Aiden Lobo is a graduate student in a world where magic, gods, and demons are part of everyday life. After a terrible betrayal, he is cursed with a Crack in his heart, slowly turning him into a living doorway for an ancient war demon. If Aeshma breaks through to Earth, he will kill millions.<br><br>But before Aeshma can open the Crack, Aiden is rescued by his guardian angel, who uses his own Light to seal Aiden's heart. As a servant of the divine, the nameless angel was supposed to kill Aiden to avert the growing cataclysm inside him. But he loves Aiden too much to end his life, even to save the world.<br><br>It's impossible for Aiden not to love his warm, generous guardian in return. He names the angel Eskandar, but then learns to his horror that because Eskandar was created for him, when Aiden dies, Eskandar will too. The angel has long since accepted this fate, but Aiden refuses to. He will do anything to keep his beloved angel safe. But with no other recourse than to sacrifice himself to prevent the apocalypse, there's only one way for Aiden to save Eskandar: a terrible betrayal of his own.

A Crack in the Heart

The fact Tanner was the one dragging him to whatever horror he’d planned, the fact he hadplanned this in the first place, was a betrayal so huge, Aiden couldn’t even fathom it. He remembered all the smiles and touches, Tanner’s adorable nervousness and all the fucking bottles of water. Bottles Aiden had accepted each and every time, always with the happy knowledge Tanner offered them to him first. He hadn’t even looked to see if this bottle was already open, but he knew if he had, he would’ve just thought it was Tanner being nice.


He’d thought he’d known why; obviously he’d never actually known Tanner at all.


Chapter 8