Many of us believed in them once. Some of us still do. We believed in their piety, virtue, character, kindness and strength. We believed in their righteousness, and we followed their teachings. But when we were first told their stories, were we given the whole truth? Or was it just a glossed over, woefully diminished version of what really happened? Perhaps just enough to paint their personas, powers, deeds and patronages in the best possible light given the church's stature of the times. Or maybe the whole truth would do the most good if most of it was kept hidden . . . like certain afflictions? Maybe it would be easier to avoid the consequences of too much said becoming too much broken. Who knows? Well, the saints do, and now they're telling . . . everything.
For these men, who first became saints and then became broken saints, are still plagued with some crucial aspects of humanity left in them, and maybe that's been their downfall. These characteristic leftovers of humankind that wouldn't take to conversion were left behind as segments and remnants of humanity. Perhaps that's when, how and why the saints became moody, resentful, untrusting, and disgusted with the whole concept of a holy war that was hovering on the horizon and threatening to become not only the scourge of humanity, but also the end of it. And they wanted no part of any of it. Not the strife. Not the struggles. Not the aftermath. For it was these last remaining traits of feeling angry, bitter, disillusioned and disheartened that clashed with both their sanity and sanctity, as well as everything else they had originally believed in. That's when they strayed.
Broken Saints — Of Sin & Virtue is the story of Valentine Aelius Romanus, better known as St. Valentine, and his imminent descent into the depths of Hell. It's also the story of a blind girl named Aurora, who picks his pocket, falls in love with her mark, and triggers her own incredible mission of rescue. But even as Valentine becomes entangled in Aurora's secret quest, he can't risk her discovering his secret; for he, himself, is one of the very monsters he fights to protect her from. A fragrant beauty; a damnable beast. The perfect pairing of Heaven and Hell. Each fighting for the other as the forces of evil are rising and conspiring around them.
Their adventures are riveting and their stories are revealing, and the roads they travel are cratered with the trials and tribulations of both the holy and the unholy. The action and the drama run in a never-ending pace as the pathways of the saints continue to cross from Heaven to Hell and back again.
Join the quest. Turn the page, and let the light of the Broken illuminate your deepest fears.
