Astra felt violated—like hands in her mind. It wasn't pain. It was intrusion.
Orin's voice went flat. "He's not here to arrest. He's here to acquire."
Astra looked at Lyra. "You routed me into a Guild net."
Lyra didn't flinch. "I routed you into a room that could slow extraction. You did the rest."
Astra's mouth tightened. True. Not comforting.
Kael's voice dropped, lethal. "Lyra."
Lyra's eyes gleamed. "Save the growling. Your Marquis is not the only man who collects."
The door seam glowed again. "Subject Astra Vey. Present yourself. If you comply, the Guild will offer mitigation for your trace and temporary shielding from hostile claimants."
Shielding.
Astra's pulse kicked. Shielding from Dorian and Seraphine would be priceless.
Which meant the price would be obscene.
Astra kept her tone calm. "Mitigation how."
"Guild-grade stabilization," the voice replied. "Audit-safe partitioning. Controlled clause refactoring. Removal of unauthorized external residues."
Removal of residues.
Seraphine's sunburst bruise on Kael.
Dorian's tap attempts.
And—if they decided—Kael himself as collateral.
Astra's throat tightened.
Kael read her instantly. "They'll cut me out."
Orin snorted. "Or brand you both into a tidy Guild contract."
Juno's fingers twitched around her disk. "We should run."
Lyra's gaze stayed on Astra. "If you run, they will follow. If you sign, you will owe."
Astra's mouth curved bitterly. "So either way I owe."
Lyra smiled. "Welcome to Eidolon."
Astra's interface flickered—an ugly calm settling.
She couldn't out-run the Guild in the state she was in. Trace that high was a beacon. The Underchain would eventually sell her for the right price or abandon her for survival. Dorian would keep pulling. Seraphine would keep filing.
But she could choose who got to touch her throat first.
And she could choose how she stood when they did.
Astra's gaze slid to Kael. "If I open it—"
Kael's eyes narrowed. "No."
Astra's smile was thin. "Not asking."
Kael's jaw flexed. "Astra."
Astra stepped closer to him, just enough to make her next words private. "You can't fight a Guild audit with muscle," she murmured. "But you can fight it with posture."
Kael's breathing went controlled. "Meaning."
Astra's eyes held his. Heat coiled low, fierce and strategic. "You don't kneel. You don't reach for my collar. You don't give them touch leverage."
Kael's gaze flicked to her mouth. His throat worked. "And you."
Astra's smile sharpened. "I negotiate."
Kael's jaw clenched. "With trace seventy-four."
Astra lifted her brows. "I've negotiated with worse."
Kael stared at her for a beat, then gave a slow, minimal nod. "Then I stand close."
Astra's pulse kicked at the word close.
Consent in a single syllable.
Lyra watched the exchange like she was tasting it.
Jealous heat flared again in Astra's gut.
Astra didn't look at Lyra. She wouldn't feed her that satisfaction.
Instead, Astra turned to Orin. "If this goes wrong, you open the back seam and you run Juno."
Orin's eyes narrowed. "And you."
Astra's smile was razor-thin. "I'll be busy."
Orin swore quietly, then nodded once.
Juno hissed, "Astra—"
Astra touched Juno's shoulder briefly—one firm squeeze. "Not dying tonight," she murmured.
Juno looked offended by the optimism. "Good."
Lyra's voice slid in, soft. "If you sign, read the ink."
Astra's gaze cut to Lyra. "If you're here to help, prove it."
Lyra's smile sharpened. "I already did. You're alive."
Astra held her stare a moment longer than necessary. Then she turned away.
Fine. Later.
Astra faced the door seam again. "Auditor Hal. You will enter alone."
A pause. Then the voice replied, polite as poison. "I will enter with one attendant for record integrity."
Orin barked a laugh. "He wants a witness to carve you clean."
Astra didn't blink. "One attendant, unarmed, hands visible."
Another pause—longer.
"Accepted," Auditor Hal said, as if granting a favor rather than complying.
Astra's collar pulsed in satisfaction at the word accepted. It loved agreements.
Kael's hand tightened on her wrist for a fraction of a second—then released. He didn't want to hold her like a handler. He did it anyway sometimes, by instinct.
Astra didn't shame him for it.
She simply stepped forward and placed herself beside him so the contact wasn't a leash—it was chosen proximity.
Astra nodded at Orin.
Orin pressed the scar-sigil.
The iron door clicked and swung inward.
Cold corridor air rushed in. Two figures stood outside in lamplight that looked too clean for Underchain stone.
Auditor Meros Hal was exactly the voice: mid-thirties, neat hair, grey robe cut like a craftsman's uniform rather than priest cloth. A small metallic crest sat at his throat—not Dominion, not Church. Guild.
His eyes were calm, but his gaze moved like a blade: collar, wrist, posture, breathing. He cataloged without emotion.
Beside him stood the attendant—silent, younger, holding a slim slate etched with sigils that shimmered faintly.
The slate's glow made Astra's skin prickle.
Kael shifted slightly, body angling. Not threatening. Protective.
Meros noticed. His mouth curved in a small, professional smile. "Imperial Hound Kael Raithe. Interesting collateral."
Kael's voice was flat. "You will address her."
Meros's eyes flicked to Kael. "I did. By name."
He looked at Astra. "Subject Astra Vey. You have exceeded safe trace thresholds. You have enacted unauthorized self-writes, installed illicit patches, and hosted collateral within a collar clause. By statute, you are subject to audit stabilization."
Astra's mouth was dry. "And your mitigation has a price."
Meros's smile warmed, as if pleased she understood how the world worked. "Everything does."
Lyra shifted behind Astra—barely audible, but Astra felt her presence like a shadow leaning in.
Kael felt it too. His jaw tightened.
Astra kept her face calm. "State the price."
Meros nodded to the attendant, who angled the slate slightly. A glyph unfurled in the air—clean lines, too precise, floating like a contract written in light.
Astra's collar pulsed hard. The interface in her vision flickered, trying to overlay its own modules on top of the Guild's projection.
Her head throbbed.
Meros spoke softly. "You will submit to a Guild-grade stabilization clause for ninety days. During that period, your self-write access will be supervised. Your trace will be partitioned and managed. Your collar will be inspected and refactored to meet safety code."
Refactored.
Astra's stomach tightened. Refactoring could mean removing her loopholes. It could mean binding her internal stabilizer to Guild authority. It could mean sealing her UI mismatch behind a wall.
It could mean—
Her eyes snapped to one line in the projected text, and her blood chilled.
COLLATERAL SAFETY: REASSIGNMENT REQUIREDANCHOR COLLATERAL: TRANSFER TO GUILD ESCROW
Kael.
Astra's throat went ice.
Kael read her face instantly, eyes hard. "No."
Meros's smile didn't falter. "Collateral inside a collar is a hazard. It will be placed into escrow until stabilized."
Lyra's voice drifted, amused. "Told you."
Kael's gaze cut toward Lyra like a knife.
Astra didn't let the triangle form again. She looked only at Meros.
"No escrow," Astra said calmly. "You stabilize me without taking him."
Meros's eyes stayed polite. "That is not compliant."
Astra's mouth curved faintly. "Then your statute isn't as strong as you pretend."
Meros's smile sharpened. "Careful, subject. The Guild does not negotiate with hazards."
Astra held his gaze. "You're negotiating now."
A faint pause.
Meros's eyes flicked—just once—to the attendant's slate, as if consulting unseen margins.
Then he looked back at Astra and spoke more softly. "Your trace is attracting Dominion and Church attention. If you refuse the Guild, you will be seized by one of them. Likely tonight. The Guild offers the cleanest outcome."
Cleanest.
Astra almost laughed. Clean meant controlled. Clean meant owned by someone who wore gloves.
Kael's voice went low, fierce. "We leave."
Orin shifted behind Astra, ready.
Juno's fingers tensed around her disk.
Lyra watched, eyes bright.
Astra's interface flickered, warning her body what her pride wanted to do.
SYSTEM ATTENTION: VERY HIGHAUDIT LOCK: NEARNOTE: OPEN CONFLICT MAY TRIGGER AUTO-COMPLIANCE
Auto-compliance would be the system choosing for her.
She refused.
Astra made herself still. She didn't step back. She didn't step forward.
She stepped sideways—just enough to angle her throat away from the slate's direct line, just enough to keep her posture from reading as "presented."
Then she spoke quietly. "If I sign your stabilization clause, you leave my collateral in place. You don't touch him. You don't escrow him."
Meros studied her like she was a rare tool with a dangerous flaw. "You cannot guarantee collateral stability."
Astra's mouth curved. "I can."
Meros's brows lifted slightly. "How."
Astra didn't look at Kael when she answered—because she didn't want Meros reading their heat as weakness. But she could feel Kael's presence, steady and dangerous, close enough to anchor her without touch.
"I have internal stabilization," Astra said. "I can maintain it under Guild supervision. I will submit to your trace mitigation. But if you attempt escrow, the collar will interpret it as hostile claim conflict and trigger isolation again."
Meros's smile sharpened. "You threaten me with your own collar."
Astra's eyes stayed calm. "I state system behavior."
Lyra's soft chuckle slid through the room. "She's good."
Kael's jaw clenched at Lyra's approval, but he didn't speak.
Meros's gaze flicked to Lyra—recognition again. A tiny tightening around his eyes.
Astra caught it.
Twist.
Lyra and Meros were not strangers.
Astra filed it without reacting.
Meros looked back at Astra. "You have installed Ghost Command."
Astra's stomach tightened. "Yes."
Meros's smile turned colder. "That is a breach."
Astra held his gaze. "It's also the reason your collar-statute didn't find me dead."
Meros paused.
Then his tone softened by a hair. "Remove it."
Astra's pulse kicked. "No."
Kael's body tightened beside her.
Orin shifted, ready to blow the room open.
Meros's gaze sharpened. "You refuse."
Astra's voice stayed low and even. "I refuse to disarm while Dorian Veyrn and Sister-Matriarch Seraphine Lume are hunting me."
Meros's eyes narrowed. "You name your claimants."
Astra smiled faintly. "You already did."
A long, silent beat.
The attendant's slate hummed softly, as if recording every breath.
Meros exhaled slowly. "Then we revise."
He lifted one hand—two fingers—and traced a small sigil in the air.
The projected contract shifted like ink in water. Lines re-ordered. Clauses re-stacked.
Astra's collar pulsed harder, hungry for the new text.
Her interface stuttered, trying to parse both systems at once.
WARNING: EXTERNAL CLAUSE OVERLAYRISK: AUDIT LOCK