Dr Cat Clml

The Ward Between Us is the first book in the Married on Mission trilogy, following Seraphine Vael, a senior mage, and Corwin Vael, a dedicated archivist. After seven years of shared space and professional adjacency, the couple is commissioned jointly to the border city of Ashenveil to resolve a complex territorial dispute. As Seraphine constructs sophisticated magical "wards" to manage the negotiation's tension, Corwin unearths primary records to authenticate historical claims.
However, the mission forces them to confront a secret arrangement at the heart of their marriage, documented within restricted archival files. Amidst research spirals and political maneuvering, the layer of professional management between them dissolves, revealing a deep, unexamined intimacy. This quiet, intellectual drama explores the slow "knowing" of another person and the patient strength of a partnership built to hold what is real.