The Warmth of Death

Joelann is an introvert who's mastered the art of being present without being seen until he meets Castorice, a lilac-haired stranger whose gloved hands keep the world at arm's length.

Her "touch of death" turns crowds into distance; his careful nature turns distance into ritual. Together, in a city of libraries, greenhouses, and rain-lit windows, they build a quiet civilization of beautiful rules: speak low, stand to the side, praise the weather that touches them both.

They do not rush love. They learn to hover: palms a breath apart, warmth gathering like a small obedient star. Oranges are sliced; graves are tended; plush animals appear beneath a blue whale slide at dawn.

In the almost between their hands, Joelann discovers he would risk everything for a single honest touch... and Castorice trembles for the first time because someone chooses her despite the cost.