Forbidden Desire and Competing Loyalties in Hexed

Introduction: The Thematic Core of Hexed

The dark romance Hexed by Emily McIntire—a fractured fairy tale and the first book in the Never After series—wrestles with a timeless, agonizing tension: forbidden desire and competing loyalties. The central romance between Venesa Andersen and Enzo Marino unfolds under the looming shadow of his engagement to her cousin Aria, forcing both characters to choose between searing passion and the demands of family, duty, and survival. McIntire does not present this theme as a simple conflict between right and wrong; instead, she paints a world where loyalty is a currency traded within criminal empires, and desire is a dangerous, destabilizing force. The novel insists that the heart’s pull is irresistible, but the consequences of surrendering to it are woven into the very fabric of family obligation, self-preservation, and legacy. Across three pivotal plot movements—the early, tremulous restraint; the symbolic breaking of family bonds; and the high-stakes reckoning where choice meets collateral damage—Hexed traces how forbidden longing corrodes loyalties built on obligation, even while it holds the promise of a truer, though more costly, kind of belonging.

The Tug-of-War: Desire Meets the Weight of Obligation

From the earliest moments of the story, Venesa’s attraction to Enzo is not merely physical; it is an instinctive pull that threatens every structure she has built her life around. After a charged early encounter—where Enzo tends to her after an incident, treating her with an unexpected tenderness—Venesa finds herself plagued by vivid dreams she cannot control. In one such dream, Enzo’s hands and mouth promise a devotion she has never been allowed, but waking brings the crash of reality: “A sex dream about your cousin’s fiancé. Great, Venesa.” Her internal monologue immediately pivots to self-recrimination and a litany of warnings. She tells herself that attachments are a “death sentence,” that charismatic men only “drag you down, whip you around, and tear you apart.” Her loyalty is not simply to Aria, whom she openly dislikes, but to a survival instinct forged from her mother’s failures, her uncle’s conditional approval, and her own understanding that the Kingston–Marino alliance is a business arrangement with mafia underpinnings. She knows that acting on her desire would not only betray a blood tie but also trigger a cascade of violent retaliation from both families. This early inner conflict establishes that the competing loyalties are not abstract moral puzzles but visceral threats to life and identity.

The Sea Wheel Ferris wheel scene crystallizes this tug-of-war in a single, agonizing moment. Enclosed in their own little world high above the ground, Venesa feels the spell of intimacy: “It feels like we’re in our own little world up here, but the reality is down below.” Enzo, his nose brushing hers, demands she say something, threatening a kiss if she doesn’t. Venesa forces her eyes closed and floods her mind with images of Aria, of Enzo’s wedding smile, and of her Uncle T’s inevitable discovery. Her internal panic enumerates the stakes: “I’ll lose everything, and who knows what would happen to Enzo if he went against a marriage sanctioned by his father? He could lose everything too. Or worse.” She pushes him away, not because she lacks desire, but because she calculates the cost with the cold precision of a woman raised in an underworld where betrayal is paid for in blood. Her loyalty to the family system—and her fear of the fallout—overpowers the passion clawing at her chest. Yet the scene also reveals that her loyalty is already fractured; she perceives herself as “nothing more than a distraction,” a lie, an unworthy vessel for such a world-breaking choice. This adds a layer of self-loathing to the conflict, making her denial an act of grim preservation rather than noble sacrifice.

The Symbolic Severance: The Kingston Family Painting

If the Ferris wheel scene represents the denial of desire in deference to loyalty, the engagement party for Aria marks the moment that loyalty is symbolically and emotionally severed. The Kingston family painting—a representation of “seven empty marble chairs at the bottom of the ocean and a glowing trident floating in the middle”—is far more than décor. It is a legacy object passed from father to son through generations, a piece of lore tying the family to the seven kingdoms of Atlantis. Crucially, it was Venesa’s mother’s “favorite thing in the entire world,” and her grandfather broke tradition to give it to her mother rather than to a son. For Venesa, the painting is her last tangible connection to her mother, an inheritance that is “supposed to be mine now.” It embodies belonging, maternal love, and the promise that she is indeed a true Kingston, despite her orphaned status and the criminal errands she runs for her uncle.

At the engagement party, Aria announces with a “victorious” grin that the painting “belongs with a real Kingston. Even if I won’t technically carry the name for long.” The public granting of this heirloom to Aria—her uncle’s own daughter, the “real” Kingston—functions as a ritual disinheritance. Venesa feels the world go muffled; Uncle T watches her “knowingly” from the stage. She registers that “the last little strings of my loyalty shrivel and wither away until nothing but betrayal and hate sit in their place, heavy and dark.” Here, McIntire powerfully conflates family loyalty with the possession of a symbolic object. The painting was never about the trident or Atlantis; it was about being seen, valued, and claimed. Her uncle’s choice to gift it to Aria invalidates every painful sacrifice Venesa has made—the murders, the poisonings, the lonely years of trying to please a man who calls her “little one” while gifting her trauma. In that moment, the loyalty that tethered her to the Kingstons snaps. And immediately, she turns to pursue Enzo: “I can’t find a single solitary fuck to give now. So I follow him out of the room. Because maybe it’s time I truly put myself first and go after the things that I want. Starting with my cousin’s fiancé.” The forbidden desire is no longer suppressed by a sense of familial debt; it becomes the vehicle for reclaiming herself. The painting thus serves as a fulcrum: the broken loyalty to family releases the dammed-up passion, but also reveals that passion is now inextricably tangled with vengeance and self-assertion.

Stolen Moments and the Unbearable Return to Loyalty

The consummation of desire—or its near-achievement—does not resolve the conflict; it intensifies it. Enzo and Venesa’s encounter in the locked bathroom during the engagement party is a stolen, frantic moment where he finally confesses what they have both felt. He tells her she is “a vision. She’s everything. But she’s still not fucking mine.” Even in climax, the possessive claim is undercut by a disclaimer of ownership, because in the world outside the door, Enzo is legally and criminally bound to Aria. The interruption by her uncle shatters the spell, dragging them back into the reality of competing loyalties. For Enzo, the stakes are not merely emotional but structural. His engagement to Aria is not a romantic choice; it is a merger sanctioned—likely ordered—by his mafia family. In the aftermath, he knows that “I need to control the narrative with my father before Trent gets ahold of him. And the only way to do that…is to walk away. For now.” His loyalty to the Marino name, to the survival of his family’s power, demands that he prioritize the narrative over his heart. He is left to swallow the knot in his throat, hating himself for what he “let her do,” even though the choice is a temporary strategic retreat.

This reveals the theme’s complexity: Enzo’s desire for Venesa is absolute, but his loyalty is not voluntary; it is a cage forged by mafia expectation and filial obedience. Walking away does not mean he renounces his love; it means he accepts that to ever have it, he must first navigate—and possibly dismantle—the systems that forbid it. For Venesa, the moment after her loyalty to her uncle has crumbled, her pursuit of Enzo is an act of defiance. But it is not a clean liberation. She is stepping into a void where the family that once defined her value no longer holds her, and the man she runs toward is still yoked to another woman by ironclad external forces. The conflict, then, does not resolve into a simple “love conquers all” conclusion; it morphs into a darker eddy where both characters are trapped between the old loyalties that still bind them and the new, fragile allegiance they are trying to build. The theme underscores that in this world, loyalty is not a feeling but a structure of power, and desire is the anarchic force that can either tear it down or be crushed beneath it.

Complexity and Contradiction: Self-Worth, Poison, and the Villain’s Heart

McIntire’s author’s note warns that the main character is a villain, and this darkness infuses the thematic contradictions. Venesa is a murderer who wields poison like an art form, yet her internal world is riddled with a craving for approval and love. Her uncle’s dismissiveness—“You want respect, Venesa? Then stop disappointing me”—echoes through her psyche, making every loyalty she holds feel transactional and conditional. She is caught between her role as the family’s fixer and her desperate, almost childlike wish to be cherished. Her desire for Enzo is therefore not only forbidden by circumstances but also colored by her belief that she is unworthy of genuine love. When she steps back from the Ferris wheel kiss, her final thought is “I’m not worth the fallout there would be if we gave in.” This self-assessment is a poison in itself, a mental construct that makes loyalty to a family that would throw her over seem like the safer, more rational path. It complicates the theme: her competing loyalties are not merely external obligations but internal narratives of unworthiness that make the forbidden seem impossible, not just dangerous.

Enzo’s contradictions are equally stark. He is betrothed in a mafia deal, yet his every instinct bends toward Venesa. When he walks away, he frames it as protecting her, but it also protects the patriarchal structure that demands his obedience. His loyalty to his father’s world is a toxic inheritance, one that forces him to betray his own heart to maintain control. The theme thus refuses to romanticize the struggle as a simple choice between love and duty; it is a messy, morally gray battle where both protagonists are complicit in upholding the very systems that trap them. The forbidden desire is the one authentic thing in a landscape of violence and performance, but reaching for it risks collapsing the entire stage.

Conclusion and Study Questions

Hexed masterfully intertwines forbidden desire and competing loyalties, showing that in a world built on family allegiance and criminal codes, the heart’s pull is both the most dangerous threat and the only possible salvation. The plot traces a journey from self-denial, through symbolic betrayal, to a moment of ambiguous reclaimed choice, while the seashell necklace, stonefish venom potions, the Kingston family painting, and the Sea Wheel all echo the central tension. The novel leaves readers questioning whether desire can ever be truly fulfilled when loyalty is a currency that can never be fully abandoned. The following study questions probe these nuances.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the Kingston family painting symbolize the competing loyalties in Venesa’s life?
   The painting is her last physical link to her mother and her symbolic claim to the Kingston legacy. When Uncle T gifts it to Aria at the engagement party, it publicly erases Venesa’s place in the family, severing the loyalty she has clung to despite years of exploitation. The moment transforms the painting into a symbol of betrayal, directly triggering Venesa’s decision to pursue Enzo, as the loyalties that once restrained her prove hollow.

2. In what way does the Sea Wheel Ferris wheel scene exemplify the theme of forbidden desire?
   Elevated and isolated, Venesa and Enzo share an almost magnetic intimacy that exists outside the world’s rules. Venesa explicitly recognizes that “the reality is down below,” and she forcibly inserts images of Aria and Enzo’s sanctioned future to break the spell. Her choice to push Enzo away—despite her body screaming yes—shows forbidden desire being suppressed by the weight of familial obligation and the fear of catastrophic fallout.

3. Why does Enzo ultimately choose to walk away from Venesa, and what does this reveal about his loyalties?
   Enzo walks away to “control the narrative” with his father before her uncle can, a decision rooted in mafia hierarchy. It reveals that his loyalty to the Marino family structure is not sentimental but a survival imperative. His love for Venesa is real, but he understands that to ever claim it, he must first safely navigate the system that binds him—a system where unauthorized desire can get people killed.

4. How does Venesa’s view of her own worth complicate her desires and decisions?
   Venesa repeatedly frames herself as a distraction, a lie, or simply “not worth the fallout.” This self-assessment adds a psychological layer to the forbidden desire: she denies herself not just because Enzo is engaged, but because she believes she does not deserve a love that could cost so much. Her loyalty to her uncle, even when it is toxic, feels safer than risking everything for a passion she fears will only confirm her unworthiness.

5. What moment finally severs Venesa’s loyalty to her uncle, and how does that transform her pursuit of Enzo?
   The engagement party announcement where Aria receives the Kingston family painting severs Venesa’s loyalty. She feels the last strings “shrivel and wither away,” and in that void of betrayal, she decides to “put myself first” and follows Enzo. Her pursuit is no longer a secret, guilty impulse but an act of reclamation—she trades a loyalty that was never truly returned for a desire that might, at last, be hers.

For further exploration of the symbols and character motivations, see the detailed character pages on Venesa Andersen, Enzo Marino, and Aria Kingston, as well as symbol analyses for The Kingston Family Painting and The Sea Wheel (Ferris Wheel). Return to the main book page for a complete overview.