The light that lingered above the tree slowly dimmed into a golden twilight, though the sky beyond still pulsed with soft radiance - as if night and day had finally surrendered their boundaries to something new. Jude lay at the center of it all, encircled by the twelve women who had become more than lovers, more than companions. They were pieces of him now, facets of one shared pulse. The moss cradled them like skin, breathing with them, around them, holding them in warmth as the echoes of their union drifted like music through the air.
Lucy stirred first, her fingers gently trailing down Jude's stomach, curling lazily around the line of hair beneath his navel. "We're still glowing," she murmured, pressing a kiss against his chest. "Even after all that."
He smiled, eyes still closed. "It doesn't fade."
"It can't," Rose whispered, her cheek against his shoulder. "Not after what we've become."
