Shadows Between Hearts

Wounds That Do Not Close

Chapter 18: Wounds That Do Not Close

Rainwater ran red around Adrian’s knee.

Lena pressed both hands to the wound at his side. Silver light poured from her palms, searching the torn flesh, trying to mend what steel had opened.

Nothing happened.

The skin remained blackened at the edges.

Smoke rose from it.

Elias limped closer, one hand on his ribs.

“That seems medically concerning.”

Selene crouched beside them, expression sharp.

“Gate-fire poison,” she said. “The blade brands more than flesh.”

Adrian managed a weak breath of laughter.

“How comforting that everyone knows what’s killing me.”

“Be quiet,” Lena snapped.

He looked at her.

Even pale with pain, he found the strength to smile.

“I missed that tone.”

She hated that tears nearly came.

The street around them was empty now—abandoned cars, shattered glass, distant sirens growing louder.

“We need shelter,” Elias said.

“I know a place,” Selene replied.

All three stared at her.

“What?” she said. “I contain surprises.”

“No,” Elias said. “You contain crimes.”

Still, there was no better option.

They moved through the storm to an old cathedral hidden between office towers.

Its stone exterior was cracked and forgotten, fenced off as unsafe. Inside, candles lit themselves as Selene pushed open the doors.

Lena stopped at the threshold.

“This is court ground.”

“Neutral ground,” Selene corrected. “Older than your dramas.”

The vast hall smelled of wax, dust, and ancient rain.

Broken stained glass painted the floor in shards of color.

They laid Adrian across the altar steps.

He looked up at the ceiling.

“I always hated churches.”

“You hate most things,” Selene said.

“Only consistently.”

Lena knelt beside him again.

“Tell me how to stop it.”

Adrian’s humor faded.

“There may not be a way.”

“There is always a way.”

“That optimism is Elias’s influence.”

Elias, rummaging through old cabinets, called out, “Thank you?”

Selene folded her arms.

“There is one method.”

Lena looked up sharply.

“Speak.”

“The poison burns through what remains of his old power. When it reaches the heart, he dies.”

Adrian sighed. “Again with the comforting.”

Selene continued.

“It can be drawn out by someone bound strongly enough to absorb it.”

Lena understood instantly.

“No.”

“Yes,” Selene said. “You.”

Elias came back carrying bandages and a bottle of water.

“Why is everyone saying no before I arrive?”

Lena stood.

“I am not taking another curse into my body.”

Selene stepped closer.

“Then he dies by dawn.”

Adrian’s voice cut through them.

“No one touches it.”

All turned.

He had forced himself upright, one hand pressed to the wound.

“I will not watch her suffer for me again.”

Lena stared at him.

“You don’t get to decide that.”

“I finally do.”

He swayed.

Elias rushed forward and pushed him gently back down.

“Sit before you heroically bleed out.”

Adrian glared. “You are insufferable.”

“And alive because of me carrying you three blocks.”

“That was humiliating.”

“It was cardio.”

Despite herself, Lena laughed through tears.

The sound silenced the room.

Adrian looked at her like it was something sacred.

Then the cathedral doors slammed shut.

Candles blew out.

Darkness swallowed the hall.

A voice echoed from the nave:

“Touching.”

Red light ignited near the entrance.

Cassian stood there with the Iron Circle behind him.

Rain steamed off his coat.

He raised the black sword.

“I came for the bridge,” he said. “But taking the king dying on an altar feels poetic.”

Selene cursed softly.

Elias gripped a candlestick like a weapon.

Lena stepped in front of Adrian.

Silver light blazed from her hands.

Cassian smiled.

“Yes,” he said. “Show me what you become when cornered.”

End of Chapter 18

Say Chapter 19 when you're ready.