<h4>Chapter 1128: Chapter 1128</h4>


    "We watch them," Sophie said immediately. "We don’t leave them alone. Not for a second."


    Lucy hesitated. "But if they’re really free... wouldn’t that be cruel?"


    "No," Jude said. "Cruel is letting it happen again."


    Natalie frowned. "What if shees through someone else next time?"


    Jude looked toward the tree, where the blue watchersign still pulsed. "She will."


    Silence fell again. No one argued.


    Eventually, the women fell asleep in pairs and small groups, but no one slept deeply. Jude stayed awake with Sophie and Emma, taking shifts beside the still forms of the once-corrupted wives. Around midnight, Rose stirred.


    He saw her eyes flutter open first,shes trembling. Then her fingers twitched against the mat shey on. Sophie leaned over her, cautious but calm. "Rose?"


    Rose blinked up at her. Her voice came out like a whisper. "I... what happened?"


    Jude knelt beside her. "You don’t remember?"


    Rose looked around slowly. "We were near the stone. We were calling something. And then, " She stopped. Her face twisted. "Oh god."


    Sophie gripped her hand. "You’re okay. It’s over."


    Rose’s eyes filled with tears. "No. It’s not."


    "You’re not her anymore," Jude said gently. "You’re you."


    Rose shook her head. "No... I saw her. Inside me. She showed me everything. Not lies. Memories. She remembers all of us."


    Jude leaned in. "What do you mean?"


    "She was never just a shadow. She’s us. Shees from us. She knows how to seduce because she remembers love. She knows how to infect because she remembers touch. She’s not separate." Her breath shook. "She’s made from us."


    That hit Jude like a stone to the chest.


    Emma stepped closer. "So if we destroy her, we destroy something of ourselves?"


    Rose nodded. "She’s the version of us we buried. The hunger, the lust, the wild longing to belong to something powerful. That thing we pretend doesn’t live in us... she’s that."


    Sophie was silent for a long moment. "Then we’ll just have to want something else more."


    Rose looked up at her, tears slipping down her temples. "Promise me if I fall again, you won’t try to save me. You’ll stop me. For real."


    Jude answered for both of them. "No. We’ll always try to save you."


    Later, Zoey awoke, followed by La and Grace. Each one said the same thing, fragments of memory, broken sensations, shame, guilt, and onemon feeling: they’d been weed by her. She hadn’t possessed them like a ghost. She’d embraced them like a lover.


    Jude stayed awake until dawn, too wired to sleep, too afraid of what mighte in the night.


    And when the first light crept through the trees, painting golden bars across the jungle floor, he felt it again, that low hum under his feet.


    It came in waves now, like a heartbeat.


    But the watchersign on the tree hadn’t changed.


    It was still pulsing.


    Still watching.


    Still waiting.


    The jungle was quieter than usual, unnervingly so. The birds hadn’t returned. Even the wind, which usually whispered through the canopy before dawn, had gone still. Jude stood alone at the edge of the forest, his hand resting on the trunk of the tree where the watchersign pulsed in soft blue. It hadn’t dimmed overnight. If anything, it had grown brighter, more defined, more deliberate. Like a message still waiting to be read.


    Behind him, the camp was beginning to stir. The women moved slowly, cautiously. No oneughed. No one teased. The tension hung like a mist over everything. Even Rose, who had always been bold and irreverent, barely made eye contact. Zoey kept close to La, speaking in quiet whispers that stopped the moment someone came near. Ste avoided everyone, her eyes shadowed, her shoulders tense.


    Sophie came up behind Jude, her hand resting lightly on his back. "You haven’t moved in half an hour."


    He didn’t turn to her. "It’s the same watchersign."


    "I know."


    "It hasn’t faded."


    "I know," she repeated, voice softer.


    He finally looked at her. "What if it’s not just a message? What if it’s a... mark? A gate?"


    Sophie’s brows furrowed. "You think it’s a ce she mighte through?"


    "Maybe. Or maybe it’s just where she’s watching from now."


    Sophie stared at it a moment, then reached forward and ran her fingers gently across the glowing grooves in the bark. The tree shivered, not violently, but as though it had exhaled.


    She stepped back immediately. "It felt... warm."


    Jude stared at the watchersign. "We need to tell the others. Not just about this mark. About everything."


    By midday, they had gathered near the fire pit. All twelve women sat in a loose circle with Jude at the center. No one argued. No one tried to interrupt. Even Rose sat quietly, her face pale, hands sped tightly in herp. She looked like someone bracing for judgment. Jude looked at each of them in turn before speaking.


    "I know it’s hard to talk about what happened. But we have to. We have to say it aloud or it’ll keep growing in the dark."


    They waited.


    Zoey finally broke the silence. "I remember seeing her... not just from outside. I was her. I remember thinking the others were mine to touch. To taste. To... turn."


    La nodded slowly. "Me too. It felt natural. Like we were just bing something more. More free. More true."


    "But it wasn’t truth," Sophie said, sharp. "It was hunger. It was maniption."


    "Isn’t that part of us too?" Grace asked. "Isn’t desire part of being human?"


    "Yes," Jude said. "But it’s not all of us. Wanting someone doesn’t mean owning them. Seduction without love isn’t connection, it’s control."


    The silence returned, heavier now. Rose looked up. "She didn’t take us. We gave in. She didn’t break us. We opened the door."


    Ste whispered, "Because she knew what we wanted. And twisted it."


    Emma looked from face to face. "So what now? Do we pretend everything’s fine? Sleep next to each other and wonder who’s next?"