Auto in six seconds.
Astra's blood went ice.
Orin swore. "We move. Now."
Juno's eyes widened. "Can you stop it."
Astra's mind raced.
Delay Loop could stall pain and sometimes timing, but this was the seal. Ghost Command slot?
Empty.
But she had something else now—Write(Other) limited, handler protocol access, and a narrowed threat exception.
She could do one more thing.
Dangerous.
Expensive.
But necessary.
Astra looked at Kael, close enough to feel his breath. "Consent," she whispered, urgent, "to me locking your broadcast channel for one minute."
Kael didn't hesitate. "Yes."
Astra's throat tightened with something fierce.
She reached for the handler channel and wrote, fast and brutal:
IF WITNESS SEAL ATTEMPTS CUSTODIAN SAFETY REPORT → ROUTE TO DEAD-SAND NULL BUFFER FOR 60s (NO SEND)
Pain exploded behind Astra's eyes like a star. Her vision went white. She tasted blood.
TRACE: 87.0%
Kael caught her before her knees buckled, hands at her waist and forearm, holding her upright with brutal gentleness.
"Astra," he rasped. "Breathe."
Astra forced air in.
Her interface flickered.
ROUTE APPLIED: 60sCUSTODIAN SAFETY REPORT: BUFFERED
One minute.
A hinge.
Astra's body trembled. Her trace buzzed hot and ugly. The cloth wrap at her throat felt like it was choking her even though it wasn't tight.
Orin grabbed Juno and Lyra by their sleeves. "Move!"
Kael kept one hand on Astra's waist, warm and steady.
Astra didn't pull away.
She couldn't afford pride right now.
They ran through deeper Underchain arteries—dead sand, scar-sigils, damp stone. Orin cursed directions. Juno threw disks behind them like breadcrumbs made of poison. Lyra kept pace, too smooth, eyes bright.
Kael stayed close to Astra, his body a wall, his hands asking and bracing without turning into a leash.
But Astra could feel the system's new shape around them.
Handler. Hound. Custodian.
Language that wanted to become reality.
They reached a narrow stair that led up toward a forgotten service tunnel. Orin slammed a scar-sigil and the door panel slid aside.
Cold air hit Astra's face.
Above, faint city noise—distant, alive.
Orin whispered, "We go up. Fast."
Astra's interface flickered again.
BUFFER TIMER: 00:00:19
Nineteen seconds until the seal tried again.
Kael's voice went low at Astra's ear. "You're shaking."
Astra swallowed. "I'm fine."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Liar."
Astra almost laughed.
Then Kael's hand tightened at her waist, and his voice dropped into something intimate and fierce.
"Stay with me," Kael said. "Don't you dare fall."
Heat flared in Astra's belly despite everything.
She leaned in a fraction, breath warm at his jaw.
"Consent," Astra whispered, half a threat, half a promise. "You don't get to dare me."
Kael's breath hitched. His eyes darkened. "Then don't make me beg."
Astra's throat tightened.
She wanted to hear him beg.
Not like the Empire made men beg.
Like a choice.
Not now.
She swallowed the hunger and kept moving.
They climbed.
The service tunnel opened into an old drainage corridor that ran beneath the market's understructure—still Underchain, but closer to surface. The air smelled less like damp stone and more like people.
Orin slowed, listening. "Quiet."
They froze.
Footsteps above—distant, but clean in rhythm. Not Underchain. Not thieves.
Patrol.
Orin swore silently.
Astra's interface flickered.
BUFFER TIMER: 00:00:05
Five seconds.
Astra's throat burned.
Kael's hand at her waist steadied her.
Lyra leaned close behind Astra, voice barely a breath. "You can't keep writing. You're going to lock."
Astra didn't answer.
Orin whispered, "We need to move now or they step over us."
Juno's fingers tightened around a disk.
Astra stared at the tunnel ceiling, mind racing.
If the buffer ended and the seal tried to broadcast again, the Guild would get an approximate vector. They'd swarm.
If they moved now, the patrol above might hear.
Either way, danger.
Astra's blood went ice.
Then a new sensation slid into her collar—silk warm, delighted.
Dorian.
"You're tired," he murmured. "And you just made yourself visible through your Hound. You gave me the sweetest proof: you can command him. The Guild will call you coercive. The Church will call you corrupt. And Kael…"
Dorian's voice softened, intimate. "Kael will wonder if he ever chose you at all."
Astra's stomach turned.
Kael's eyes narrowed. "He's saying something."
Astra swallowed. "Yes."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Tell him to shut up."
Astra almost smiled.
Then the buffer ended.
Astra's interface flashed.
CUSTODIAN SAFETY REPORT: RESUMINGSEND IN: 00:00:03
Three seconds.
Astra didn't have time to write.
She didn't have time to delay.
She had only one thing left that could interrupt a system that loved hierarchy:
A different hierarchy.
Astra lifted her chin and whispered to Kael, urgent and low.
"Black water."
Kael answered instantly. "Black water."
Astra spoke the next words like a knife laid flat on the system's throat.
"Kael," Astra said, voice quiet but absolute, "deny custodian safety report—now."
Kael's jaw clenched.
For a heartbeat, Astra felt the danger of what she'd just done: a direct command.
The thing she feared becoming.
Kael's eyes burned into hers.
Then he chose.
He spoke clearly, chosen, human.
"I deny," Kael said.
The seal's countdown stuttered.
SEND IN: 00:00:02… — CANCELLED (CUSTODIAN DENIAL)
Silence hit hard.
Orin exhaled a curse of relief.
Juno's shoulders loosened.
Lyra's eyes glittered—hungry.
Kael's gaze stayed locked on Astra, dark and intense.
His voice was low. "You just used me."
Astra's throat went tight.
Heat and guilt tangled together.
"I asked you to confirm," Astra said, voice rough. "You chose."
Kael's jaw flexed. "I did."
Astra stepped closer, chest nearly brushing his. Her voice dropped, sensual and fierce, consent-as-foreplay braided with strategy.
"Then say it," Astra whispered. "Say you chose."
Kael's breath hitched.
His eyes flicked to her mouth.
Then he forced the words out like a vow he couldn't afford but wanted anyway.
"I chose," Kael said, rough. "I choose."
Astra's stomach flipped with heat.
Lyra shifted behind them, annoyed.
Orin snapped, "Not the time."
Astra didn't look away from Kael. "It's always the time."
Kael's hand tightened at her waist, warm and steady. Not owning.
Then, in the hush, Astra's witness seal vibrated again—soft, sly.
Not a broadcast.
A message.
A new panel unfolded in her vision, colder than any threat prompt.
NOTICE: CUSTODIAN DENIAL RECORDEDRESULT: HANDLER AUTHORITY RAISED (SYSTEM COMPENSATION)NEW OPTION AVAILABLE: OVERRIDE (OTHER) — LIMITED
Astra's blood went ice.
The system had "compensated" for Kael's denial by raising her authority.
Like it was rewarding the handler for keeping the hound in line.
Dorian's silk laughter curled, delighted.
"There," he murmured. "Now you're official."
Astra stared at the new option pulsing in her interface like a heartbeat.
And behind the option, a second line appeared—small, easy to miss, and absolutely fatal:
OWNER CHANNEL NOTE: HANDLER ROLE MAY BE TRANSFERRED BY HOUSE Veyrn CLAIM.