Arbiter.
A clean cage with a clean label.
Astra's blood went ice.
Orin saw it on her face. "No," he hissed. "Not arbiter."
Juno's disk hummed, a dirty tremor in the air.
Kael's jaw clenched. "We move. Now."
The courtyard was enclosed on three sides by chapel walls and on one side by a wrought gate that opened to a rain-dark street. The envoy's men were positioned near that gate like they owned it. The Hounds had the open line of sight.
Not trapped.
But close.
Astra's tactical mind clicked.
They needed a distraction that wasn't brute force—something that made both House and command hesitate.
Seraphine had said scandal mattered.
House also hated scandal.
Astra looked up at the chapel wall where a gold Lumen sigil plaque gleamed above the courtyard. Holy symbol, public-facing.
If something happened here, both sides would think twice.
Astra leaned toward Kael's mouth, close enough to make him inhale sharply, and whispered fast.
"Consent," Astra murmured, "to using the chapel's sanctity as a shield."
Kael's voice was rough. "How."
Astra's eyes stayed on the plaque. "We trigger holy breach. Not enough to harm. Enough to threaten optics."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Seraphine will hate that."
Astra's mouth curved bitterly. "Good."
Kael stared at her for a heartbeat.
"Yes," he said. "I consent."
Astra turned to Juno. "Disk."
Juno didn't ask. She shoved it into Astra's hand, eyes wide.
Astra didn't throw it at the Hounds.
She threw it at the Lumen plaque.
The disk hit stone and screamed—a dirty hum that clawed at the holy sigil lines. The plaque flared bright gold, then stuttered, as if offended.
For a heartbeat, the courtyard filled with a high, ringing tone—half prayer, half alarm.
Every head snapped up.
The Hound froze.
The envoy's men flinched.
The envoy's smile vanished for the first time.
"Stop that," he hissed.
Kael seized the moment. He didn't grab Astra's throat. He didn't pull her like property.
He tightened his arm at her waist—asked-for—and moved her with him.
"Run," Kael said.
Orin surged first, shoulder slamming into the nearest House man, sending him staggering into the gate's iron bars. Juno darted low, disks clattering, and the second House man reached for her—then yelped as a disk screamed in his palm like it bit.
The Hound's calm broke into immediate motion.
"Containment—" he began.
The Lumen plaque flared again, louder—holy breach alarm escalating. The Hound stopped mid-word, recalculating. Even command hesitated when the Church's public symbols screamed.
The envoy's voice snapped, sharp. "Do you want sacrilege charges on your file, Hound."
The Hound's jaw tightened.
Kael used the hesitation like a blade.
They hit the gate. Orin tore it open with a grunt, old Underchain strength in his shoulders. Rain poured in like freedom and threat together.
They spilled into the street.
Lanternlight smeared across wet cobblestone. The city beyond the chapel was alive with night—vendors closing, drunks weaving, watchers watching. Somewhere, a bell rang faintly. Somewhere, a carriage rolled.
Behind them, the courtyard alarm still shrieked.
Kael stayed close to Astra, hand at her waist, guiding her through pedestrians without pushing her throat into danger.
"Astra," Kael rasped, breath harsh, "consent to moving fast."
Astra's throat burned. "Yes."
Heat flared anyway—because the ritual of consent in the middle of a chase felt like a private language no one could steal without being invited.
They cut left, down a narrow street lined with shuttered stalls. Orin moved ahead, scanning for Underchain marks—chalk smears, scar-sigil residue.
Juno stayed behind, throwing disks into puddles so the water carried their dirty hum like a trail of wrongness.
Astra's interface flickered constantly.
PRIMARY HOLDER: KAEL RAITHE (GUARDIAN) — ACTIVENOTE: DEADLOCK PERSISTENTRISK: SAFE RESOLUTION (ARBITER) IF PURSUIT CONTINUES
Astra's stomach turned.
Kael's breath warmed her hair. "What now."
Astra swallowed blood. "Arbiter risk if they keep contesting."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Then we stop the contest."
Orin barked a humorless laugh. "By killing everyone."
"No," Astra said. "By changing the board."
They needed to disappear into a jurisdiction that neither House nor command wanted to make loud claims in.
Underchain.
Or—
Free Cities League.
Too far.
Church again.
No.
Underchain.
Orin found it first: a rusted service hatch half-hidden behind stacked crates, marked with a faint black spiral.
He slapped the latch. It gave.
"Down," Orin hissed.
Astra's collar tightened in anticipation, as if it preferred darkness to holiness. Or maybe it preferred any place where the chain was simple.
Kael went first this time, because he was the holder and the system liked to pull toward him. He dropped down, turned, and offered a hand—not as a leash, as a choice.
"Consent?" Kael asked, rough.
Astra put her hand in his.
"Yes," Astra said.
Kael's fingers closed around hers, warm. Steady.
He guided her down.
The hatch slammed shut above them.
Rain became muffled.
The air changed—damp stone, old iron, Underchain breath.
For a moment, Astra's lungs stopped burning.
Then the penance weight in her chest shifted, searching for posture again.
Standing within Guardian proximity.
Kael was close. The weight eased, annoyed but satisfied.
Astra hated that her comfort now had a shape: Kael's.
Kael's breath was harsh in the darkness. "You wrote into me."
Astra swallowed. "With consent."
Kael's voice went lower, raw. "It still feels… wrong. Like you used my role."
Astra stepped closer, close enough that her breath warmed his jaw. She didn't kiss him. She didn't touch his crest.
She used truth.
"I used your role to keep your hands from being used," Astra whispered. "If you hate it, say so."
Kael's jaw clenched. "I hate the system. Not you."
Heat flared in Astra's belly—sharp, dangerous. Her jealousy from the chapel, her anger from the envoy, all of it twisted into something that wanted an outlet.
She found one.
"Then prove it," Astra murmured.
Kael's breath hitched. "How."
Astra stepped closer until the gap between them was a promise they hadn't cashed.
"Ask," Astra said, voice low. "Ask me what you want."
Kael swallowed hard. In the dark, his eyes looked like bruises.
"I want—" he started, then stopped, like he was afraid the words would become a command.
Astra's throat burned. "Consent," she whispered, "to wanting."
Kael's breath shuddered. "Yes."
Astra's mouth curled faintly, bitter and hot. "Then say it."
Kael's voice came rough, honest. "I want you safe."
Astra's pulse kicked—heat and grief tangled.
"That's not all," Astra whispered.
Kael's jaw flexed. "No."
The confession hung between them, heavy in the damp.
"I want to put my mouth on you," Kael said, voice low and shaking with restraint. "And I want to do it without the collar making it mean something I didn't choose."
Heat slammed through Astra, sharp enough to make her dizzy.
She didn't soften.
She made it explicit, because that was the only way to keep it from turning into theft.
"Not here," Astra whispered, close, breath warm. "Not while we're being hunted. But yes—wanting is allowed."
Kael's eyes darkened. His hand hovered at her waist, asking.
"Consent," Kael murmured, rough, "to holding you while we move."
Astra's throat burned with want she refused to indulge and strategy she refused to abandon.
"Yes," she said.
Kael's arm settled at her waist, warm and steady. The closeness was brutal. It made Astra feel alive and furious at the same time.
Orin cleared his throat ahead, irritated. "If you two are done making vows in a sewer, we have a bigger problem."
Astra dragged her gaze away from Kael. "What."
Orin pointed down the tunnel.
A faint clean glow pulsed in the distance—wrong in Underchain dark. Not Lumen. Not candles.
Military.
Astra's stomach dropped. "They're below."
Juno's voice shook. "How."
Orin's face was grim. "The Church has maintenance lines. The Hounds have maps."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Then we keep moving."
They moved.
Down a sloping throat slick with moisture, past old pipes and dead-sand gutters, deeper where the air got colder and the dark got thicker. Orin slapped muffler sigils as they ran, black paste smearing into spirals. Juno threw disks into side cracks, their hums biting into any clean signal that tried to form.
Astra's interface flickered.
PRIMARY HOLDER DEADLOCK: STABLE (TEMP)RISK: SAFE RESOLUTION (ARBITER) — 65%