EMBER’S POV

“He’s going to divorce me.”

“You’re not married.”

“He’s going to divorce me preemptively.” I’m losing a war with six shopping bags in the back of the car while Daxon and Reyes unload the rest in a haunted silence that says they’ve seen more today than they have in their entire jobs. “He’s going to invent a brand-new kind of divorce specifically for this.”

“Ember, breathe,” Queenie says, practically vibrating with glee. “The damage is already done. It’s set in stone. Literally.”

She clutches a spool of ribbon to her chest like a religious artefact.

“Do you understand the sheer poetry of this? Just picture it. The most...