The fine print of marriage

I hold Quinara close letting her recover from recounting her experience, she finally lets go and stops crying. "Sorry, I kind of killed the mood" she states, she wasn't wrong prior to her story I was at my peak and now I felt awful knowing she had to endure that. "Don't be... I understand how hard that was" I state not only enduring that but also sharing, she was putting trust in me and letting me see her vulnerable and that wasn't something I would take lightly.

Quinara looks to the window, "I'm bound to him..." she says with deep sadness, "we're married and I cannot change that".

"Can you not get the marriage annulled?" I ask, now getting a marriage annulled was hard enough for human marriages especially for a woman but it was possible, however I didn't know how it would work for orcs. "No runt, orc marriages are for life and beyond, it's a pact with the gods so that in the afterlife we will be bound still.... That terrifies me, that when I die I'll be his to torment for eternity"

"Surely there's a way for that to be broken" I say not wanting her eternal fate to be with that monster. Quinara looks at me "well there is the rite of the paramour" she states. I didn't know what that is but if it would free her from her marriage I would do it for her, "ok what's that?" I ask filled with a sense of purpose.

"The rite of the paramour is a sacred orc rite, if someone wishes to be bound to a already married woman they can evoke this rite. Both men will grab their weapons and fight to the death winner gets bound, that's the only way to annul an orc marriage" Quinara explains. Instantly my bravado and dreams of freeing her from her marriage vanish, knowing to do so I would have to win a fight to the death with an orc. Quinara huffs clearly feeling done with this upsetting topic, "it's why I have to live what's left of my life to make it worthwhile" she says with determination, "and I think we should get to living".

Quinara gets up and offers me her hand which I accept, "so what's the plan for today?" I ask.

"I need to clear my head and we need supplies so we're going to the markets" she states laying out the plan for today.