Astra bit down hard.
Kael's hand shot toward her—then stopped short of her throat, stopped short of her collar. He caught her shoulder instead, firm and controlled.
"Astra," he rasped. "Breathe."
Astra forced air in. The room tilted. Dorian's laughter curled at the edge, delighted.
Lyra's voice came soft, almost reverent. "You just wrote into a Hound."
Astra's mouth tasted blood. "Limited. Linked. Temporary."
Orin's eyes narrowed. "Temporary until someone rewrites it."
Astra swallowed. "Yes."
Kael's jaw clenched. "What changed."
Astra fought to keep her voice steady. "Your prompt now needs both of us to say 'black water' before it can execute."
Kael exhaled hard, relief turning into anger. "Good."
Then his eyes sharpened. "But Seraphine used that phrase."
Astra's stomach tightened.
The phrase had been compromised by Dorian's leak, not by Kael.
But now it was embedded deeper—in Kael's override gate.
Astra's throat burned. "Then we keep it private. No speaking it unless we're alone."
Lyra laughed softly. "Alone. In Eidolon. Cute."
Kael's gaze snapped to her, lethal. "Enough."
Lyra's smile sharpened. "You're afraid she'll say it with me?"
Kael's jaw clenched. He didn't answer.
That silence was its own confession.
Astra felt heat flare—jealous, sharp, hungry—and she forced it into control.
"We need a second phrase," Astra said. "One that changes."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Rotating."
Astra nodded. "And nonverbal."
Orin grunted. "You're making a cipher out of a leash."
Astra's mouth curved bitterly. "That's Eidolon."
Astra's interface flickered again.
LEASH RECIPROCITY: ACTIVENOTE: SUBJECT DISTRESS HIGHOVERRIDE REQUEST: PERSISTING (KAEL)
Kael's eyes unfocused slightly, then tightened. "It's still there."
Astra's throat burned. "It's waiting."
Like a polite predator.
Waiting for the moment she stumbled.
Dorian's silk voice slid closer, warm as breath. "You're tired," he murmured. "Your trace is climbing. You wrote into him. How generous. How… fragile."
Pain rolled behind Astra's eyes again—heavier this time, like the system was stacking debt.
Astra's knees trembled.
Kael's hand tightened on her shoulder. "Sit."
Astra's pride flared. "No."
Kael's eyes burned. "That's not a question."
Astra almost snapped back—
Then she caught herself.
Consent. Always.
She stared at Kael, throat burning, and made it explicit.
"Are you ordering me," Astra said softly, "or asking."
Kael's jaw flexed. His eyes flicked to her mouth, then back to her eyes like he was forcing himself not to be distracted by heat when she was shaking.
"Ask," Kael said, rough. "Please sit before you fall."
Astra's breath hitched.
That please landed harder than any command.
Astra nodded once and lowered herself onto the edge of the table, slow and controlled. Not collapsing. Choosing.
Kael stood close, body angled protectively, hands kept away from her collar like it was a live blade.
Lyra watched from the wall, eyes bright, jealous amusement simmering.
Juno hovered near the door, listening to the muffled world outside.
Orin paced, muttering about routes and debt.
Astra squeezed her eyes shut for half a heartbeat, then opened them again before Dorian could take the blink as victory.
Her interface flashed.
PAIN PARTITION: AVAILABLEWARNING: RESERVOIR NEAR LIMITNOTE: RESERVOIR OVERFLOW MAY CAUSE SYNCOPE
Syncope.
Fainting.
The exact thing the leash clause needed.
Astra swallowed hard.
Kael's voice came low. "What now."
Astra forced her voice steady. "I can partition pain to stay conscious. But if the reservoir overflows, I drop anyway."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Then don't."
Astra laughed once, harsh. "Brilliant."
Kael's eyes darkened. "Tell me what you need."
Astra looked up at him.
He was a wall. A threat. A man who kept choosing restraint even when the system tried to make him a handle.
Heat curled low in Astra's belly—intense, strategic, dangerous.
She leaned in a fraction, voice low enough to be private.
"I need an anchor," Astra murmured. "Not the collar. Me."
Kael's throat worked. "Meaning."
Astra's gaze flicked to his hands. "Touch that doesn't trigger the system. Something my body can follow when the pain hits."
Kael's eyes sharpened. "Where."
Astra didn't flinch from the intimacy. She made it explicit.
"Wrist," Astra said softly. "Or waist. But you ask first."
Kael swallowed. His voice dropped. "May I hold your wrist."
Astra's breath hitched.
Jealous heat snapped from the wall—Lyra shifting, eyes bright and irritated.
Astra didn't look at her.
She kept her gaze on Kael and nodded once. "Yes."
Kael's hand closed around Astra's wrist, firm and warm. Not a leash. A brace. A point.
Astra's body responded instantly—heart racing, skin prickling. Heat rose, fierce and hungry, threaded with relief.
Kael's eyes flicked to Astra's mouth. His jaw clenched like he was refusing to want in the middle of disaster.
Astra almost smiled.
Then pain punched behind her eyes again.
Dorian.
The owner channel pushed, trying to fill the reservoir until she dropped.
Astra hissed through her teeth and triggered Pain Partition.
The pain didn't vanish. It shifted—like a heavy sack dragged off her spine and stored somewhere inside, waiting to be carried later.
Her vision cleared.
Her legs steadied.
But her interface flashed a warning in cold white:
PAIN RESERVOIR: 92%WARNING: OVERFLOW IMMINENT
Astra swallowed bile and kept breathing.
Kael's grip tightened slightly. "Stay with me."
Astra's mouth was dry. "I'm here."
Dorian's voice purred, pleased. "Look at you. So brave. So close to falling."
Astra forced her eyes on Kael's face.
He was watching her like she was a battlefield.
And then Kael's expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Kael's gaze unfocused for half a heartbeat.
Then he said, low and tight, "It's… changing."
Astra's stomach dropped. "The prompt."
Kael swallowed. "It's asking again. It says—" His jaw clenched. "SUBJECT DISTRESS CRITICAL. OVERRIDE RECOMMENDED."
Astra tasted metal.
The system was escalating.
Trying to make the prompt feel urgent enough that he'd press EXECUTE without thinking.
But now there was a gate.
Her gate.
Two voices. Matching phrase.
"Don't say it," Astra whispered.
Kael's eyes burned. "I won't."
Lyra's voice came soft from the wall. "He might not. But the system might use his mouth anyway."
Kael's head snapped toward Lyra, lethal. "Quiet."
Lyra's smile sharpened. "Make me."
Astra's jealousy flared again, hot and ugly, and she used it like a blade.
"Lyra," Astra said, cold, "if you ever speak our phrase out loud, I will drown you in black water."
Lyra's eyes glittered. "Jealous."
Astra's mouth curved, razor-thin. "Strategic."
Lyra's smile didn't fade, but her eyes tightened. "Fine."
Orin stopped pacing and leaned in, voice rough. "We don't have time for your triangle. Guild will be sniffing the chapel. Church too. We need a move."
Astra swallowed, throat burning. "We go deeper. Somewhere the seal can't get clean signal."
Orin nodded once. "I have a place. But it costs."
Astra didn't blink. "Everything costs."
Orin gestured toward the door. "Move."
Kael didn't release Astra's wrist. He looked at her first, making the question explicit with his eyes.
Astra nodded. "Yes. Keep it."
Kael's grip stayed—warm, steady.
They moved.
Orin led them through a tighter set of tunnels, down into older Underchain bone. The air got colder. The stone got slicker. Scar-sigils became denser, carved deeper, like this place had been built by people who expected to be hunted forever.
Juno threw a disk behind them at a junction, the hum sinking into stone like poison.
Lyra followed, quiet, damp hem whispering over rock.
Astra's witness seal hummed, confused, unhappy.
Good.
Then the tunnel opened into a low chamber that smelled like metal filings and old cloth. A shallow pit sat in the center filled with dark sand—dead-water sand, used to smother signal. Hooks lined the walls. A basin of black paste sat on a shelf.
Orin's workshop.
He slammed the scar-sigil and the chamber's air went heavy—thick enough that Astra's interface dimmed slightly, like the system didn't like being choked.
Astra exhaled, relieved.
Kael didn't loosen his grip.
Astra didn't ask him to.
Orin nodded toward the pit. "Dead sand. It eats clean reads. The Guild hates it."
Lyra's eyes glittered. "So do saints."
Juno crouched by the pit and dipped a finger into the sand. "It's cold."
Astra's throat burned. "What's the plan."
Orin's face tightened. "We bury the seal. Not remove. Smother. But you'll feel it."
Astra swallowed. "Do it."
Kael's eyes sharpened. "Astra—"
Astra met his gaze. "If the seal stays clean, they'll find us anyway."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Consent?"
Astra blinked. He was asking if she consented to being handled.
She nodded once. "Yes."
Orin grabbed a strip of cloth and gestured. "Sit."
Astra sat on the edge of the pit, legs dangling above the dark sand.
Her pain reservoir buzzed dangerously high. Her trace prickled. Her throat seal hummed, annoyed.
Orin smeared black paste along the seal's edge, careful not to cut skin. The paste stank of ash and metal.
Astra hissed, not from pain—cold shock.
The seal vibrated, angry.
GUILD WITNESS SEAL: SIGNAL QUALITY DEGRADEDNOTE: BROADCAST ATTEMPTS MAY FAIL
Good.
But the seal didn't die.
It just got meaner.
Orin wrapped the cloth around Astra's throat lightly, over the seal—not tight, not choking. A shroud.
Astra's skin crawled at the idea of something around her throat—even cloth—after everything.
Kael felt her tense and stepped closer, voice low. "Breathe."
Astra breathed.
Kael's hand tightened on her wrist, warm and real.
Orin finished the wrap and stepped back. "That buys you blindness. Not safety."
Astra nodded. "Blind is enough."
Lyra's gaze stayed on the cloth at Astra's throat. "You look branded."
Astra's mouth curved bitterly. "I am."
Kael's eyes burned at the word branded. His jaw clenched, and Astra felt the heat in him—rage and desire tangled, dangerous.
Astra leaned in a fraction, voice low, meant only for him.
"Still here?" she whispered.
Kael's eyes darkened. "Always."
The word hit Astra like a fist to the ribs.
She swallowed hard.
Then her interface flared again—dim but clear.
PAIN RESERVOIR: 97%WARNING: OVERFLOW IMMINENTSUBJECT DISTRESS: CRITICAL