Three minutes.
A timed bomb.
If the escrow delivered to Rusk, she'd be under command oversight anyway—just delayed.
If she could move the escrow, redirect delivery, she might keep it out of his hands.
Orin hissed, "We need to MOVE!"
Juno threw her disk at the lead Hound's feet. It screamed, dirty hum biting into the conduit's clean line.
The lead Hound flinched—just a fraction—and that fraction was enough for Orin to slam his scar-sigil.
The service throat behind the Hound shuddered. Stone shifted. A false seam opened in the wall to the left, narrow and ugly.
"Go!" Orin snarled.
Juno scrambled through first.
Orin shoved Astra by the shoulder—careful, not throat—toward the opening.
The lead Hound lunged, trying to block.
Kael moved like a shield—shoulder-first, controlled, no hands on throat, taking the collision and pushing back just enough to buy space.
The Hound's eyes flashed with irritation. "You're compromised."
Kael's teeth bared slightly. "I'm choosing."
Astra's chest tightened with heat at that word.
Then Kael's right hand twitched—wrong—recall pressure surging again.
Astra didn't hesitate. They'd agreed.
"Consent," Astra snapped, tight.
Kael's answer was a growl. "Yes—now!"
Astra hit the handler panel and chose the smallest blade—one hand, one moment.
OVERRIDE ACTION: MOTOR LOCK (KAEL) — RIGHT HAND ONLY (2s)
Pain flared behind Astra's eyes like someone struck her from inside. Trace buzzed higher, dangerous, but the choice was clean.
Kael's hand froze mid-twitch.
He snarled through his teeth, furious—not at Astra, at the leash.
"Move," Astra rasped.
Kael moved.
Orin shoved them through the false seam.
Stone snapped shut behind them like a jaw.
Darkness swallowed the wedge of clean light.
For half a breath, there was only the sound of their boots and their breathing and Astra's blood pounding in her ears.
Then Lyra's voice echoed faintly through stone—too calm, too amused:
"Run fast, Astra."
Astra's stomach dropped.
They left Lyra behind.
There was no time to go back.
No space to argue.
Only a narrow passage that sloped downward, colder, older, wetter. The Underchain swallowed them like it had been waiting.
Kael stayed pressed close, one hand at Astra's waist—asked-for, steady—guiding her through the dark without touching her throat. His breath was harsh.
Astra's trace buzzed so hot it felt like insects under her skin.
Orin led, muttering routes and curses. Juno threw a disk behind them without looking, humming poison into the seam they'd just sealed.
Astra's interface flickered in the dark like a sick heartbeat.
HANDLER OVERSIGHT: ESCROW (WITNESS) — DELIVERY IN 02:41RECIPIENT: PENDING…
Pending.
Still movable.
Maybe.
Astra's throat burned. "Lyra escrowed it."
Kael's jaw clenched. "She bought time."
Orin snarled, "Stop praising her. She's still in Hounds' hands."
Astra's chest tightened—not with pity, with cold anger. "Then we get her back."
Orin barked a laugh. "With what. Your trace is screaming."
Astra swallowed blood. "With leverage."
Kael's voice was low, lethal. "Rusk's leverage is command."
Astra's mouth curled, bitter. "And Dorian's is ownership."
Dorian's silk voice purred in her nerves like he'd been invited. Say my name again. It tastes good in your mouth.
Astra clenched her jaw and refused to answer him.
Kael felt the shift in her breath and squeezed her waist a little tighter—grounding.
"Consent?" he asked, rough.
Astra's pulse kicked at the fact he still asked while they ran. "Yes."
Heat flared low in her belly—sharp, alive, furious.
They hit a wider junction chamber with dead-sand gutters and a low stream of dark water. Orin slapped a scar-sigil and the air thickened, muffling signal.
For a moment, the city's clean pressure faded.
Astra stumbled—fatigue, trace, pain debt—and Kael caught her immediately by waist and forearm, holding her upright.
He didn't touch her collar.
He didn't grab her throat.
He held her like she was a choice, not a capture.
Astra's breath hitched.
Kael's eyes were dark and furious and too close. "Are you still awake."
Astra bared her teeth faintly. "Yes."
"Liar," Kael growled. "You're shaking."
Astra swallowed. "So are you."
Kael's jaw flexed. "That's not fear."
Astra met his eyes. "Good."
The heat between them snapped tight—dangerous, hungry, strategic. Kael's gaze flicked to her mouth, then back to her eyes like he was refusing to want right now.
Astra wanted him to fail at refusing.
She didn't push him over the line.
She used the line.
"Consent," Astra whispered, low, breath warm at his jaw, "to me using your voice if the system tries to fabricate 'private' again."
Kael's throat worked. "Only if you ask."
Astra's mouth curved faintly. "I'm asking."
Kael's eyes burned. "Yes."
Astra's body warmed with it, sharp and alive.
Orin snapped, "Less vows, more thinking!"
Astra dragged her gaze away from Kael and back to her interface.
The escrow timer ticked down.
02:12…02:11…
"Where does escrow deliver," Astra murmured.
Orin's face tightened. "Where the witness tells it."
Astra's eyes narrowed. "Lyra is the witness."
Kael's jaw clenched. "And she's with the Hounds."
Juno's voice shook. "So they can force her to deliver it."
Astra's stomach went cold.
Kael's hand tightened at her waist. "We need to stop that."
Astra nodded slowly. "Yes."
Orin hissed, "How. You can't reach her through dead sand."
Astra's mouth tasted blood.
She had one ugly route.
The one she hated.
The one that always existed even when everything else collapsed.
Kael.
Because the escrow was handler oversight tied to Kael's custodian structure. The system loved routing through him.
If she could write a delivery condition into the escrow—now—she might keep it from landing in Rusk's hands even if Lyra was forced to "witness" it.
But her trace was already near collapse.
And every write came with pain, and pain came with syncope, and syncope would open consent bypasses she couldn't afford.
Kael read her hesitation. "Don't," he said, low. "Don't hurt yourself again."
Astra's eyes burned. "Lyra bought us time with her body."
Kael's jaw clenched, guilt flashing. "That doesn't mean you pay the same way."
Astra's voice dropped, fierce. "Then tell me another way."
Kael stared at her for a beat.
And then he did something that made Astra's throat tighten.
He lowered his head, close enough that his breath warmed her mouth, and spoke like an intimate bargain made of steel.
"Use me," Kael said. "Not my body. My voice. My choice."
Astra's pulse kicked hard.
"You mean—" she started.
Kael's eyes held hers, dark and steady. "If you need a condition, I'll speak it. If you need a denial, I'll say it. If you need a command canceled, I'll deny it. You don't have to carve it."
Astra's chest tightened with heat and grief at once. "Kael…"
Kael's voice went rougher. "Consent?"
Astra swallowed, throat burning. "Yes."
Kael's hand tightened at her waist—warm, steady—then loosened like he caught himself. "Then tell me what to say."
Astra turned to her interface.
The escrow timer flashed again.
DELIVERY IN 01:34
A line beneath it shifted, subtle and lethal:
RECIPIENT: CAPTAIN RUSK DAIN (DEFAULT)
Default.
If Lyra couldn't specify, it would land in Rusk's hands anyway.
Astra's blood went ice.
She looked up at Kael.
"Say this," Astra whispered, low and sharp. "Deny default recipient."
Kael didn't hesitate.
His voice came out clean and chosen, aimed at the system like a knife.
"I deny default recipient," Kael said.
Astra's interface stuttered.
The timer kept ticking—but the line changed.
RECIPIENT: UNRESOLVED — REQUIRE WITNESS SPECIFICATION
Astra exhaled hard.
It wasn't solved.
But it wasn't handed to Rusk by default anymore.
Kael's eyes burned into hers. "What next."
Astra's mouth was dry. "Now we need Lyra to specify a recipient before they force her."
Orin swore softly. "We need to reach her."
Juno's hands shook around her disk. "Or we need a new witness."
Astra's throat burned.
New witness meant new blood in the trap.
Astra glanced at Kael—then looked away before the heat in her belly made her stupid.
Because the system would love to make Kael a witness.
It would love to fold him deeper into paperwork.
Astra's interface flickered again, as if it heard her thought and got excited.
OPTION: ASSIGN SUBSTITUTE WITNESS (CUSTODIAN)NOTE: CUSTODIAN MAY CERTIFY "PRIVATE CHANNEL."
Astra's stomach dropped.
Kael saw her face change. "No."
Astra's voice was low. "It's offering you as substitute witness."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Absolutely not."
Orin snarled, "Then we're back to Lyra."
Astra stared at the timer.
01:02…01:01…
Dorian's silk voice purred, warm and amused. You can't save everyone, little anomaly. Choose which leash you want.
Astra's nails dug into her palm.
She looked at Kael and spoke with heat threaded through strategy—consent as foreplay, a vow as a weapon.
"If I go back for Lyra," Astra whispered, "will you follow me."
Kael's eyes darkened. "Yes."
Orin barked, "You can't go back. The lead Hound is on that seam."
Astra's mouth curved bitterly. "Then we don't go back through the seam."
Juno blinked. "Then how."
Astra's gaze slid to the dark water channel running through the chamber floor.
The Underchain's veins.
"Through the drain," Astra said.
Orin stared. "That's a crawl."
Astra's throat burned. "I don't care."
Kael's voice went low, dangerous. "It's cold. You'll—"
Astra cut him off. "I won't faint."
Kael's jaw clenched. "That's pride."
Astra stepped closer until her breath warmed his jaw. "That's a promise."
Kael's throat worked. "Consent to me holding you through it."
Astra's pulse kicked. "Yes."
Orin swore and moved toward the channel, already grabbing black paste and cloth, preparing to smear scar-sigils along the edges. "If you're doing this, you do it fast," he muttered. "You do it quiet. And you don't drown."
Juno crouched, disk ready. "If something follows—"
Astra nodded. "You bite it."
Juno's smile flickered, nervous. "Gladly."
The escrow timer ticked down.
00:31…00:30…
Astra's throat tightened.
They were about to crawl into dark water to chase a woman who had just proved she could weaponize witnessing.
Lyra might be captured.
Lyra might be coerced.
Lyra might be playing a game with rules Astra didn't know.
But Lyra had also just rerouted command oversight into escrow and bought Astra time with her own neck.
Astra didn't leave debts unpaid.
She knelt at the channel edge, pain still buzzing hot under her skin, and looked back at Kael.
His eyes were dark and steady. Furious at the world. Not at her.
He offered his hand—not to pull her by the throat. Not to guide her like property.
Just open palm, a choice.
"Consent?" Kael asked, rough.
Astra placed her hand in his.
"Yes," Astra said.
Kael's fingers closed around hers, warm and steady.
And in the center of Astra's vision, the escrow timer hit 00:10, the recipient line pulsed UNRESOLVED, and a new, clean notice slid into place like a blade sliding out of a sheath:
HOUSE VEYRN CLAIM DETECTED: REQUESTING EMERGENCY RECIPIENT OVERRIDE.