Juliet’s Villain Arc Is Everything My Dark Heart Needed
- Elle | Queen of Smut 💋
- May 11
- 3 min read
Stubborn? Yes. Dangerous? Absolutely. Regret it? Never. My Dark Heart Needed This Book.
I bring you pain. I bring you chaos. I bring you the second coming of emotional devastation in the form of Lucy Smoke’s The Demons We Hide — Book Two of the Scorpion Kings series and the official reason I’ve been screaming into a pillow for three nights straight. 🖤🦂
🩸Title: The Demons We Hide
👑 Author: Lucy Smoke
🗓️ Release Date: May 9, 2025
🔥 Rating: 5 STARS
🌶️ Spice Level: 4/5 Chilis
⚠️ Trigger Warning: This book does not play nice. Read responsibly.
👑 THIS ISN’T A LOVE STORY. IT’S A CROWN MADE OF SHATTERED GLASS.
Juliet? My violent, trauma-laced girlie? She’s done playing nice.
When we last saw her in The Venom We Bleed, she was still clinging to hope, still desperate to believe there was something redeemable in the boys who tore her down. But now? Hope is dead. Long live vengeance. 🥀
Lucy Smoke cracked her knuckles and said, “Let’s burn it all down.” And babe… my dark heart needed this.
🔥 MEET THE DEMONS: AKA THE MEN WHO BROKE ME
💔 Gio – Dark eyes. Darker secrets. This man destroyed me. I will never emotionally recover.
🧨 Lex – You want chaos? You want a man who hums, and you feel it in your soul (and maybe your thighs)? That’s Lex. His mouth should be a weapon. His loyalty? Deadly.
🖤 Nolan – His arc is a slow burn wrapped in shattered innocence and broken promises. Nolan bleeds pain and kisses like a threat.
And then there’s Juliet. The FMC that made me want to throw my Kindle… and then bow before her in absolute awe. She is pain personified. Chapter 41 should be illegal. I suspected, and still—I cried ugly.
“I’m not a victim. I am the villain.”QUEEN. BEHAVIOR.
🥵 SPICE RATING: 4/5 CHILIS
Dark. Gritty. Deliciously reckless. Let’s just say when these demons get possessive? They don’t ask for permission. And Jules? She doesn’t beg—unless she wants to. 😈
This is not your soft candlelit smut. This is teeth and bruises and whispered threats. It’s messy kisses in the dark and fingers digging into scars. It’s trauma bonding, but make it hot.
🧠 PAIN RATING: 4.5/5 SOUL WOUNDS
Emotional torment? ✔️
Unresolved trauma? ✔️
Moments where I wanted to hurl myself into a bottle of red wine and
scream “WHY?” into the abyss? ✔️✔️
This book hurts. If you’ve ever loved broken people who hurt each other while trying to survive the world, you’ll feel seen in the worst and most beautiful ways.
🪓 UNHINGED RATING: OFF THE CHARTS
If I had a dollar for every time I wanted to throat punch a character in this book, I’d be able to fund my entire sprayed-edge collection. Juliet’s stubbornness? Lethal. The boys’ secrets? INFURIATING. But somehow… I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted more. More pain. More passion. More punishment.
💋 FINAL VERDICT:
If The Venom We Bleed was your introduction to Silverwood’s savage underworld… The Demons We Hide is your initiation into its darkest corners.
Lucy Smoke doesn’t just write books—she conjures madness, paints with blood, and seduces you with the promise of survival through sin. If you’re brave enough to walk through hell, Juliet will hand you the match.
Read it. Rage with it. Cry over Gio. Lust after Nolan. Ache for Lex. And when you’re done?
Bow before the fallen princess who made herself a Queen. 👑
📚 Sinner Stats:
🖤 Book Hangover Level: 11/10
🔥 Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
💔 Pain Level: 😭😭😭😭.5
⚠️ CWs: SA, abuse, trauma, emotional manipulation, mental illness, grief
🔖 QUOTE HIGHLIGHTS:
“If I kiss Alex, will he become a prince?”😢 No, baby. But you’ll still try.
“I think I’ll be very, very bad.”👑 And we’re here for it.
“Lex hums in the back of his throat… He should make it again when his face is buried between my— no! Absolutely the f*ck not.”🔥 Ma’am. This line will haunt me. In the best way.
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