Dorian's voice slid into Astra's nerves like a silk cord tightening around bone.
"Good girl," he murmured, and her collar answered with a warm, obedient pulse, "now bring me my Hound."
The plaza was too quiet for how many masters were standing in it.
Lanternlight pooled on wet stone. A black Veyrn carriage waited like an open mouth. Seraphine Lume stood beside it with her hood down, smiling as if this was a sermon. Captain Rusk Dain held the opposite edge of the triangle with two Imperial Hounds behind him, their faces blank, crests muted.
Kael's hand clamped around Astra's wrist.
Then his grip faltered—just a hair—because something invisible yanked on him from inside her collar.
Astra's interface snapped bright.
STATUSTRACE: 49.6%NULL ANCHOR: ACTIVEANCHOR: KAEL RAITHE (COLLATERAL)DIRECT CHANNEL: OPEN (HOUSE VEYRN)ANCHOR RECALL: READYWARNING: GOVERNOR LOAD SPIKE IMMINENT
Kael's jaw flexed. His posture tightened like a man bracing for impact he couldn't dodge.
Astra tasted metal. Dorian didn't have to shout to pull. He just had to authorize the pull line and let the collar do what it was built to do.
Seraphine's eyes glinted toward Astra's throat, as if she could see the words there.
"Step forward," Seraphine said softly. "Alone."
Rusk's voice followed, clipped and cold. "Hound Raithe. Stand down and approach."
Two commands.
Three authorities if you counted the whisper in Astra's spine.
The collar tightened, thrilled by the conflict. It loved choosing.
Astra's legs threatened to obey the easiest gravity—toward whoever spoke with the cleanest certainty.
Kael's voice cut low at her ear, deliberate, protocol-shaped like he'd promised.
"If the collar pulls—breathe and keep your feet under you until it passes."
Astra's breath hitched.
Not because it was romantic.
Because it was theirs.
She inhaled slowly. Forced her knees to stay soft, not locked. Forced her body to move only when she chose.
Dorian's voice purred in her nerves.
"You're learning," he murmured. "Now prove it."
Astra didn't answer him aloud.
She answered with movement.
She stepped forward—one pace only—just enough that Seraphine and Rusk both saw compliance, just enough that the collar felt satisfied for a heartbeat.
Then Astra stopped, turning her body slightly so she wasn't presenting her throat to any one master in a straight line.
A triangle refused.
Seraphine's smile sharpened. "Clever."
Rusk's eyes narrowed. "Astra."
Dorian's whisper warmed. "Better."
Astra lifted her chin and let her voice carry—not loud, but clear enough that every crest in the plaza could hear it.
"You want a delivery," she said, calm as a knife laid flat, "then say what you're collecting."
Rusk's gaze snapped to her mouth. A slave speaking like a negotiator always made Dominion men want to correct the world with violence.
Seraphine tilted her head, amused. "You bargain with owners?"
Astra's mouth curved faintly. "I bargain with anyone who thinks they can touch my throat without paying."
Kael's grip tightened on her wrist—warning and anchor at once.
Dorian laughed softly inside her collar. "Ask for a price, Astra. I adore ambition."
Astra kept her face calm while her mind raced.
If Dorian pulled Kael through the link, Kael's governor would spike, his body would collapse into compliance, and the system would interpret it as delivery.
If Seraphine marked Astra in the open, the Underchain's mask would mean nothing.
If Rusk enforced Kael hard enough, Kael's leash would spike again—and this time the pull line might route through Astra's collar and tear them both.
She needed seconds.
Not mercy.
Seconds.
Astra's fingers brushed her collar.
Kael's eyes flared. "Astra—don't."
"I'm not," she whispered without moving her lips. "I'm borrowing."
She touched the collar deliberately.
Pain flared in anticipation—
Then the familiar window flickered into place.
PUNISHMENT DELAY: 6.0s (ACTIVE)
Six seconds.
A hinge.
Astra moved inside them like a thief inside a locked house.
She stepped forward again, smooth, controlled, and angled toward the carriage—toward Seraphine's side of the triangle—because Seraphine's sanctity was the sharpest blade in the room, and blades hated being used as props.
Seraphine watched Astra approach with a slow smile.
Astra stopped two paces away—close enough to be intimate, far enough to refuse touch.
"My Sister-Matriarch," Astra said softly.
Seraphine's brows lifted, delighted by the performance. "How polite."
Astra let her gaze slide—deliberately—to Seraphine's wrist crest and then away. "You came into House Veyrn's private rooms tonight," she murmured. "For sanctity."
Seraphine's smile didn't move. "For containment."
Astra's voice lowered, just a fraction. "Then why are you sharing a stage with the man who put a Hound's leash through a slave's collar."
Seraphine's eyes flashed.
Not anger.
Interest.
Rusk's head snapped slightly toward Seraphine, like he felt a shift in the balance and didn't like not controlling it.
Dorian's whisper warmed with amusement. "Oh, Astra. Stirring priests."
Astra kept her expression calm. "You think you're claiming holy property," she said to Seraphine, soft and sharp. "But he's already using your hunt to retrieve his weapon."
Seraphine's gaze slid to Kael at Astra's side, and for the first time her smile tightened. "A Hound is not holy."
Astra's mouth curved. "No. He's expensive."
Kael's jaw clenched.
Astra felt the pull line in his body twitch—Dorian testing.
Astra's interface flickered.
ANCHOR RECALL: TENSION INCREASINGGOVERNOR LOAD: RISING
Five seconds.
Four.
Astra had to land the blade before the pain came due.
She leaned slightly closer to Seraphine, letting her voice become a private confession made public.
"He anchored his Hound inside me," Astra murmured. "Not metaphorically. In code."
Seraphine's pupils tightened.
Rusk's eyes sharpened.
The two Hounds behind Rusk shifted, suddenly alert—not because they understood the politics, but because they felt the scent of a leash being discussed.
Seraphine spoke quietly. "Show me."
Astra's mouth went dry.
She couldn't show Seraphine the interface.
But she could show her the result.
Astra looked over her shoulder at Kael.
Kael read her face instantly. His eyes narrowed—warning.
Astra gave him the smallest shake of her head.
Not touch. Voice.
Kael's jaw flexed. He hated the shape of this. He did it anyway.
His voice cut low, crisp, protocol-shaped—loud enough for crests to hear.
"Astra," Kael said, "if you are in danger, you will stand behind me until I say otherwise."
The collar reacted.
Not like a pet.
Like a system recognizing law.
Astra felt her spine settle—steadier, less jittering. The Null Anchor hummed, consulting his voice as stabilizer input without giving House Veyrn a touch-path handle.
Seraphine watched the micro-change in Astra's posture, the way her tremor eased.
Her smile turned thin.
"Oh," she breathed.
Dorian's whisper sharpened. "You're performing treason in front of a priest, Astra."
Astra kept her eyes on Seraphine. "You wanted sanctity," she said softly. "There's your proof. My collar listens to a Hound."
Seraphine's gaze flicked to the carriage, then back to Astra, calculating routes and meanings. "And he listens to House Veyrn," she said, too calm.
Astra's smile didn't reach her eyes. "For now."
Three seconds.
Two.
The delayed punishment began to rise like a wave behind Astra's eyes.
Astra turned her face slightly, just enough that her voice could carry to Rusk without shouting.
"Captain," she said, "your Hound is being pulled through a slave collar."
Rusk's expression hardened. "Impossible."
Astra's mouth curved. "Tell your body that when he locks."
Kael's breathing hitched once.
Astra felt the pull line tighten.
Dorian was done listening.
Astra's interface flashed bright, merciless.
OWNER COMMAND: ANCHOR RECALL — EXECUTETARGET: KAEL RAITHEVECTOR: COLLAR LINK
Kael's body jerked, a sharp involuntary flinch. His wrist crest flared hard, governor load spiking.
Astra's delayed punishment hit at the same moment—hot pain flooding her nerves.
Astra swallowed a scream.
Seraphine watched the timing with cool interest.
Rusk stepped forward, eyes snapping to Kael. "Raithe."
Kael's jaw clenched. He tried to move forward—toward Rusk's command.
But his body also tried to turn—toward Dorian's hidden pull.
And for one terrifying heartbeat, Kael didn't belong to himself.
Astra moved.
Not toward Dorian's carriage.
Toward Kael.
She slid in close, placing herself at his side, shoulder brushing his arm—contact that was not collar-touch, not a handle, but still a signal.
Her mouth went near his ear, voice low, urgent, intimate.
"Kael," she whispered, "if your leash spikes, you will breathe and lock your jaw until the pull passes."
His eyes flicked to her—dark, furious, alive.
He nodded once.
He obeyed that.
His jaw locked. His shoulders steadied. His breathing slowed into discipline.
The governor load didn't disappear, but it stopped climbing like a runaway horse.
Astra's interface stuttered.
GOVERNOR LOAD: STABILIZING (VOICE INPUT)ANCHOR RECALL: RESISTED (PARTIAL)TRACE: 51.2%WARNING: WATERMARK TRACKING INTENSIFYING