Perhaps love did not always need to be found in peace and peace did not always settle into love. Love could burn up, all-consuming like a wildfire as it fed upon kindling. It could burn in the ears and in the throat, but it could burn in the chest and in the belly. Eris was a being attuned to the cold, ice was his nature, but fire burned in the pit of his belly as if he were a beast slumbering in a hearth. Respite in a place he knew could be his death had made him cocky.

It had also ...