You might be human, but you're a woman, and that gives you far more strength than he'll ever be capable of. Not to mention perspective. Only women truly understand the cruelties of the world, the depths of people's greed and desire, what dark things they can motivate someone to do.

Wren, in her sleeping robe, standing close to a tall wolf demon, her head craned back to face him. The wolf: Moon caste, marbled ash-gray fur flowing silkily over angular features, a diamond-shaped patch of white on his long, muzzlelike jaw. He’s dressed in soldier’s clothes. One pawed hand is lifted to cup Wren’s face, like the beginning of a kiss.

Fire. So much fire. Fire so hot it burns even ice to ashes. Fire like a wave to swallow the world whole. Fire from within her. Fire that sears skin and all she touches. Fire bright enough to blind those who look at her. Red flames in the palace. Red flames, kindled from within. On the night of fire, more will come to scorch him.

No matter how brave I might try to seem, really the heart that beats within my rib cage is weak and broken and scared, and I am just a human girl kneeling before a demon king.

They can take and steal and break all they want, but there is one thing they have no control over. Our emotions. Our feelings. Our thoughts. None of them will ever be able to control the way we feel. Our minds and our hearts are our own. That is our power.

Everyone’s assumption is for women and men to be together, and yet here we are, human girls, the Demon King’s concubines. Surely love between two women wouldn’t be so strange?

Her kisses heal the parts of me that the King broke. They tell me: You are strong, Lei. You are beautiful. You are min. And, always, most important: You are yours.

Her kisses heal the parts of me that the King broke. They tell me: You are strong, Lei. You are beautiful. You are mine. And always, most important: You are yours.

Imagine as you do that the air you take in is bright and golden, as lovely and light as your eyes.

But there is one thing that is infinite: greed. The ability of humans and demons to want. To desire. To hunger after things that don't belong to them.