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

Tanner gritted Greg’s teeth and arced the kilij at Aiden’s sword arm. Aiden caught it on his hilt and pushed the blade away, but that left him open to Tanner hitting him in the jaw again. Aiden didn’t even feel it, but all of a sudden he was looking up at him from the ground with no clue how he got there. And Tanner was about to stab him.


He got his sword up in time so Greg’s blade cut the edge of his chest instead of punching through the middle of it, but the pain was such a shock that he yelled and unthinkingly dropped his blade to grab his side.


Tanner pulled his sword back and then suddenly went flying backward, as if he’d been yanked by a wire. He hit the grass, hard enough Greg’s body bounced a little bit.


Cassandra rushed over to Greg with her casting amulet clenched tight in her raised hand. She shouted in Korean again, and Greg’s body jumped like he’d been kicked.


Chapter 31