Chronicles ofLove and Fires

Roman stood a few steps ahead, coat heavy with frost. The poor man had been through it all. In front of me, he just stared down at the grave like the earth itself had asked him for forgiveness. Around us, the crowd shifted and murmured, the priest mumbled blessings no one really heard. The headstone gleamed pale in the grey light. Too new. Too clean. It almost looked wrong, like the world hadn't decided if it wanted to keep her gone.

I stared at the name until it blurred, until my own reflection stared back at me from the slick marble surface. You'd hate this, I thought. All the silence. All the pretending. The last rose in my pocket was already frozen. The petals cracked under my thumb as I turned it over, trying not to think about how much this ground had seen... how much blood it had taken.

Thin veins of warmth spread through the soil, faintly gold. For a heartbeat, I thought I saw it pulse. This was the only way old magic does when it recognises its own. Roman's hand brushed my shoulder, heat from his palms grounded me like a quiet reminder. He stayed silent, the gesture full of nothing but empathy. The heat rolled off him in slow waves, just enough to keep the frost from biting too deep.

You'll freeze, he said.

You'll melt the cemetery if you keep breathing like that, I answered, and for once, he almost smiled. We left without looking back. The snow kept falling, but the ground beneath us steamed faintly where he'd walked.

They say Aries is too risky. Too impulsive. Too much. Well, what did they expect? You play with fire long enough, you stop being scared of getting burned.

I leaned back, wiping my thumb across the canvas. The gold shimmered faintly in the low light. It shouldn't have. There wasn't enough light in the room for that. At first, I thought I was just tired. Then the shimmer rippled. The paint began to pulsate, like something breathing from inside it.

No. Not this again. The orb appeared where the wall met the floor, humming low, faintly blue at the edges. It was the same one that haunted Roman, the same one we'd buried with time. But this time it didn't drift. It watched.

I stumbled back until the corner of the room caught my shoulder. The cold sank deep. My breath fogged. The orb pulsed again in one long, slow blink.