THE DEMON'S SPOUSE

“Loving was forbidden... but that is exactly what my heart chose.”

In the kingdom of DANnud, everything was ruled by law.

Clothes.

Jobs.

Prayers.

Marriages.

And even love.

Here, nothing truly belonged to men.

Even emotions had rules.

My name is Adrian.

And in this world, I feel like my heart was condemned before I even understood why.

We are taught how to live without fault...

but never how to survive what we feel.

And then there was Sam.

His name was never spoken without fear.

They only called him:

The Demon.

The stone walls of DANnud rose over the city like tombs reaching toward the sky. Beyond them, thousands of souls lived convinced that obedience was the only path to salvation.

Since childhood, I had learned to pray before I even learned to know myself.

We were told that the gods of DANnud saw everything.

Every thought.

Every desire.

Every sin.

So every night, I knelt in the cathedral, my hands clenched in pain.

— Please...

My voice broke into the cold air.

— Make it disappear.

The candle flames trembled. So did I.

— Tear it out of me...

I wasn’t asking for wealth or glory.

I was only asking to become normal again.

To stop feeling this forbidden thing living inside me without permission.

But the gods of DANnud never answered.

Or perhaps their silence was already an answer.

Every week, sermons filled the central square.

— The law of DANnud is the law of the gods!

Guards surrounded the platform. Their armor reflected the light like judgment itself.

— The unnatural sin shall be purified!

The crowd responded.

Always.

As if no one had ever doubted.

As if no one had ever been afraid.

As if no one had ever loved differently.

I kept my eyes down.

But every word pierced me.

Every sentence felt like a sentence of execution disguised as faith.

I had seen men disappear.

I had seen families break without a sound.

I had seen doors close forever.

And some nights, the wind carried the smell of ash.

In DANnud, even the air remembered sins.

So I lived in hiding.

I smiled when I had to.

I lied when I had to.

I survived as best I could.

But every lie cracked something inside me.

Until Sam.

We met in a forgotten alley of DANnud.

A place even the laws seemed to have erased.

A refuge.

When he smiled, the fear inside me stopped breathing.

As if, for the first time, I was allowed to exist without hiding.

We talked for a long time.

Then words disappeared.

And only our gazes remained.

Too close.

Too real.

My heart was beating so loudly I thought it might betray me.

I knew I should leave.

I knew I should run.

But for the first time...

I wanted to stay.

So I kissed him.

Gently.

As if DANnud itself could collapse because of that single gesture.

And for a moment...

I was happy.

Truly.

Then reality caught me.

Brutal.

I pulled away as if I had touched fire.

— No...

My hands tried to erase what had just happened.

I fell to my knees.

— Forgive me...

Tears blurred everything.

— Forgive me...

I prayed without even knowing who I was speaking to.

As if loving was a crime.

As if feeling was a sin.

As if I was a mistake in the kingdom of DANnud.

A hand reached for mine.

I pushed it away.

Too fast.

Too hard.

— Leave!

My voice broke.

— Leave!

I didn’t want him to go.

But in DANnud... fear always wins over the heart.

So he left.

And with him... something inside me collapsed.

That night, I walked for a long time through the empty streets of DANnud until I reached an abandoned chapel.

No one came there anymore.

Perhaps because even faith was afraid to enter.

Inside, a cracked angel statue stared at me without eyes.

I knelt down.

— Why am I like this?

My voice trembled.

— Why can’t I change?

The silence of DANnud felt strange.

Heavier than usual.

Present.

As if something was listening.

I slowly lifted my head.

And I understood.

I was no longer alone.

A silhouette stood in the darkness.

Immense within the void.

Impossible to define.

But it was breathing.

Or perhaps DANnud itself was breathing through it.

My body froze.

And yet... I did not run.

Because this presence did not feel like fear.

It felt like something I had always known without understanding it.

A voice rose.

Soft.

Calm.

Too calm to be human.

— You are not alone.

A chill ran through me.

— Who are you?

Silence.

Then:

— The one DANnud taught you to fear... so you would never meet yourself.

My breath stopped.

The silhouette stepped forward.

And the air changed.

As if the entire kingdom was holding its breath.

— You’re lying... I whispered.

Silence.

Then:

— No.

The last candle flickered.

— You already know.

My heart tightened.

I wanted to run.

But my body refused.

— Who are you... really?

The voice came closer.

Not in my ears.

In my chest.

— The one DANnud calls the Demon...

The ground seemed to vanish.

— ...and the one you have already let in.

The last flame went out.

And in total darkness...

I felt something touch my heart.

Not to destroy it.

But to awaken it.The sun rose slowly over the Kingdom of Dannud.

The bells of the Great Temple echoed throughout the capital.

As every morning, the citizens left their homes and made their way toward the central square.

No one dared to miss the gathering.

No one.

Adrian walked among the crowd.

His head lowered.

His hands trembling.

For some time now, a strange sense of dread had never left him.

As if something terrible was about to happen.

When he arrived at the square, he immediately understood why.

A gallows had been erected in the center.

Royal guards surrounded the crowd.

Priests recited prayers.

And in the middle...

A young man was kneeling.

Bound.

His face covered in bruises.

Whispers began to spread through the crowd.

— It’s him...

— They found out...

— What a fool...

— He knew the law...

Adrian’s heart tightened.

He knew the young man.

Not personally.

But he had seen him in the streets before.

Always smiling.

Always quiet.

The High Priest raised his arms toward the sky.

Silence fell instantly over the square.

“People of Dannud!”

His voice echoed across the plaza.

“Today, we remind everyone that the law protects our kingdom from corruption and sin!”

The citizens lowered their heads.

No one dared to answer.

“This man is accused of maintaining a forbidden relationship!”

“A relationship contrary to our sacred laws!”

“A relationship against nature!”

The crowd began to murmur.

Some looked shocked.

Others appeared satisfied.

Adrian felt his breath catch in his throat.

His heart pounded so hard he thought everyone could hear it.

The condemned man slowly lifted his head.

His eyes met Adrian’s for a brief moment.

And despite his fear...

He smiled.

That smile shook Adrian to his core.

Why was he smiling?

How could he smile when he was about to die?

The High Priest continued:

“Let this be a lesson to all.”

“The laws of Dannud are absolute.”

“No one may defy them.”

The guards placed the rope around the prisoner’s neck.

Adrian looked away.

He no longer had the strength to watch.

A few moments later...

The bells rang.

One final time.

Then silence.

A heavy silence.

An unbearable silence.

When Adrian looked up again, the square was already beginning to empty.

As if nothing had happened.

As if a life had not just been destroyed.

On his way home, he overheard two men talking.

“He deserved it.”

“Yes.”

“The law is the law.”

Adrian quickened his pace.

Every word hurt him.

Once home, he shut the door to his room.

Then he collapsed onto his bed.

Tears streamed down his face before he could stop them.

He kept thinking about the condemned man’s smile.

His eyes.

His courage.

And for the first time in his life...

A question was born in his mind.

Why is it a crime to love?

At that very moment...

Somewhere in the depths of darkness...

A presence was watching Adrian.

Silent.

Patient.

And that presence was smiling. The days had passed after that harrowing ordeal.

Watching someone lose their life over something so simple—an instinctive gesture one cannot even control—had deeply shaken Adrian.

Since that day, he kept wondering whether the gods of Dannud truly loved him. Why had they brought him into this cursed land?

He did not yet know an essential truth: these laws had nothing divine about them. They did not come from the gods, but from men. Men consumed by fear, frustration, and an inability to accept difference. Men who had never known true love.

Weeks passed, then months.

Dannud, a kingdom more than a thousand years old, remained isolated from the world, sealed behind its towering medieval walls. Adrian did not even know if other lands existed beyond those borders.

Then, with time, the kingdom slowly regained its breath.

Spring returned to Dannud.

The palace gardens bloomed with flowers.

The markets regained their colors.

The streets once again echoed with laughter and song.

But Adrian saw none of this beauty.

His inner world was different.

An empty garden.

A heavy soul.

And a heart silently screaming toward an impossible love.

Sometimes, only the moments spent with his mother, Louana, brought him a little peace.

She seemed to understand him without ever asking questions, as if she could read him without words. Yet she remained silent—perhaps out of fear, perhaps to protect him.

The absence of his father weighed heavily on him as well. A former soldier of the Blood Crown of Dannud, he had vanished, leaving behind a void nothing could fill.

Between his mother’s silent tenderness and his father’s absence, Adrian moved forward as best he could.

For some seasons never bloom in the hearts of those who live in fear.

Then a new resident moved into the neighboring house.

A squire of the king, who arrived with his son. He had requested a temporary leave from the palace so his child could be closer to the royal knight academy.

The son’s name was Sam.

At first, Adrian simply helped him out of kindness. Then days became weeks. And weeks became a silent habit.

They talked.

They laughed.

They searched for each other’s gaze.

And without understanding how, something began to grow between them.

Adrian already knew.

He was falling in love.

And after every moment spent with Sam, he would pray.

He knelt, asking the gods to erase this forbidden feeling.

But it was enough to see Sam once more for everything to begin again.

Each morning, he searched for his face.

Each evening, he thought about his smile.

Sam was everything he admired.

Kind.

Courageous.

Sincere.

Or so he believed.

Lucie was the first to notice.

One afternoon, as they crossed the capital’s market, she saw that Adrian could not take his eyes off a certain direction.

She followed his gaze, then smiled softly.

— It’s him, isn’t it?

Adrian startled.

— Who?

— The boy you’ve been staring at all this time.

His cheeks turned red.

Lucie laughed.

— You’re terrible at lying.

— You’re imagining things.

— Of course...

But despite her teasing, Lucie never mocked him.

She understood too much.

Because she, too, hid a feeling for Slowne.

That day at the market, elders were telling a story few dared to mention.

The story of the kingdom itself.

Long ago, Dannud was not this kingdom of fear and laws.

There was once an ancient king... and his brother.

The king’s brother was charismatic, loved by all. Intelligent, handsome, respected... but deeply consumed by jealousy.

Because despite his qualities, he lived in the shadow of his destined-to-rule brother.

Until the day he fell in love with his own servant.

A forbidden love.

A secret love.

But the king discovered the relationship.

And in his anger mixed with ambition, he used this truth to destroy his brother.

The young servant was publicly hanged.

The brother was broken, humiliated, and imprisoned by the kingdom’s priests.

Then, in the shadows of power, a curse was spoken.

An ancient spell meant to erase all trace of the story.

But something slipped beyond human control.

Because legend says the brother never truly disappeared.

His soul still wanders the palace.

Searching for his lost love.

And so, little by little, the kingdom changed.

The laws became stricter.

Freedom vanished.

And Dannud became a realm without tolerance, without choice, without forbidden love.

Listening to this story, Adrian and Lucie remained silent.

They went home without a word.

A few days later, they stood near the ramparts.

— Do you still think about him? Lucie asked.

Adrian hesitated.

— No... it’s that story that troubles me.

— The royal family one?

— Yes.

A heavy silence fell.

Then Lucie said:

— Be careful, Adrian. This kingdom is not kind to those who dream too much.

Adrian lowered his eyes.

— I know... but even prayer doesn’t help anymore. I feel like I’m sinking deeper every day.

Weeks passed again.

And his feelings grew.

Like a flame impossible to extinguish.

Then that evening came.

Sam had asked him to meet near an old abandoned fountain.

His heart was beating so hard it hurt.

Sam was already there.

— Adrian...

— Why did you ask me to come?

Sam hesitated, then lowered his eyes.

— Why are you always so kind to me?

Adrian smiled softly.

— Because you’re my friend.

They talked for a long time.

Then, for the first time, Adrian opened up more.

He spoke about his loneliness, his doubts, his feeling of not belonging in this world.

But he kept the deepest part of his heart hidden.

When silence returned, Sam stepped closer.

One step.

Then another.

He gently took Adrian’s hands.

— There’s something else, isn’t there?

Adrian trembled.

— Yes... but I can’t tell you.

Sam stared at him for a long moment.

— Why do your eyes attract me so much?

Why do I feel like they are calling me?

Adrian had no answer.

Then, in an uncontrollable breath, Sam leaned in.

And kissed him.

The world stopped.

Everything disappeared.

Only that suspended moment remained.

Then Sam pulled away abruptly.

As if he had just realized what he had done.

— Forget it... forget what just happened.

And he ran away.

Without looking back.

Adrian stayed alone by the fountain.

The wind moved through the stones.

Night fell over Dannud.

And with it, a painful mix of happiness and rejection filled his heart.

Silent tears fell.

Moments later, Lucie found him.

She sat beside him without saying anything.

Then Slowne joined them.

No words were spoken.

Because sometimes silence understands better than words.

Slowne finally said softly:

— Maybe some suffering is worth the love we feel.

Lucie shook her head.

— No... you shouldn’t have to suffer to love.

Then she added more gently:

— What if we left one day?

To find another place... somewhere we could simply live.

They stayed there for a long time, talking, dreaming, trying to forget the harshness of the world.

And Adrian, little by little, began to breathe again.

But in the shadows of the night...

Someone was still watching.

Someone who had always known his tears.

Someone who had never stopped looking at him.

Someone who, too, had been searching for a lost love for centuries.

And in the depths of the kingdom...

Azaël was waiting.The days that followed seemed to last an eternity.

Since that evening by the old fountain, Adrian had not seen Sam again.

Not once.

Not a glance.

Not a word.

Nothing.

As if the boy had vanished from the kingdom.

Every morning, Adrian opened his window hoping to catch a glimpse of him in the neighboring courtyard.

Every morning, that hope died a little more.

The royal squire’s house was still there.

The shutters opened.

The lights came on.

People came and went.

But Sam seemed determined to avoid every path Adrian might take.

And that hurt more than Adrian wanted to admit.

The kiss kept returning to his thoughts.

That suspended moment.

That warmth.

That heartbeat.

Then the escape.

Sam’s words.

“Forget what just happened.”

How could he forget?

How could he forget the first moment in his life when he had felt loved?

Even his prayers had changed.

Once, he had asked the gods to erase his feelings.

Now, he asked them for only one thing.

Understanding.

To understand what was happening inside Sam’s heart.

One afternoon, Lucie found him sitting beneath the old oak tree overlooking the city walls.

His gaze was lost on the horizon.

She sat beside him.

Without saying a word.

As always.

Then she finally asked:

“Are you waiting for someone?”

Adrian managed a faint smile.

“You already know the answer.”

Lucie sighed.

“He’s afraid.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do.

Because sometimes I’m afraid too.”

Adrian turned toward her.

“Afraid of what?”

Lucie hesitated.

Then she lowered her eyes.

“Afraid that some things can never exist.”

For a moment, Adrian thought he understood.

But neither of them continued.

Sometimes silence felt safer than words.

A few minutes later, Slowne joined them.

He sat beside them on the stone wall.

“Well.

Are you two going to tell me what’s going on, or keep pretending?”

Lucie burst out laughing.

“What are you talking about?”

“Adrian looks like a man whose heart has just been crushed by a royal carriage.”

Despite himself, Adrian smiled.

“Thanks for the image.”

“I’m serious.

Something happened.”

Adrian remained silent.

Slowne watched him for a few moments.

Then he simply placed a hand on his shoulder.

“When you’re ready to talk, we’ll be here.”

And it was true.

Since childhood.

Always.

That evening, Adrian returned home earlier than usual.

Louana was preparing dinner.

The smell of herbs and warm bread filled the small house.

His mother looked up at him.

And instantly, she understood.

“You’re hurting.”

It wasn’t a question.

Adrian stood still.

“Is it that obvious?”

Louana smiled sadly.

“To a mother, yes.”

She walked over to him.

Then gently placed a hand on his cheek.

Just as she had when he was a child.

“Your heart is good, Adrian.

Never let anyone convince you otherwise.”

The young man felt tears gathering in his eyes.

He wanted to tell her everything.

Everything.

But fear was stronger.

That night, he went to bed without even touching his dinner.

Lying awake, unable to sleep, Adrian thought again about the legend told at the marketplace.

The missing prince.

The executed servant.

The betrayal.

The curse.

The images circled endlessly in his mind.

Finally, unable to remain alone with his thoughts any longer, he got up.

He put on his coat.

Then quietly slipped into the night.

The streets were almost deserted.

Only a few lanterns still illuminated the cobblestones of Dannud.

Without really thinking, his steps carried him to the neighboring house.

To Sam’s house.

When he reached the door, his courage began to fade.

What if Sam didn’t want to see him anymore?

What if he regretted the kiss?

What if he hated him now?

The thought tightened his chest.

So Adrian stepped back.

Then turned around.

Ready to go home.

That was when the door opened.

The royal squire appeared in the doorway.

“Adrian?”

The young man jumped.

“What are you doing here at this hour?”

Adrian searched for words.

“I... I was just passing by...”

The squire smiled.

“You’re my son’s friend, aren’t you?

Come in.

He’s in his room.”

Adrian’s heart began to race.

He hesitated for a few seconds.

Then entered.

The house was quiet.

The man pointed upstairs.

“Second door on the left.”

Adrian slowly climbed the stairs.

Each step felt heavier than the last.

When he reached the bedroom door, he took a deep breath.

Then opened it.

Sam was lying on his bed.

His eyes closed.

Motionless.

As if he were in a deep sleep.

Adrian stood there for several seconds.

Something told him Sam was pretending.

But he couldn’t be certain.

So he simply looked at him.

As though trying to engrave his face into memory.

Then he whispered:

“Good night, Sam.”

No response.

No movement.

Nothing.

Only silence.

A silence more painful than any rejection.

His heart shattered, Adrian left the room.

Then the house.

And walked home alone beneath the dark skies of Dannud.

Once home, he sat for a long time by his window.

And once again, the story returned to him.

The missing prince.

The executed servant.

The betrayal.

The curse.

Something about that legend refused to leave his mind.

Why had it survived for so long?

Why did some families continue to pass it down in secret despite the risks?

And above all...

Why did he have the strange feeling that the story was not over?

As if the past were still waiting for something.

As if someone were still waiting for someone.

At that very moment...

Far beneath the royal palace...

Behind doors forgotten for centuries...

Someone slowly opened his eyes.

Eyes of supernatural beauty.

Ancient as time itself.

Shining within the darkness.

An elegant figure slowly rose.

The silence seemed to obey him.

The shadows moved around him like faithful servants.

His long dark hair fell over his shoulders.

And upon his lips appeared a melancholic smile.

A smile filled with loneliness.

A smile centuries old.

“Adrian...”

he whispered.

His voice echoed through the darkness.

Like a forgotten memory.

Like a promise that time had never been able to erase.

For centuries he had waited.

For centuries he had watched.

For centuries he had searched.

And now...

Fate had begun to move once again within the kingdom.

In the depths of the Kingdom of Dannud...

Azaël had awakened.

And his awakening would bring great changes to the kingdom’s laws and its rules.