For three years, Xi'anna had been married into a powerful family, but her husband, Richard, regarded her as an exquisite ornament, never touching her. She suffered from "skin hunger," tormented in her frigid marriage. Then her stepson, Damon, returned—the wild man exiled for five years—who, at first glance, saw through her disguised longing. He was a demon, a poison, yet also the only antidote to her suffering. From clandestine encounters on forbidden stairwells to a desperate loyalty forged at gunpoint, this perilous game, teetering on the edge of morality, ultimately culminated in the collapse of Richard's empire. Her demon became a god who protected only her.
