CHAPTER TWO
Frost Between Worlds
Kael stayed in the inn, trying to recover, though honestly, he never really fit in. He barely touched his food. Once, when he got too close to the fire, the flames actually leaned away from him, like they were scared of him.
Aria watched him from across the room. She would sketch between photo shoots, sneaking glances when she thought he would not notice. Something about him pulled her in, maybe his stillness, or the sadness always hiding behind those pale eyes.
One evening, she found him outside by the lake again, just staring down at the ice.
"You came back," she said to him.
"I never left," Kael murmured. "My world's underneath this one, the Realm of Frost. Every hundred years, the veil between worlds gets thin. This winter, the barrier cracked."
Aria frowned. "Wait you're not from here?"
"I'm the Guardian of Winter," he said, as if that explained everything. "But lately the frost has been restless. It wants warmth love, things I was never allowed to touch."
The wind tossed his hair, and for a split second, she saw it, faint wings of light flaring out behind him, then gone.
"I shouldn't be telling you this," he whispered. "Your heart's too kind."
"My heart's already broken," Aria said, voice low.
He looked at her then, really looked and, for the first time, she saw a hint of color in his face, like something had finally reached him.
The Hidden Garden
Snow kept falling for days, covering Silver Pine until the roads vanished. People started whispering about omens.
Aria and Kael slipped into the woods, hoping to get photos of the frozen waterfalls. Under an arch of ice, Aria stumbled on something she couldn't believe, flowers blooming right through the frost, their petals shining like crystal.
Kael knelt beside them. "Frost blooms," he said. "They only grow where love once lived. Your world's warmth must've touched this place."
"Love?" Aria repeated, half to herself.
He smiled, just a little. "It leaves traces, even after life."
Aria stared at the blossoms, thinking of Daniel, of promises lost somewhere under all that snow. Her eyes stung. Kael reached out and brushed away a tear, so gently she barely felt it.
"You carry sorrow the way winter carries night," he told her. "But both have to end before dawn comes."
Their eyes met, and something shifted, soft, fragile, and new.
The Whispering Mirror
That night, Aria dreamed of a mirror in the snow. Inside its glass, she saw two worlds her own, full of color and breath, and another beneath it, carved from ice and moonlight.
In the reflection stood Kael, reaching for her.
When she woke, frost had formed across her window, but in the center was the faint outline of a hand.
Downstairs, Kael sat near the fire, his eyes distant.
"I heard your heart last night," he said softly.
She blinked. "You what?"
"It wept," he said. "Dreams carry sound in my world."
He turned to her then, his voice gentler. "Do you know what happens when your kind touches the frost too deeply?"
Aria shook her head.
"You begin to hear it whisper back".
Happy reading.
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