RiHoshi10
Pride of Hell has finally found its knees.
For eons, Valerius was the architect of defiance. A High General of the Abyss who witnessed the dawn of time and refused to bow to its Creator, his pride was a fortress that no celestial power could breach. He was a creature of cold fire and absolute sovereignty-until he met Julianne.
Julianne Thorne is a mortal who walks the thin line between life and death every day, serving those whose time is running out. She possesses a quiet, unbreakable grace that Valerius-a being of eternal violence-cannot comprehend. When an ancient, soul-binding curse begins to pull Julianne toward a darkness even deeper than the Pit, Valerius realizes that his immortality is a hollow kingdom without her light.
To save her, the demon who would not bend to God must do the unthinkable: He must become a supplicant.
Driven by a love that is considered the ultimate blasphemy, Valerius embarks on a harrowing pilgrimage through the forgotten cathedrals of the world. For every day of life he steals back for Julianne, he must kneel before the icons of a thousand saints and pay a "Tithe of Essence."
With every prayer uttered by lips meant for cursing, a new thorn of smoldering, white-hot iron sears itself into his brow-a "halo" of agony that marks his descent from prince to beggar. But as his demonic brothers hunt him for his treason and the saints demand higher prices, Valerius must decide: How much of his soul is he willing to burn away to keep a mortal heart beating?