Throne of the Broken Vow

In Aurel Keep, a marriage is a charter. Maeryn Volt was chartered to three brothers who between them own the salt route, the iron route, and the silk route. Ten years in, the charter stands and nothing else does. She runs the ledgers, the ports, and the ports' orphans and sleeps in a room none of them enter. Then she finds the petition: House Calder asking the Regency to annul her charter for barrenness. A lie she can prove. So Maeryn calls in the debts of all three brothers, one by one, in person, and offers them a choice. Dorien of the salt refuses. Calix of the iron agrees too fast. Aren of the silk says nothing, and takes her hand, which is somehow worse. Before summer, the docks burn and the tribunal convenes and the word 'wife' finally gets said out loud, far too late.