Lyra stepped closer, voice soft. "Say you're ready for evaluation. Pending safe signal. Then I answer as safe signal."
Astra's mouth went dry. "And the route."
Lyra nodded. "You request it."
Astra breathed once, slow.
Then she spoke, voice calm, structured, obedient in shape without being obedient in soul.
"Guild witness," Astra said softly, "I am prepared to present for evaluation—pending safe signal confirmation."
The seal tightened in satisfaction.
Lyra's voice followed immediately, smooth as silk and twice as dangerous. "Safe signal confirmed."
Astra felt the seal bloom—like a flower made of law opening its petals.
Her interface flickered and a new panel unfolded, not hers, not Dorian's.
Guild.
EVALUATION ROUTE: AVAILABLENEAREST AUDIT CELL: SURFACE — RELAY NODE "VELLUM"ETA: 00:09:30COLLATERAL HOLDING: IN TRANSIT
Astra's chest tightened. "In transit," she whispered.
Lyra's eyes gleamed. "They're moving him."
Astra's pulse hammered. "Where is Vellum."
Orin's face went pale. "That's a Guild relay above the old market. Clean ground. Patrol lines. You don't walk into that."
Astra's jaw clenched. "We don't walk."
Juno frowned. "What do we do, then."
Astra's interface flickered again—an ugly truth beneath the neat route panel.
NOTE: COMPLIANCE CHANNEL ACTIVE — OWNER CHANNEL MAY AMPLIFY
Amplify.
If she stayed in "compliance," Dorian's voice could slide in cleaner.
Astra tasted metal. It was always a trade.
Lyra watched Astra's face, reading the calculation. "You have your map," Lyra murmured. "Now drop compliance before it eats you."
Astra nodded once and pulled away from the compliance posture—shoulders tightening, spine hardening, choice reclaiming.
The seal hummed, displeased.
Astra's interface updated.
COMPLIANCE CHANNEL: CLOSEDNOTE: NEXT BROADCAST RISK HIGH
Orin exhaled sharply. "You got what you needed. Now what."
Astra's mind moved fast.
Kael in transit means a moving cage. The Guild would use clean routes. They'd avoid Underchain mouths—too dirty.
Which meant surface.
Which meant the old market.
Which meant Dorian's territory wasn't far.
Astra's collar pulsed as if it heard the thought.
Then—right on cue—silk slid into her nerves, warmer and cleaner than it had any right to be in an Underchain room.
The seal had amplified the edge.
Dorian's voice purred inside her collar.
"There you are," he murmured, amused. "Making friends with the Guild."
Astra's throat went ice.
Orin's eyes snapped to her face. "He's in."
Astra forced her posture steady. "On the edge."
Dorian chuckled softly, intimate and hateful. "You found the route to Vellum. How diligent."
Juno cursed. "He's listening."
Lyra's smile turned thin. "Of course he is."
Kael's absence hurt like a fresh bruise.
Astra clenched her jaw. "Dorian."
His sigh was pleased. "Yes, little anomaly."
Astra kept her voice low, calm. "Where is Kael."
Dorian laughed like she'd offered him a sweet. "You sound worried. How romantic."
Astra's mouth tightened. "Where."
Silk warmed. "He's being processed."
Astra's stomach dropped. "Processed how."
Dorian's voice stayed amused. "The Guild wants your eyes. The Church wants your soul. I want your loyalty. Kael is simply… the piece you used to move."
Astra's nails dug into her palm. "He is not a piece."
Dorian hummed. "Then why is he in transit while you stand safe in a thief's room."
Heat flared—anger, guilt, desire to bite. Astra used it like fuel.
"We're going to take him," Astra said.
Dorian chuckled. "From the Guild? Adorable."
Astra's eyes narrowed. "You don't like the Guild touching your toys."
A soft pause—dangerous.
Then Dorian's voice turned warmer. "You are learning. Yes. I don't."
Astra's throat tightened. "Then help."
Dorian laughed. "Help? You want me to hand you your Hound like a gift."
Astra swallowed. "I want you to stop them from cutting him."
Dorian's tone went soft as velvet over steel. "I will."
Astra froze. "You will."
"Yes," he murmured. "Because I would rather you be the corridor than a Guild seal."
Astra's blood ran cold.
There it was.
The twist underneath the twist.
The Guild wasn't the only predator. It was competition—competition Dorian would crush by making Astra choose the uglier leash.
Dorian purred, "Drop your anchor isolation."
Astra's breath hitched.
Her anchor link was isolated—holding the extraction line at bay, holding Kael safer from being tapped through her.
If she dropped it, Dorian could pull cleaner.
But maybe—maybe the link would also give Astra a line to Kael. A channel. A way to reach him in transit.
Dorian's voice slid in, intimate as a whisper at her throat. "Let me in, Astra. I will drag him out of their hands."
Orin snarled, hearing only Astra's side. "No."
Juno's eyes widened. "What is he asking."
Lyra's gaze sharpened. "He wants the link open."
Astra's throat burned. "If I open it, he'll pull."
Lyra's smile turned thin. "If you don't, the Guild will keep him."
Heat coiled in Astra's belly—fear and fury, jealousy and need. Kael's face flashed in her mind: jaw locked, eyes dark, refusing to kneel unless it protected her.
He had taken binding geometry across his shoulder to buy her a seam.
Now she stood in a room arguing over ink while he was being driven into a clean cage.
Astra swallowed hard.
She stepped closer to Lyra, voice low and sharp. "You promised me where."
Lyra's eyes gleamed. "Vellum. Nine minutes."
Astra turned to Orin. "Can we reach old market surface in nine."
Orin's face twisted. "If we burn routes. If we owe favors."
Astra's smile was bloody. "We already owe."
Kael's voice wasn't here to steady her.
So Astra built her own steadiness out of anger.
She faced the empty air where Dorian's whisper lived.
"You want the link," Astra said softly.
Dorian hummed. "Yes."
Astra's voice dropped, sensual in a way that wasn't soft—power-play, consent-as-foreplay, a bargain made with teeth. "Then you give me something first."
Dorian chuckled. "You're in no position to demand."
Astra smiled. "And yet you're still listening."
A beat.
Then Dorian's tone warmed. "What do you want, little anomaly."
Astra's throat tightened. She chose a demand that was both a knife and a test.
"I want Kael conscious," Astra whispered. "No governor collapse. No forced kneel. If you touch him through me, you do it clean."
Orin swore under his breath. "Astra—"
Astra didn't look away. "Consent," she murmured, making the word a blade. "You want the corridor. I set the terms."
Dorian's laugh was low, delighted. "You are magnificent."
Lyra's eyes glittered with amusement, as if watching a dancer on a wire.
Dorian purred, "Very well. Open the link and I will keep him awake."
Astra's pulse hammered.
It was a lie.
Or it was the truth he'd twist.
Either way, it was an offer she could exploit.
Astra stepped closer to the wall, bracing her shoulder against cold stone. She closed her eyes, focusing inward—on the Null Anchor clause, on the isolated link like a closed door.
Her interface flickered.
ANCHOR LINK: ISOLATED (TEMP)WARNING: DROPPING ISOLATION MAY REOPEN EXTRACTION VECTORTRACE: 76.1%
Kael's face flashed behind her eyes.
His voice. His presence. His need—I need you alive.
Astra exhaled slowly, and when she spoke, it wasn't to Dorian.
It was to herself.
"I choose," Astra whispered, and felt the stabilizer vow tighten like a fist.
Then she reached for the isolation lock—
and the Guild seal on her throat vibrated sharply, excited, as if it had been waiting for this exact decision.
A new panel snapped open in her vision, clean and terrible:
AUDIT ASSIST: ANCHOR LOCATION TRACE AVAILABLEREQUIRES: ANCHOR LINK OPEN
Astra's blood went cold.
The seal wasn't just watching.
It was offering her a tool—one that demanded she open the link.
One that would show Kael's exact location—
and, by doing so, give the Guild her corridor in return.
Orin stared at her face. "What."
Astra opened her eyes, throat burning, voice low and steady.
"The seal can trace him," she said. "If I open the link."
Juno swore. "That's a trap."
Lyra smiled thinly. "That's a deal."
Astra's collar pulsed—hungry, eager, as if delighted by the choice that would ruin her either way.
Dorian's whisper slid close, warm as breath against her throat.
"Choose," he murmured. "Your rules… or your Hound."
And Astra's interface—caught between silk and statute—flashed the prompt that waited for her answer.