A knock at the door startled her. She stiffened, her hand instinctively clenching into a fist, concealing the mark. The pulsing warmth remained, a quiet reminder of what had changed.
“Sam?” It was Mia’s voice. “You okay?”
Sam hesitated. The instinct to say I’m fine was automatic. Familiar. But the second she thought it, the mark burned—a silent protest against the lie.
Before she could stop herself, the words came out. “No. I don’t think I am.”
Mia pushed the door open cautiously, her gaze sweeping across Sam’s tense form. She frowned. “What happened?”
Sam looked down at her palm, still glowing faintly, invisible to anyone but herself. It was forcing her to do this—to speak her truth.
And so, she did.
She told Mia everything.
About the wealth she had hidden. The mind she had dimmed. The way she had carefully built a persona designed to keep herself unseen, unnoticed. How she had spent years ensuring no one would truly know her.
Mia sat quietly, listening, absorbing each word with surprising patience. And when Sam finally stopped, feeling stripped bare, vulnerable, Mia didn’t pull away.
Instead, she exhaled and said, “I have a secret too.”
Sam blinked. “What?”
Mia looked down, twisting the edge of her sleeve. “I’ve been hiding something too. Something I didn’t think you’d understand.”
For the first time, Sam wasn’t the only one standing in exposed truth. Mia shared a part of herself—something buried, something personal. And as she spoke, Sam realized something strange:
Telling the truth hadn’t driven Mia away.
It had brought them closer.
The mark on her palm pulsed—not with heat this time, but with something gentler. A quiet reassurance.
Maybe… this wasn’t a curse.
Maybe the fire really did remake.
Burning Beneath 
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