<h4>Chapter 1178: Chapter 1178</h4>


    The walk was long, but they didn’t speak much. Words felt too small for what they’d just survived. Instead, they focused on each other-the steady rhythm of their breaths, the warmth of their hands linked together, the quiet strength of their bond. When Rose stumbled, Jude and Sophie were there to catch her. When fear flickered in her eyes, it was Lucy’s quiet presence, Zoey’s soft encouragement, Scarlet’s steady hand that kept her going.


    By the time they reached the cliffs, the sun was high, casting the sea below in brilliant blue and silver. The wind whipped around them, cool and clean, carrying away some of the weight of the night. They found shelter in a hollow of rock, a ce they’d camped before, where they could see the forest and the sea both, where nothing could approach without being seen.


    They made a small fire, not for cooking, but forfort. The mes danced in the breeze, their crackle a soothing counterpoint to the crash of waves below. Rose sat close to it, wrapped in Jude’s arms, Sophie on her other side, the rest gathered near. They shared what little food they had-fruit, nuts, a bit of dried fish-and drank from their water skins, their hunger secondary to the relief of simply being together.


    As they rested, Rose spoke in halting words of what she’d felt, what she’d seen. Of the thing that had taken root in her, that had tried to use her voice, her face, her love to draw them all into the ind’s trap. Of the moments when she’d almost given in, when the promise of peace, of surrender, had seemed so easy, so tempting.


    "But I remembered you," she said, looking at Jude, at Sophie, at all of them. "Your faces. Your voices. I held on to that. It’s what kept me from falling all the way."


    Jude kissed the top of her head, his arms tightening around her. "We’ll never let you fall. Not as long as we breathe."


    Night fell again as they sat together, the stars bright above, the ind’s darkness kept at bay for now by their fire, their love, their resolve. But beneath it all, Jude felt it-the truth that this was only the beginning. The ind had tested them, and they had won a battle. But the war was far from over. And whatever waited beneath the earth, in the heart of the ind’s magic, it would not rest until it had them all.


    He met the gaze of each of his wives, saw the same truth reflected back at him. They would face it. They would fight it. And they would do it together.


    Always together.


    The night air settled cool and heavy around them, the fire’s glow painting soft light across their faces as they leaned into one another, drawing warmth not only from the flickering mes but from thefort of being close, of knowing they had survived another trial. Jude felt the weight of Rose in his arms, the gentle rise and fall of her breath, and though relief filled him, it wasced with the sharp edge of dread. The ind’s silence wasn’t peace-it was the pause before the next storm.


    Sophie rested her head on his shoulder, her fingerscing with his, her thumb tracing slow, soothing circles against his skin. Her presence was steady, grounding him, as it always did. "We should sleep," she whispered, though she made no move to pull away. "We’ll need our strength."


    "We will," Jude agreed, but his eyes stayed on the dark horizon, on the faint shimmer of the sea beyond the cliffs. The stars reflected on the waves like scattered silver coins, beautiful and cold. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the ind was watching, waiting for them to close their eyes.


    Lucy stood near the edge of their shelter, sword resting across her knees, gaze sharp as she kept watch. The firelight glinted off the de’s edge, and her posture spoke of sleepless determination. Zoey sat nearby, her back against the rock, arms around Scarlet, who dozed lightly, face soft in the fire’s glow. Grace and Susan shared a nket, heads resting together, their breathing slow and even. Ste and Natalie huddled close, whispering quietly, drawingfort from the sound of each other’s voices. Emma, ever alert, sat opposite Lucy, her eyes on the forest beyond, as if daring the shadows to move.


    Rose shifted slightly in Jude’s arms, her voice small but clear. "Don’t let me go. Not tonight."


    "Never," Jude said, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I won’t let anything take you again."


    For a time, they sat in silence, the crackle of the fire the only sound beyond the endless hush of the sea and the faint sighing of the wind through the grass. Jude felt his eyelids grow heavy, but he fought it, unwilling to surrender to sleep while the memory of what had nearly been lost still burned so fresh in his mind.


    But sleep came for them all eventually, slow and inevitable. One by one, they drifted off, the exhaustion of the day iming them. Lucy and Emma took turns keeping watch, their sharp eyes scanning the night, their des within easy reach. Jude felt himself pulled into the soft dark of dreams, the warmth of Rose and Sophie beside him his final thought before the world faded.


    When dawn came, it was pale and quiet, the sky streaked with the soft pink and gold of morning. The sea below was calm, the waves gentle, as if the night’s tension had been nothing but a bad dream. But Jude knew better. The ind’s magic hadn’t retreated-it had only changed its face.


    They woke slowly, stretching, sharing what little food they had left, their words few but filled with unspoken promises. Today, they would begin again. They would search for answers. For a way to truly break the hold that dark force had tried to im on Rose, and perhaps, on all of them.