“I think I'd miss you even if we’d never met,” Azrael whispered as his fingers trailed the side of her face, leaving an alluring warmth.
Anna’s throat became dry, “We shouldn’t have met then―”
“No,” he said, “Even if it means losing everything, I would rather have you.”
They were destined to fall from the start. A forsaken bond. A hopeless cause. And yet, in that stolen moment, Anna didn’t care anymore, neither did he.
* * * 
Anna is a human in a world where her kind is treated like dust, while Azrael is the demon duke infamous for his ruthlessness and bewitching looks.
On a fateful night, her life gets entangled with him. Azrael takes her as his fiance, however, theirs is a relationship formed over a contract; a marriage of convenience.
In a land where the hatred between humans and demons runs deeper than blood, she can not let her guard down. 
Anna harbors no feelings for the handsome duke, nor for his kind. Though that doesn’t stop her heart from stuttering whenever he’s near, nor the ghost of a familiar fear to surge at the sound of his voice.
But he’s always near.
Telling her what to do.
Making her feel warmer, hotter than he should.
* * * 
To yearn for someone who is forbidden to you is a terrifying feeling. To burn from desire and never speak of it, to have a secret that is horrible to almost everyone, to hide something that could ruin everything.
This is a story carved in hidden desires, inked in blood, and sealed with a fatal sin. Will Anna make it out alive? Or will her heart lead to her downfall?

The Duke's Secret Sin

The sounds that left Onion and Radish were constant nasal honking as if they grunted and growled, demanding she pay compensation for making them both frightened, or perhaps in search of revenge because she robbed them of their royal residence. 


They were too loud in the silent night. 


She also realized that it had to be Azrael who named the birds. 


If the flamingos she saw in the painting were dreamlike, the ones who blessed her in real life were the very epitome of a nightmare. 


She leaned on the desk, desperately pulling the telephone towards her using such a force that could have given Theodore a heart attack. 


But she could not remain at ease, the noises filled her mind and seeped into her soul in the form of true fear. 


Anna swallowed hard as she picked the receiver of the telephone. Her fingers were numb as she clumsily pressed the buttons. 


Birds of A Feather