Exysexyme
His Crowned Meal
Every year, a beautiful maiden is sacrificed to the Zenips King, a monstrous ruler feared by all. The village lives in constant terror, bound by a tradition no one dares to defy. Liana, a spirited young woman with fiery red hair, is blissfully unaware of this grim fate-until the day her world shatters.
When her brother, the village doctor, asks her to bring him a meal, Liana hesitates. The whispers of missing girls, the warnings of the elders-she knows something isn't right. But her love for her brother outweighs her fear. The moment she steps outside, her fate is sealed.
Betrayed by her own family, bound and abandoned on the offering altar, Liana is left to suffer the elements, awaiting the monster who will claim her. But when the Zenips King finally arrives, he is nothing like she imagined.
Damian is powerful, ruthless, and breathtakingly intelligent-a tyrant who sees humans as nothing more than food. Yet, instead of devouring Liana, he is intrigued. Her fire, her defiance, her unwavering will to live-she is unlike any sacrifice before her.
Fascination turns to obsession. Obsession turns to love.
But their forbidden bond shakes the very foundation of Damian's kingdom. The Zenips refuse to accept a mortal queen. As enemies rise from within and outside their world, Damian and Liana must fight for their love-or become another tragedy in the cycle of blood and betrayal.
Can a monster defy his nature?
Can a mortal survive the love of a beast?
Or will the ancient hunger claim them both?