The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)

by Carissa Broadbent

Strange, that girls are so often told that the loss of their virginity marks a threshold between girlhood and womanhood, as if it fundamentally alters them in some way. It was not the sex that changed the girl forever. Not the blood that spilled between her thighs that shaped her.

I kissed him—kissed that smile—because the idea of not doing so seemed sacrilegious.

I had lost my autonomy, my name, my blood. I had lost my country.