Orin muttered, "Pick. Pick now."
Lyra's gaze flicked to the Hounds. "If I name a recipient you don't like, you'll call it coercion."
The nearer Hound's eyes were cold. "Name it."
Astra's mind raced through options like a blade rack.
Orin? Not registered as a witness-holder. Too messy.
Juno? Adult, but not anchored. Too easy to threaten.
Seraphine? Church. Dangerous. Might "sanitize" everything.
The Guild? Would lock her and Kael into paperwork forever.
Lyra herself? She'd already shown she could hold—but she was currently within reach of Hounds.
And Kael—
Kael was the axis. Custodian. Crest variant. The system loved routing through him.
Making Kael recipient would keep it out of Dorian's hand, but it would turn Kael into the handle. Into the thing everyone would pull.
Kael met Astra's gaze, reading the storm.
His voice dropped, rough and intimate. "Don't."
Astra swallowed. "There's no clean choice."
Kael's jaw flexed. "Then choose the one we can survive."
Lyra smiled faintly. "He's right."
Astra hated that Lyra agreed with Kael like she had a right to.
Astra's jealousy flared again—hot, sharp, alive.
She used it.
"Lyra," Astra said, voice like steel, "specify Kael as recipient."
Kael went rigid. "Astra—"
Astra didn't flinch. "Consent."
Kael's throat worked. His eyes burned, furious and afraid—not of death, of becoming a tool.
Astra held his gaze, making it explicit.
"Do you consent," Astra said low, "to holding the escrow to block Dorian. For minutes, not forever."
Kael stared at her like she'd offered him a crown made of chains.
Then his jaw clenched.
"Yes," Kael said, rough. "I consent."
The words hit Astra like heat and grief at once.
Lyra's brows lifted. "Well. That's romantic."
Astra's mouth curled. "Strategic."
The nearer Hound stepped forward sharply. "Witness Sable—declare it."
Lyra's smile went razor-thin. She looked at Astra one last time.
"After this," Lyra murmured, "you owe me truth."
Astra didn't promise. She only nodded once—because time was blood.
Lyra lifted her chin and spoke clearly, formal enough for the seal and the system:
"I, Lyra Sable, registered witness, specify recipient: Custodian Kael Raithe."
Astra's interface flashed.
ESCROW RECIPIENT: KAEL RAITHE — ACCEPTING…
Dorian's silk voice snapped from amused to sharp. "No."
The emergency override line surged like a second hand trying to seize the wheel.
HOUSE VEYRN EMERGENCY OVERRIDE: CONTESTING RECIPIENT…
Kael's body stiffened. His crest variant resonated in the military piping. The Hounds in the alcove shifted, sensing the change—like blood in water.
The nearer Hound's gaze pinned Kael. "You're not authorized to hold command oversight."
Kael's eyes went cold. "It's not command. It's escrow."
The Hound's mouth twitched. "We decide what it is."
Astra's throat burned.
The interface shook, text flickering as two authorities wrestled:
RECIPIENT LOCK: IN PROGRESSCONTEST: HOUSE VEYRN vs WITNESS SPECIFICATION
And then—twist, sharp as a blade—
A third line appeared, quieter, older, meaner.
MILITARY CLAIM: INTERCEPT ROUTE — CAPTAIN RUSK DAIN
Astra's blood went ice.
Rusk had found the escrow lane.
Of course he had.
Kael's jaw clenched. "He's intercepting."
Astra tasted blood. "Yes."
Lyra's smile faded for the first time. "Oh."
Orin swore. "So now we have three hands on the leash."
Juno whispered, terrified, "Can it… split?"
Astra's interface answered like it enjoyed the idea:
WARNING: TRI-CLAIM MAY TRIGGER "SAFE RESOLUTION."SAFE RESOLUTION: CONTAINMENT + TRANSFER TO DOMINION ARBITER
Containment.
Arbiter.
A clean cage with a clean label.
Kael's breath went tight. "No."
Astra's collar pulsed as if it loved the word safe.
Astra's jaw clenched until it hurt.
Kael stepped closer to Astra, body angling to shield her throat without touching it. His voice dropped, urgent and intimate.
"Ask me," Kael rasped. "Tell me what to do."
Heat flared in Astra's belly because he was offering himself as a choice, not a tool.
Astra grabbed that heat like a weapon.
"Consent," Astra said low, "to you denying intercept and denying 'safe resolution.' Out loud."
Kael didn't hesitate.
"I deny intercept," Kael said, clear. "I deny safe resolution."
Astra's interface stuttered.
The military claim line flickered.
The "safe resolution" warning hesitated, recalculating.
But the system didn't stop.
It adapted.
A new prompt blossomed—clean, lethal, aimed at Kael now, not Astra:
CUSTODIAN CONFIRMATION REQUIRED: ACCEPT ESCROW RECIPIENT ROLE (NOW).SPOKEN PHRASE: "YES."
Astra's stomach dropped.
The word they wanted.
Again.
Now in Kael's mouth.
Kael's jaw clenched. "No."
His crest pulsed anyway, pushing muscle suggestion toward compliance.
Astra saw his throat work.
Saw his fingers twitch.
Saw the leash trying to borrow him again.
And Kael—Kael turned his eyes to Astra, furious and honest.
"Consent," Kael rasped, voice breaking on the edge of rage, "to you anchoring me if it pulls."
Astra's throat tightened. "Yes."
The nearer Hound moved.
Fast.
Not toward Astra.
Toward Kael's wrist, toward the handler mark.
His hand shot out to seize Kael like a chain.
External contact.
Threat exception ready.
Astra's handler panel lit like a hungry heart.
She didn't give it the big compliance it wanted.
She chose the smallest blade that kept Kael's choice intact.
OVERRIDE ACTION: UPRIGHT + HANDS FREEZE (KAEL) — 2sPURPOSE: PREVENT COERCED "YES."
Pain detonated behind Astra's eyes.
Her trace screamed.
Kael's body locked—upright, hands frozen—just long enough to avoid the Hound's grip and avoid his own reflex to comply.
Orin lunged, slamming a scar-sigil into the wall seam.
Stone shuddered.
A narrow service throat cracked open behind the crates, spilling cold air like mercy.
"MOVE!" Orin snarled.
Juno shoved through first.
Orin grabbed Astra's sleeve and hauled her toward the opening—careful not to touch her throat.
Kael moved with them, locked for a heartbeat, then free again.
Lyra stayed behind the Hounds for half a second too long—eyes glittering, calculating.
Astra saw her mouth form a silent word.
Not sorry.
Not run.
Something else.
A code Astra didn't know yet.
Then the nearer Hound grabbed Lyra by the arm and yanked her back like she was a leash end after all.
Lyra didn't scream.
She smiled up at Astra instead, bright and dangerous.
"Don't waste my escrow," Lyra called.
Then the world snapped into motion.
They dove into the service throat.
Stone slammed shut behind them like a jaw.
Darkness swallowed clean light.
Astra's interface flickered wildly in the dark, claims colliding like knives.
RECIPIENT LOCK: KAEL RAITHE — PENDING CONFIRMATIONCONTEST: HOUSE VEYRN — ACTIVEMILITARY INTERCEPT: RETRYING…
Kael's breath was harsh in the narrow passage. His hand found Astra's waist again—asked with his eyes, then held when she nodded, steadying her as the floor sloped.
Astra's vision tunneled from pain and trace.
Kael's voice was low, fierce. "Stay with me."
Astra bared her teeth faintly. "I'm here."
Kael swallowed hard, then spoke the truth that hit Astra harder than any command.
"If I say yes," Kael rasped, "they'll pull me. If I don't, Dorian pulls you."
Astra's throat burned.
The system loved this: a forced choice shaped like love.
Astra steadied her breathing, tasted blood, and forced her mind into cold strategy.
"Kael," Astra whispered, close enough that her breath warmed his mouth, "choose with me."
Kael's eyes met hers in the dark. Furious. Present. Waiting.
And in Astra's vision, the prompt reappeared—bright, relentless—aimed at Kael like a gun:
SPOKEN CONFIRMATION REQUIRED: "YES."
Kael's throat worked.
Astra's trace buzzed like fire under skin.
The passage shook faintly behind them—Hounds forcing the seam, patient and strong.
Kael's voice dropped, raw. "Astra."
Astra leaned in, heat and terror braided tight, and whispered their anchor like a vow.
"Black water."
Kael answered, rough and immediate.
"Black water."
Then, in the dark, Kael inhaled—about to decide—
—and Astra's interface flashed a final, brutal update as the seam behind them cracked:
HOUSE VEYRN EMERGENCY OVERRIDE: ACCEPTED — IF CUSTODIAN DOES NOT CONFIRM IN 00:00:05