Astra's first step into the courtyard felt normal.
Her second step didn't.
The collar at her throat tightened—not choking, not pleasure, but orientation, like a compass snapping north. The cold rain-scented air hit her skin, and the Lumen glow behind her fell away as the chapel door seam slid shut with a soft stone sigh.
Outside sanctuary, the world sharpened.
The House envoy was waiting beneath a guttering lantern, silk immaculate despite the drizzle. Two men in dark coats flanked him—hard shoulders, soft hands hidden, the kind of "protection" that hurt politely.
Across the courtyard, Imperial Hound silhouettes stood like statues, their crests catching lanternlight in clean flashes. Astra tasted metal. Command had eyes here.
And in the center of her vision, the update settled like a blade placed on her tongue:
PRIMARY HOLDER: KAEL RAITHE (GUARDIAN) — ACTIVE
Kael stood a few paces ahead, alone, shoulders squared, rain dampening his hair. He'd stepped out first, just like they'd planned—draw the snap to him, buy Astra one breath.
The plan succeeded.
The plan also became a new trap.
Astra felt it in her bones: the collar didn't want House now. It didn't want Church now. It wanted the holder. It wanted Kael's proximity like an addiction.
Her penance debt pressed at her chest—heavy, insistent—seeking posture. Seeking compliance. Seeking the definition she'd hacked inside the chapel: standing within Guardian proximity.
The system didn't care that she hated the word Guardian.
It cared that it could measure it.
Orin's hand gripped her upper arm and yanked her forward, careful not to touch her throat. Juno's disk hummed low at Astra's side, ready to scream.
"Move," Orin hissed.
Astra's legs obeyed—and the collar rewarded her with a tiny easing as she closed the space between herself and Kael.
The envoy smiled wider.
"How lovely," he said softly. "Primary holder resolved. Now we can proceed without confusion."
Kael didn't look at him. His gaze stayed on Astra—dark, furious, human. He looked like a man who'd just been handed a crown made of wire.
Astra's throat burned. She was close enough now that she could feel Kael's heat in the rain, but not so close she could hide inside him.
Kael's hand hovered at her waist, asking with his eyes.
Astra nodded once—tight, deliberate.
Kael held her. Warm. Controlled. No throat. No collar. No claim.
The collar pulsed anyway, hungry for the shape of his authority.
Astra hated it.
The envoy lifted his parchment case again, like the paper could soothe the air.
"Guardian Raithe," he said, voice polite as poison, "House Veyrn requests that you surrender the subject for emergency recovery."
Kael's jaw clenched. "No."
The word hit the courtyard like a thrown stone.
One of the Hounds across the yard shifted. Another turned his head slightly, crest catching light. Even muted by distance, the military channel pressure tasted like clean steel.
The envoy didn't lose his smile. "You misunderstand. You aren't refusing a request. You are breaching a resolution."
Orin muttered, "He can refuse anything."
"Can he?" the envoy asked mildly, not looking at Orin. "Primary holder is accountable. That is the point."
Astra's interface flickered, eager to classify.
GUARDIAN ACCOUNTABILITY: ACTIVENOTE: FAILURE TO SECURE SUBJECT MAY TRIGGER CORRECTION
Kael went still. He saw it too—Astra recognized the way his breath tightened. His hand at her waist tensed, then loosened like he'd caught himself before contact became control.
"Consent," Kael murmured, rough, barely audible. "To holding."
Astra's pulse kicked. "Yes."
The envoy's gaze slid to Astra's throat wrap, then to Kael's hand at her waist. His smile sharpened with satisfaction.
"Good," he said softly. "You're already doing your duty."
Kael's eyes went murderous. "Don't speak to her like that."
The envoy lifted one brow. "She is a subject under emergency recovery. I'm speaking to the situation."
Astra's mouth tasted blood.
She stepped half a pace forward, out of Kael's shadow without breaking proximity. The collar tightened as if annoyed at her independence, then settled when she remained close enough to Kael to satisfy the posture definition.
"Say Dorian's name," Astra said coldly.
The envoy's smile didn't move. "Marquis Dorian Veyrn."
Astra's skin crawled. The name didn't come with velvet smoke in her nerves anymore—Seraphine's purge had cut that hidden hook. But the open claim still existed. And now it had a new angle:
Kael.
The envoy tilted his head, watching Astra like she was a fascinating wound. "The Marquis is concerned," he continued. "He would prefer you recover under House care rather than… degrade under Church penance."
Seraphine's words echoed in Astra's chest: debt makes people return.
Astra swallowed rage. "He's concerned about his property."
Kael's hand tightened at her waist, fury flaring.
"Consent?" Kael asked again, rough.
Astra understood. He wasn't asking to hold.
He was asking if he was allowed to act.
"Yes," Astra said. "But you ask before you speak to the system."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Always."
Across the courtyard, a Hound began walking toward them, calm as law. Captain Rusk Dain wasn't visible, but his presence was—clean pressure behind the footsteps, like the air itself expected obedience.
The Hound stopped at a respectful distance, crest bright, face unreadable.
"Guardian Raithe," the Hound said evenly, "command requests compliance."
Astra's stomach turned at the word requests. The Dominion never requested without a fist behind it.
Kael's voice was low. "Denied."
The Hound's eyes flicked to Astra's throat. Then to Kael's wrist. Then to Kael's face, as if assessing what kind of leash Kael had become.
"Denial recorded," the Hound said calmly. "Correction escalation likely."
Astra's interface flickered:
CORRECTION RISK: RISINGTRIGGER: MULTIPLE AUTHORITY CONTEST (HOUSE + COMMAND)RECOMMENDED: SECURE SUBJECT / RETURN TO SAFE ROUTE
Safe route.
The kennel.
Astra's collar pulsed like it remembered "home."
Kael's hand at her waist tightened, then loosened as he fought reflex.
Astra leaned close to Kael's jaw, breath warm in the rain.
"Black water," she whispered.
Kael answered instantly. "Black water."
Heat flared low in Astra's belly—sharp, furious—because the phrase still anchored him better than command.
Orin moved subtly to Astra's other side, putting his body between Astra and the envoy's men. Juno's disk hummed louder, a dirty threat the Hounds didn't like.
The envoy sighed, as if disappointed by slow students.
"This is becoming unpleasant," he said softly. "Guardian Raithe. You can surrender her and remain within House favor… or you can keep her and become liable."
Kael's eyes stayed on Astra. "I don't care about favor."
The envoy's smile sharpened. "Then you care about her."
Astra hated how true that sounded.
She used it anyway.
Kael's breath hitched when Astra turned her face toward him, close enough to make the rain between them feel hot.
"Consent," Astra whispered, "to using your Guardian status against them."
Kael's jaw clenched. "It will hurt."
Astra's throat burned. "Everything hurts."
Kael stared at her for a beat—dark eyes, raw and honest.
"Yes," he said. "I consent."
Astra nodded once.
Then she turned her gaze to her interface, forced her mind into steel, and reached for the one thing she hadn't dared use outside sanctuary:
Write(Other), limited.
It was there—faint, newly available, like a door that hadn't existed before Kael became primary holder.
PERMISSIONS:WRITE(OTHER): LIMITED — LINKED VIA GUARDIAN
Astra's blood went cold.
Not fear.
A hard excitement that tasted like danger.
The system was offering her a pen.
Through Kael.
Astra looked up at him, making the danger explicit before she touched it.
"Kael," she whispered, "consent to me writing a single constraint onto your Guardian role. One line. To block House and command from forcing 'secure subject.'"
Kael's throat worked. "It will burn."
Astra's gaze held his. "And it will keep your hands clean."
Kael swallowed hard.
"Yes," he rasped. "One line."
Astra didn't waste the breath.
She wrote.
Not big. Not dramatic. Not ownership.
A knife-thin clause threaded into the Guardian role like wire through cloth:
CLAUSE (GUARDIAN): "SECURE SUBJECT" REQUIRES SUBJECT SPOKEN "YES" (VOLUNTARY)
Pain hit Astra like a bright hook in the skull. Her vision flashed white. Trace buzzed hot under her skin, and the penance weight in her chest surged in angry response like shame didn't want to share space with trace.
Astra staggered.
Kael caught her at the waist instantly, bracing her upright—still no throat, still no collar. His breath went harsh.
"Stay with me," he rasped.
Astra bared her teeth faintly. "I'm here."
The interface flickered, accepting the clause with cold calm.
The Hound's crest flared briefly—an irritation spike, like his clean command lane had been made sloppy.
The envoy's eyes narrowed, just a fraction.
"Interesting," he murmured.
Astra wiped blood from her lip with the back of her hand and forced herself to stand straight within Kael's proximity—posture definition satisfied, penance not yet demanding knees.
Kael's voice came low, urgent. "Did it work."
Astra swallowed pain. "Try them."
Kael lifted his chin slightly toward the Hound.
"Command can request," Kael said, steady. "Not force."
The Hound's calm held for a heartbeat—then his eyes sharpened.
"Guardian clause interference detected," he said.
Astra's stomach turned. "Detected" wasn't a threat. It was an accusation that invited escalation.
The envoy stepped forward half a pace, silk perfect, smile polite.
"Guardian Raithe," he said, "House demands you secure your subject."
Kael didn't look away from Astra when he answered.
"Astra," Kael said, voice rough, intimate enough to make the air tighten, "do you consent to being surrendered to House Veyrn."
Heat flared in Astra's belly—jealousy and rage and something darker. Because the question itself was a leash-shaped moment.
But Kael was asking.
Making it explicit.
Making it hers.
Astra met his gaze, close enough that the rain on his lashes looked like blood.
"No," Astra said.
The collar pulsed once—annoyed—then settled, as if it had to accept spoken refusal.
The envoy's smile thinned.
Kael's voice stayed calm, lethal. "Denied."
The Hound's gaze flicked to the envoy, then back to Kael.
"Command requests secure subject for transport," the Hound said.
Kael turned slightly, still holding Astra at the waist like a chosen anchor. "Astra," he asked again, "do you consent to transport to Imperial custody."
Astra's mouth curled. "No."
The Hound's calm cracked—thin irritation.
"Then correction escalates," the Hound said.
Astra's interface flickered:
CORRECTION ESCALATION: LIKELYNOTE: MULTI-AUTHORITY DEADLOCKRECOMMENDED: SAFE RESOLUTION — ARBITER