Chapter 1

"Galahad, I really do think that you’re being overzealous."

He barely bothered lifting his head from the document in front of him to wave dismissively at her. "Nonsense. When we next return to the court, I will present an ironclad case against our marriage."

Te’ijal couldn’t quite bring herself to laugh at his conviction, but her smile cracked wide enough to come close. Her husband was taking the legal difficulties of the divorce process far more seriously than she could be bothered to, especially considering their contract was a bunch of nonsense. When Galahad first came to her in Ravwyrn, yelling that their marriage was over, she had found it endearing. It was only when he woke up a month later still insistent upon that she realized he actually meant something by it. What that was, she hadn't figured out yet. So she’d swallowed her disappointment and agreed. She certainly owed him that much by now.

Halaina and its ports were presently overrun by militant squirrels, and Ravwyrn was still recovering from its own invasion, so they’d settled on taking a ship to Tor. And then they got to the courthouse and were politely informed that the city of Tor only acknowledged divorce under a list of fifteen circumstances lacking in the creativity to include soul enslavement, although six of them were related to Two Card Flip.

And so Galahad had been interrogating her ever since they retired to their inn room, running down the list to find some box they checked off.

Te’ijal was mostly just insulted by his current line of questioning, even if she couldn’t expect him to be anything less than meticulous. She sighed. "Fine, then. I regret to inform you have committed no acts of adultery."

"Ugh." Galahad leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. It made an unpleasant scraping sound against the floor. "In hundreds of years? Not once?"

It was a stretch and he knew it. She narrowed her eyes. "My fidelity cannot be that unbelievable."

"No, it isn’t." The chair crashed back forward, scraping again. "It would just be simpler if you had."

Te’ijal rolled her eyes. "We meet plenty of the qualifications for divorce already, husband. You once left me for eight years before I managed to track you down! Our marriage was never consummated-"

"Because I did not wish to."

"Why does that matter?"

"I am not claiming fault for this!" The palm of his gauntleted hand hit the document with a metallic thud. "This marriage is your fault, so its dissolution will be your responsibility."

"Perhaps we should be pursuing annulment, then," Te’ijal said wryly, "as you certainly meet the grounds for duress."

Galahad took her at face value. "Unfortunately," he said, "we have lived as husband and wife for too long to qualify."

Then he stood from his seat. Te’ijal half expected him to start pacing. Instead, in an unfamiliar, frustrated gesture, he brought his hand to the back of his head and tugged lightly at the hair growing there. It was technically still short enough to read as the cut of a Sedonan married man, if anyone in Sedona even still followed the tradition nowadays, but he was blatantly growing it out.

"What if we brought the soul pendant in?" she offered. "Combined with our shared testimony, it would have to be enough for them to make an exception for our… unique circumstances."

Te’ijal wasn’t sure if she expected Galahad to thank her for the excellent, selfless idea, but she certainly hoped he would. She certainly didn’t expect a noise to come out from his throat like he was being choked. She stared at her soon to be ex-husband and cocked an eyebrow up to urge him onward.

Galahad swallowed and averted his eyes. "About that."