“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I like to tease. I’ve been all over Gadir, and I swear, a Vallessau wedding isn’t even in the top ten strangest things I’ve encountered. Much of it really does sound quite beautiful. Though I’ll admit, becoming a butterfly doesn’t exactly appeal to me…”

Clarissa tossed a pillow at her. Stasia caught it and hugged it to her chest, flashing her lover a grin she knew would melt her insides.

“No one would ever mistake me for a romantic,” Stasia said. “But I guess it has been almost four years. Shall I drag you to the city lawhouse and demand they tie us together in wedlock?”

“We couldn’t even if we wanted to,” Clarissa said. Whatever amusement she’d shown at the idea faded. “They’ve put a halt to any marriages unsanctioned by the Uplifted Church, remember?”

Stasia’s blood ran cold. Her joy mere moments ago in Clarissa’s arms peeled away like burnt skin.

“They’ve done what?”

“Oh. I thought, what with your father, that you’d have surely heard. Regent Gordian announced them alongside Anointed Sinshei and Imperator Magus about three months ago. It’s not the Joining Laws, not as you’ve described them to me, but they seem similar. Marriages have to be church-sanctioned, all property sales are subject to magistrate approval, and all adoptions must be to parents of adequate wealth and proper social standing.”

Stasia hugged her pillow tighter. She tried to tell herself she had known this was coming, even if it’d been years sooner than anticipated. She tried to tell herself every nation across the Everlorn Empire eventually implemented the Joining Laws, and still people resisted. They still loved whom they loved, even if it must be clandestine. Hollow, wretched comfort.

“It’s parts of it, all right,” she said. “But not all of it. The full laws are worse. So much worse.”

Clarissa shrank before her. Her gaze seemed to recede within her skull. Stasia so often viewed her as soft and round and delicate, but as her body curled into itself, she revealed something harder. Something battle worn and very nearly broken.

“The Usurper King says it is temporary, but we know,” she said softly. “There were protests for weeks, Stasia. Many turned into riots. It just made them promise to do worse. They… they’ve arrested so many of my friends. Stolen their children. Beaten us. Hung us in public, even whispering they might rebuild the Dead Flags if we don’t submit.”