While I usually place some degree of romance or sensuality into my books, this is the first where I have explored a character who loves and desires freely (though this advances in increments, and is not always without jealousy.) It is the first where I have explored polyamory, though there is a definite hierarchy. As well, these romantic relationships take place between Leila and another partner, not polyamory in groups.
Leila is not bound by one romance alone, and the sexual content in Vows of Shadow is nearly equal with the plot material. But there is a lot of character and relationship building that happens during these scenes, and each lover that Leila takes on brings out something different in her.
What Makes Sensuality Sacred in The Hollow Queen?
In the world of The Hollow Queen, sensuality is never just about skin. It’s not titillation for its own sake, nor romance in the soft, conventional sense. Here, sensuality is a kind of power, a language older than loyalty and sharper than steel. It’s a form of knowing, claiming, and commanding—one that plays out not only in bedsheets and bare skin, but in the spaces between violence, vulnerability, and will.
This is a universe where gods awaken, kings bleed, and queens do not ask for love—they are worshipped in it. And the sensual is bound tightly to that worship.
Sensuality as Sovereignty
For Leila Morana, the central figure in the series, sensuality is intimately tied to her sovereignty. When she chooses to touch, to take, or to be taken, it is an act of dominion. Every glance, every kiss, every whispered command is a claim—not only over another, but over herself. Her body becomes not a tool for seduction, but a realm to be entered only with reverence or ruin.
Unlike many fantasy heroines, Leila is not awakening to her desires as if discovering a forbidden garden. She already understands them. She simply chooses when—and whom—to invite in.
Lovers as Mirrors and Monsters
The Hollow Queen’s lovers are never mere consorts. Each is a mirror, a weapon, a shadow, or a storm. Sensuality in this world is not safe—it’s often a challenge, a test of whether one can survive desire without being consumed by it.
- Drazan, her warlord husband, is all molten judgment and brutal tenderness. His desire for Leila is not to soften her—but to sharpen her further.
- Calrix, the assassin, offers intimacy like a blade offered hilt-first—an invitation to wield him or wound him.
- Others bring their own distinct textures of devotion, obsession, or otherworldly hunger.
These are not romances. These are reckonings. Leila does not fall in love—she chooses it. And each time, it remakes her.
Divinity and Desire
Desire in The Hollow Queen is often divine in scope. When Leila is touched by gods, or becomes one herself, sensuality transcends the physical. It becomes a means of communion, of creation, of claiming space within and beyond the mortal world. Some of her most intimate encounters are also acts of transformation—where something ancient and dark stirs awake not just in her, but in the world itself.
This is what sets the series apart: it treats sensuality as a cosmic force. Not just bodies meeting, but souls testing the weight of fate. And when it’s done right, kingdoms shift.
Sensuality as a Weapon, Not a Weakness
Perhaps most powerfully, The Hollow Queen treats sensuality as a weapon. Leila uses it with precision—not as manipulation, but as understanding. She knows what her gaze does. She knows the difference between desire and control. And she knows that when someone is bare before her—physically or emotionally—they are most vulnerable to the truth.
And sometimes? That truth is love. But more often, it’s something stranger: reverence, surrender, or fear.
Sensuality in The Hollow Queen is not about softness. It’s about surrender—with teeth. It’s about power offered, taken, broken, and reforged. Whether through godblood, shadow, or whispered promises in the dark, Leila Morana’s world reminds us that intimacy is never simple. It is sacred. It is dangerous.
And it is always hers.
What this means for different mediums:
While the printed books and audiobooks will explore all the content of the series, I am also planning to produce the story as a Youtube series and possibly a podcast.
The Youtube version of the audio will be free to listen to, yes, but it will be abridged – it will not include all the more graphic or explicit sexual material, but it will gloss over it, while still including important content and conversations that happen during.
I am also considering releasing an abridged edition of the book in order to match that, though whether anyone would be interested in that, I’m not sure. It’s like releasing an edited version of an album without explicit language…
So! If that’s something you’re going to skip over anyway, maybe you can find the right version for you. 🙂
I do not have a date settled yet, though I am considering September. The text for Vows of Shadow is complete at 232k words, though I still need to make sure everything is ready to go around the same time.
Any questions? Feel free to ask!
The Hollow Queen Series 
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