emma crossed her arms. "You’re talking about building."

Zoey tilted her head. "We have homes."

"Not for what’s coming," Lucy said gently. Her hand never left her belly. "Not for them."

Them.

The word passed over them like a ripple. Not a fear - but a revelation.

"Then let’s start," Sophie said. "Let’s make it ours."

They spent the morning mapping the clearing near the heartstone.