Kael leaned close. "Your re-route points to the chapel record."
Astra nodded, swallowing. "I defined the anchor token as the clause record and location proof."
Kael's jaw flexed. "Dorian will contest."
Astra's mouth curved, bitter. "Let him. He'll have to show his hand."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "That's what you want."
Astra didn't deny it.
Dorian didn't lose control. Dorian responded with escalation.
If she could force him into a visible move, she could measure him. Predict him.
Use him.
Orin halted abruptly, fist raised.
Everyone stopped.
Astra's breath caught.
Ahead, the tunnel widened into a low junction chamber lit by a single Underchain lamp. Two figures stood there—silhouettes in the dim.
Not clerics.
Not Hounds.
Underchain muscle.
One held a hooked blade casually. The other had a crossbow aimed at the tunnel mouth.
Orin sighed like a man seeing a familiar inconvenience. "Payment collectors."
The blade-holder smiled. "Orin Vale."
Orin's voice went flat. "Kerr."
Kerr's gaze slid to Astra's throat. The smile widened. "That's the glitch."
Astra kept her face calm. "That's a rude name."
Kerr chuckled. "It's accurate."
The crossbow didn't move. "Boss says the shelter fee doubled."
Orin's eyes narrowed. "Because of the Church."
"Because of the Marquis," Kerr corrected, gaze flicking to Kael's crest. "And because you brought a Dominion leash into our veins."
Kael didn't react, but Astra felt his tension spike.
Her collar pulsed, sensing authority conflict.
Astra forced her breathing steady.
Orin leaned on one hip, casual. "I already paid."
Kerr shrugged. "Boss says you paid for quiet. Quiet is gone."
Juno muttered, "Great."
Orin's gaze sharpened. "If you stall us here, the Church maps you too."
Kerr's smile didn't fade. "We're not afraid of the Church."
Astra's stomach tightened. "You should be."
Kerr's eyes flicked to her face, amused. "And you are?"
Astra leaned slightly forward, letting her voice drop into that dangerous softness that made men forget they were holding weapons. "I'm the reason the Church is here," she murmured. "And the reason House Veyrn is hunting."
Kerr's smile wavered for half a second—interest sharpening into calculation.
Astra pressed it.
"If you keep us," she said quietly, "you don't get paid. You get purged."
Kerr's crossbow-man shifted, uncertain.
Orin watched Astra like he was filing her under useful.
Kael's hand tightened around Astra's wrist—warning, not to promise too much.
Astra didn't.
She offered something cleaner.
"A clause," she said.
Kerr's eyes brightened. "Oh?"
Astra tilted her head. "You like terms, don't you. Underchain."
Kerr's smile returned, sharper. "We like guarantees."
Astra's interface flickered faintly.
WRITE (SELF): ENABLEDWARNING: WATERMARK ACTIVE
She could only write herself. She couldn't sign the Underchain a clause.
But she could offer leverage the Underchain understood: information.
Astra met Kerr's gaze. "House Veyrn is using your tunnels as a hunting ground tonight. If you let us pass, I'll tell you which node they'll hit next."
Orin's eyes narrowed. "Astra—"
Astra didn't look back. She wasn't giving away Orin's routes. She was giving away Dorian's arrogance.
Kerr leaned in slightly. "You know?"
Astra smiled thinly. "I can see the system's priorities. It's not as secret as they think."
Kerr hesitated.
Then he lifted two fingers and made a small sign to the crossbow-man.
The crossbow lowered a fraction.
"Say it," Kerr demanded.
Astra's throat tightened. She chose a truth that wouldn't kill Orin and would still bite Dorian.
"House Veyrn will pressure the Null Chapel breach point again," Astra said. "They'll use the sanctified chaos as cover. They'll send a retrieval team to the chapel's back throat within the hour."
Orin's eyes flashed. Juno's jaw clenched.
Kerr's smile widened. "Back throat."
Astra nodded. "They think Underchain is a sewer. They think you won't notice."
Kerr chuckled. "We notice."
He stepped aside.
"Go," he said. "But if you lied—"
Astra's smile sharpened. "Then I won't live long enough to enjoy it."
Kerr laughed once, satisfied, and waved them through.
Orin grabbed Astra's elbow as they passed, voice low and tight. "Don't improvise with my people."
Astra met his gaze. "Then don't put me in front of them."
Orin's eyes narrowed—then, annoyingly, warmed with reluctant respect. "Fair."
They moved.
The tunnel dipped again, then rose into a drier passage where the air smelled like old incense—ghosts of temple smoke, but not Lumen's clean sweetness. Older. Dirtier.
The deeper pocket Orin had promised.
Astra's countdown kept ticking.
WINDOW: 00:01:58
Kael leaned close. "The order window ends soon."
Astra swallowed. "If it ends without delivery, recall escalates."
Kael's jaw tightened. "And now that you modified response, escalation might target the anchor link."
Astra's blood went cold.
Kael continued, voice rough. "Meaning it could hurt me."
Astra's throat tightened around the collar.
Collateral.
She had put him there.
She hadn't had another option.
But knowing that didn't soften the guilt.
Astra forced her voice steady. "Then we deliver the token."
Orin glanced back. "Token."
Astra nodded. "The clause record. The Null Chapel location proof."
Orin's eyes gleamed. "You're going to feed Dorian a coordinate."
Astra's smile was razor-thin. "I'm going to feed him a coordinate he can't chew without showing his teeth."
Juno muttered, "I like her."
Kael didn't.
Kael's hand tightened on Astra's wrist. "If he moves on the chapel, he'll clash with Seraphine."
Astra met Kael's gaze. "Exactly."
Kael's eyes darkened. "That's a war."
Astra's mouth curved. "That's a distraction."
Kael stared at her like he wanted to hate the brilliance and couldn't afford to.
They reached a stone niche where a scar-sigil was carved into the wall like a wound. Orin pressed his palm to it. The air shifted—denser, muffling, like the pocket swallowed signal.
Astra's interface dimmed to a narrow, clean panel.
SIGNAL: MINIMALNULL ANCHOR: STABLERECALL PATH: WEAKWINDOW: 00:01:12
Orin gestured to the wall. "This pocket can bounce a message. Not cleanly. But enough."
Astra's stomach tightened. "To House Veyrn."
Orin smiled. "To the collar. The collar will deliver."
Kael's jaw clenched. "You're using the leash to send bait."
Astra looked at Kael. "I'm using my leash."
Kael's eyes flashed—possessive anger, then immediate restraint.
Astra felt it anyway.
Heat flared low, sharp.
Kael's fingers slid, almost involuntarily, toward her throat—then stopped. He didn't touch. He waited.
Astra met his gaze, breath shaking.
He was asking without words: Do you want this now?
Not the anchor function. The touch.
The intimacy.
Astra's heart pounded. She wanted the warmth, the stability, the sensation of being held by a man who refused to own her.
But she also wanted to stay sharp.
She gave him a small nod anyway.
Yes.
Kael touched under her collar—brief, steady, controlled.
Astra exhaled, the relief almost obscene.
Kael's voice was low at her ear, dangerous and soft. "Don't do anything that makes him punish you through me."
Astra swallowed. "Then help me write the message."
Kael's hand didn't leave her throat. "Say it."
Astra focused on the collar's order response pathway. She couldn't rewrite the owner's command—but her conditional response now defined delivery as a token. So she could satisfy the system by sending the token: the Null Chapel location proof.
Astra didn't have a map slate. She had memory.
She had Orin's map node.
She had the chapel's feel in her nerves.
She had the system itself.
Astra wrote inside herself—careful, protocol-shaped, minimal:
DELIVER ANCHOR TOKEN → TRANSMIT: NULL CHAPEL NODE SIGNATURE / BACK THROAT ROUTEUNTIL OWNER CONFIRMS RECEIPT
Pain sparked through her nerves—less than before, but still sharp.
Trace ticked up.
TRACE: 45.2%
Astra bit down a gasp and forced the send.
For a heartbeat, the collar warmed with satisfaction.
The countdown froze.
WINDOW: PAUSEDDELIVERY: IN PROGRESS
Orin exhaled. "Good."
Juno muttered, "Now we get to see who bites first."
Kael's hand left Astra's throat slowly, like withdrawing from a heat source he didn't trust himself near.
Astra immediately felt the cold.
She hated that too.
Then her interface flashed again, and this time the text looked… different.
Not system.
Not collar.
A message dressed as a system prompt.
Dorian didn't just want delivery.
He wanted conversation.
OWNER CONFIRMATION: RECEIVEDNEW OWNER ORDER: COME ALONE.ADDENDUM: BRING PROOF OF ANCHOR'S LOYALTY.
Astra went still.
Kael felt it instantly. "What."
Astra's voice came out low and thin. "He confirmed."
Orin's eyes brightened. "And?"
Astra swallowed hard. "New order."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Say it."
Astra met Kael's gaze, and the heat in her chest turned into something colder.
"He says… come alone."
Kael's hand tightened around her wrist so hard it almost hurt. "No."
Astra didn't look away.
"And he wants proof of your loyalty," she whispered.
Kael's eyes darkened. "He wants me to kneel."
Astra's collar pulsed, eager, as if thrilled by the cruelty.
Orin laughed softly, delighted. "He's not just hunting. He's testing your anchor."
Juno's expression hardened. "He's trying to cut the link."
Astra's throat tightened. "Or use it."
Kael's voice went flat. "If you go alone, you die."
Astra's mouth curved, bitter. "If I don't comply, recall escalates again."
Orin tilted his head. "How long until escalation."
Astra's interface answered before she could.
NONCOMPLIANCE TIMER: 00:00:45CONSEQUENCE: RECALL ESCALATION — TARGET: ANCHOR LINK
Astra's stomach dropped.
Kael's face went white for half a second—just a flicker, a rare crack.
Then his discipline slammed back in place.
His voice turned low and lethal. "He's going to punish me."
Astra's throat burned with guilt and fury.
Kael leaned close to Astra, eyes locked on hers, voice like a vow he hated making. "Don't go."
Astra's breath shook. "Then what."
Kael's jaw flexed. "We break the timer."
Orin's smile widened. "You can't break House Veyrn's timer."
Astra's interface flickered—Write(Self) still open, still bleeding trace.
Astra's mind raced.
She couldn't rewrite the owner's order.
But she could rewrite her compliance conditions.
She'd just done it.
And Dorian had answered with an addendum specifically designed to force a moral fracture: go alone, prove loyalty.
Proof.
Not obedience.
A display.
A theater command.
Astra's lips parted.
She could comply without complying.
She could go "alone" by defining alone in system terms.
She could bring "proof" by sending something Dorian didn't expect.
Something that didn't require Kael to kneel.
Something that would make Dorian expose himself.
Astra looked at Kael's wrist crest—then forced her gaze away, remembering Kael's warning about attention and hooks.
She looked at Kael's eyes instead.
"Kael," she whispered. "I need consent."
Kael went still. "For what."
Astra's voice was low, steady. "For me to use your name."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "In the system."
Astra nodded.
Orin's smile turned predatory. "Oh."
Juno muttered, "This is going to hurt someone."
Kael stared at Astra for a long beat.
Then he said, voice rough, honest in a way that felt like stripping armor. "If you do it, do it clean. No half measures."
Astra swallowed. "Yes."
Kael's hand slid under her collar again, anchoring—brief, steady. "And Astra—"
She met his gaze.
Kael's voice dropped, intimate and fierce. "If this turns into a trap, you don't trade your body for time."
Astra's breath hitched.
Kael's eyes didn't blink. "You trade me. If you have to."
Astra's throat tightened. "Don't say that."
Kael's mouth twisted. "Say yes."
Astra hated how much heat and fear tangled in her chest. Hated how the bargain felt like intimacy.
She nodded once. "Yes."
Then she opened Write(Self) again and rewrote her response condition—protocol-shaped, ruthless:
IF OWNER ORDER = COME ALONE → DEFINE ALONE = NO OTHER CLAIMED SUBJECTSPROOF OF ANCHOR LOYALTY = ANCHOR CREST COMPLIANCE LOG (EXPORT)UNTIL OWNER ACCEPTS
Pain sparked through her nerves. Trace ticked up again.
TRACE: 46.7%
Astra clenched her teeth and forced the export.
The collar warmed in satisfaction—obeying the shape of obedience.
The timer paused.
NONCOMPLIANCE TIMER: PAUSEDCOMPLIANCE: IN PROGRESS
Orin exhaled. "Clever."
Kael's hand left her throat, returning to her wrist. "He'll see the log."
Astra nodded. "He'll see you complied with a thousand orders—except the ones that mattered."
Kael's jaw flexed.
Because that was true.
Because Dorian would read Kael's discipline as weakness.
And because Kael had just agreed to let Astra weaponize it.
The air in the pocket shifted—pressure building again, as if something in the city above had heard the export and smiled.
Astra's interface flickered with a new line, calm and deadly:
OWNER RESPONSE: ACCEPTED.NEXT STEP: PRESENT YOURSELF AT NODE — NOW.NOTE: CHURCH PRESENCE DETECTED AT NODE.
Orin laughed softly. "He's sending you into a Church clash."
Juno's face hardened. "He wants blood on your collar."
Kael's hand tightened on Astra's wrist. "We don't go."
Astra's throat burned. "We go. But not on his terms."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Astra—"
Astra stepped closer, forcing Kael to feel her decision in the space between them. "He thinks he's ordering a delivery," she whispered. "I'm ordering a meeting."
Kael's gaze darkened. "With a Marquis."
Astra's smile sharpened. "With a man who believes he owns my spine."
Kael's voice went low, dangerous. "And what do you believe."
Astra met his eyes. Heat rose—raw, strategic, alive.
"I believe," she whispered, "that you're going to stand beside me when I walk into that node."
Kael's jaw flexed. "He said alone."
Astra's mouth curved. "And I defined alone."
Kael stared at her, then gave a slow, minimal nod—acceptance wrapped in fury.
Orin stepped toward the door. "Then we move before Lumen maps this pocket."
Juno lifted her disks. "And before Hounds triangulate her watermark."
Astra's collar pulsed once—less obedient, more aware—like it had learned a new skill tonight: listening to Astra's choices.
Kael took Astra's wrist and led her out of the pocket, deeper into the Underchain's veins, toward the node Dorian had chosen as a stage.
And as they crossed into the next corridor, Astra's interface flashed one final line—quiet, intimate, and catastrophic:
HOUSE VEYRN HAS INITIATED ANCHOR RECALL — KAEL RAITHE IS NOW BEING CALLED THROUGH YOUR COLLAR.