Breaking Butterflies — M. Anjelais

Fated.
Fatal.
Forever.

SPHINXIE AND CADENCE. Promised to each other in childhood. Drawn together again as teens. Sphinxie is sweet, compassionate, and plain. Cadence is brilliant, charismatic. Damaged. And diseased. When they were children, he scarred her with a knife. Now, as his sickness spreads, he becomes increasingly demanding. The closest he can come to happiness, it seems, is when he's hurting her. She wants to be loyal -- but fears for her life. Only the ultimate sacrifice will give this love an ending.

A beautifully disturbing story of first love and innocence lost -- written when the author was just eighteen