The Sin Beneath His Skin. The Devil's Gentlemen, #43

Saint Verena Cathedral no longer exists in any meaningful sense. What was once a sacred institution has become a ruin swallowed by time, leaving behind only fragmented stone, haunted memory, and the unanswered echo of something vast that once stirred beneath its foundations. Luke survived it. Changed by what he witnessed beneath the cathedral, carrying invisible scars that never fully fade, he retreats to a quiet coastal town where the world feels distant enough not to reopen old wounds.
Life becomes slow, muted, almost ordinary-until the storm arrives. Byron returns without warning. Still bound to the ancient curse that once made him a vessel for humanity's buried sins, Byron is no longer collapsing under its weight-but he is not free. The Hollow Saint remains within him, quiet but present, a reminder that some things cannot be exorcised, only contained. When Luke sees him again, there is no illusion left to maintain.
No hope of innocence. No fantasy of cure. Only truth. What follows is not redemption in the traditional sense, but something far more fragile and intimate: two broken survivals choosing each other without the promise of salvation. A love that does not erase corruption, but holds it without fear. In a world where confession once became a weapon and holiness was built on buried cruelty, Luke and Byron discover that forgiveness is not the only form of survival.
Sometimes, what remains unforgiven is what still chooses to stay.