Malrik POV

“I release her to you, Malrikarion Everston.”

Cassian’s voice cracked, burdened with the kind of anguish that clings to a man’s soul and never loosens its grip.

“When I return home, I’ll begin the divorce proceedings. It’s the only gift left for me to give her.”

The words sounded like a sentence of death except this one was aimed squarely at himself.

I studied him as he sat hollow and unraveling, every piece of his soul laid bare. A man who had lost his world, ...