Battle Hearts Novels & Stories

and a lemon juice for herself. "'Heartbeat 141' is supposedly the owner's special cocktail. They say your heart rate reaches 141 when you're in passionate love. Try it," Zia clinked glasses with me and continued, "But for someone like me with congenital heart disease, I can never drink alcohol in this lifetime. Maybe I'm not suited for intense love either. What does being drunk feel like? I'm quite envious that you can live so freely." "Did you study medicine because of your heart condition?" I took a sip of the Heartbeat 141. It was strong, with a tropical fruit aroma, but quickly followed by a bitter taste.

He had rough hands, they were not at all soft, and his grip was rough but it didn't hurt me, he was making sure I didn't leave. "Sure," I sarcastically replied. He ran his tattooed hand through a strand of my blonde hair that fell over my chest. "Beta house is having a summer initiation party this Friday after the game —yes, I already knew and it was clear I was going— UCLA isn't very far, and since Bryce belongs to the fraternity, I'm already invited—. Stop by, but not to the game, some losers from Syracuse are coming and they're going to lose." "Uhhh..." I wrinkled my nose and pushed the door open, leaving it open and letting the keys hang. "I've never seen you as a Bruin."

I’m guessing you’ve been here before. Mrs. Boaz looked at him with a guilty demeanor, but that kind of guilt where it seems you’re hiding a big secret. “Says here it was a condition named ‘Arrhythmia’. Irregular beating of the heart apparently. Critical condition too because of your age. 49? Come on, you’re not that old now, are you?” She didn’t have to utter a single word. The look on her face did all the talking. “I think it actually cost about five and a half million if I’m not mistaken. Ryan made one phone call and beep beep, Alerts. Got to say man, that was pretty impressive. Wish I had your type of friends, but oh well.”

They were good at it. My heart would have beat louder if I was an amateur dragon. But I was blessed with a mature dragon. When they brought the box and opened it, the Mighty Heart shined like a star and it started beating again. It recognized me. And it knew that I was close to it, closer than ever. The whole crowd was amazed when they saw what the mighty heart did. But no one except for me and my four allies, knew that it was me who made the Mighty Heart start beating again. I was happy in my heart that at least, my people, who were suffering. That heartbeat would lessen their suffering.

Storm, Storm in my heart, can you stop scaring me hard, loom not above my head, let me be tucked cozy in my bed, All Hearts !!

I knitted my eyebrows and brought his palm near my heart. “Are you hearing this?” I questioned with a weak smile and instantly his eyes snapped in my direction. He looked at me, then his palm and then lastly held an eye contact with me. His eyes were pale, devoid of every emotions except confusion. “Can I hate my heartbeat?” I asked again but he only searched my face and few minutes later he shook his head. And that’s when my smile went mode bigger. “This heartbeat is for you. So if I couldn’t hate it then how can I hate you?” I said softly and he gets almost startled in shock.

For a while, she couldn't speak, only a broken, whisper of a voice escaped her: "There's life in me... when I thought I was dying..." Lennox's fingers gently wrapped around her belly, and he rested his forehead on her chest, as if he too wanted to lose himself in that heartbeat. "It's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard," he whispered. "And not just because it's alive... but because it's alive because of you." The machine continued its rhythm, the heartbeat filling the room. There was no other sound—and none was needed. That small thump said everything words never could. Sloane's tears flowed silently. Not from pain. Not from fear. From wonder.

It was as if it was waiting—watching—for her to make a move. When she closed her eyes, the world around her faded, and a vision unfolded in her mind. She stood amidst a battlefield, the ground beneath her feet soaked with blood. Warriors clad in armor clashed, their weapons glowing with otherworldly power. At the center of the chaos was a figure holding the Heart, its dark energy radiating outward in waves of destruction. With every pulse, entire armies were wiped out, reduced to ash in an instant. The figure turned, and Aria’s breath caught. It was her. Or rather, a version of her—one consumed by the Heart’s power, her eyes glowing with an unholy light, her face devoid of compassion.

I press the letter to my chest and I feel the heart thump against the paper like a reply. "I don't know your name as I write this. I don't know your face. But I know you needed a heart and I have one to give, and honestly that's a better love story than most people get. My heart is stubborn, that’s a fair warning. It beats faster when it's angry and slower when it's near lavender and it has a terrible habit of falling in love with people who don't know what to do with love. That might be my fault. Or it might just be the heart. Either way, it's yours now. So make sure you appreciate it and treat it better than I did."

The heart is this 2D clover-leaf shape when it should be a bloody, ugly lump of meat scarred with coronary arteries. If you ran an actual arrow through an actual heart, you best make sure it’s a kill shot into one of the two ventricles because, as confirmed by Bio teacher Mrs. Borromeo, an arrow through the heart isn’t as clean and reliable as Legolas makes it look. Now, Principessa’s light arrow on the other hand… Glitch. Kate’s heart makes a single, irregular beat: Ba-dump. Glitch… GLITCH! She flies out of bed so fast that vertigo adds to her migraine. But Kate’s too fired-up to notice.