The sunburst bruise on Kael's wrist was faint in the Underchain dark—barely more than a shimmer at the edge of his crest casing.
But it moved when Astra breathed.
A thin geometry of light that didn't belong to him, reacting to the collar on her throat like it had found a new artery to ride.
Kael braced a hand against the tunnel wall, breathing hard through his teeth. The lines of his jaw were tight enough to cut glass. He didn't look panicked. He looked like a man refusing to grant the world the pleasure of seeing him break.
Astra stood close—too close for comfort, not close enough to give the system a handle. Her fingers hovered over his forearm, then curled into a fist. Touch was currency now. Everything was leverage now.
Orin's voice was low and impatient, echoing slightly in the stone throat of the passage. "We don't stand still. Still is how they pin your signature."
Juno crouched at the tunnel mouth behind them, listening. "We've got movement. Not boots. Not chanting. Quiet."
Quiet was worse.
Quiet meant someone who didn't need to hurry.
Astra's interface flickered in the corner of her vision, dimmed by Underchain interference but sharp enough to hurt anyway.
TRACE: 66.3%NULL ANCHOR: ACTIVEANCHOR: KAEL RAITHE (COLLATERAL)LUMEN SEAL RESIDUE: PRESENT (ANCHOR)HOUSE VEYRN COUNTERCLAIM: ACCEPTEDANCHOR EXTRACTION: AUTHORIZED
Authorized.
Dorian didn't just want Kael kneeling. He didn't just want Kael owned.
He wanted Kael emptied—pulled through a corridor built out of Astra's throat until nothing remained but obedience's shape.
Astra swallowed and tasted blood.
Kael's voice came out rough, controlled. "He's pulling again."
Astra's heart punched. "Through the anchor link?"
Kael nodded once, jaw locked, eyes dark with fury. "Like… a hook behind my eyes."
Orin's mouth twisted. "That's extraction. Not recall."
Astra's stomach dropped. "Explain."
Orin didn't look at her. He kept scanning junction shadows like he expected stone to betray them. "Recall drags a body toward an owner. Extraction drags authorization out of a crest. Your Marquis is not trying to walk Kael home."
Astra's throat tightened. "He's trying to take what Kael can do."
Orin's smile was thin. "Now you're learning."
Kael's wrist crest flickered—dim, then flared. His shoulders jerked with a restrained spasm. A breath hissed between his teeth.
Astra stepped closer without thinking.
Kael's eyes snapped to her—warning. "Don't touch the collar."
"I wasn't," Astra rasped, even though the urge had already risen: grab her throat, trigger Delay Loop, buy seconds, anything.
Her collar pulsed with quiet hunger, as if it liked the panic. It wanted her to do something reckless. It wanted another spike.
Astra forced her hands to stay away from her throat.
Kael's own words cut through her nerves like a rule that belonged to them and not the Dominion.
If the collar pulls—breathe and keep your feet under you until it passes.
Astra inhaled slowly.
Kael did too, dragging air in like it was a weapon.
Juno's head tilted. "We're not alone."
Orin's jaw tightened. "Where."
Juno lifted her chin toward a side passage. "There. Shadows are wrong."
Astra didn't see anything.
But she felt it—pressure, like a gaze had found her watermark and settled in.
Astra's interface stuttered.
SYSTEM ATTENTION: HIGHTRACKING: ACTIVENOTE: LUMEN SEAL RESIDUE CAN BE PINGED
Astra's blood chilled.
The partial mark on Kael wasn't just a bruise.
It was a beacon.
Seraphine didn't need to follow Astra's signature anymore. She could follow Kael's residue through Astra's collar.
Kael exhaled hard. "We move."
Orin pointed down a narrower tunnel that sloped deeper. "Saltroom. Now."
Astra frowned. "Saltroom?"
Orin's eyes flicked to her collar. "Old Underchain scrub chamber. Iron, salt, dead water. It muffles seals. It won't erase your trace. But it'll dirty their ping enough to buy time."
Time again.
Always time.
They moved.
The tunnel squeezed into a jagged throat. Old pipes ran along the ceiling, dripping cold water that smelled metallic. Astra kept close to Kael, not touching him unless he swayed. He swayed twice—tiny, controlled falters—and each time Astra caught his elbow and released immediately, like the contact burned.
Kael's pride was a second leash. Astra didn't want to yank it.
Orin led them through a concealed seam—stone that shifted under his palm as if it recognized his signature. They dropped into a narrow corridor lined with rusted hooks and scar-sigils cut so deep they looked like claw marks.
Astra's collar pulsed softly. The Null Anchor hummed in response, consulting Kael's presence like a quiet rule.
Kael's wrist crest flickered again.
He stopped dead, shoulders stiffening.
Astra felt it like a pressure change in the air.
Her interface flared bright enough to sting her eyes.
ANCHOR EXTRACTION: INITIATING (REMOTE)VECTOR: COLLAR LINKTARGET: ANCHOR CREST AUTHORIZATIONESTIMATED DRAIN: 00:03:10
Three minutes.
Astra's stomach turned.
Kael's voice came low. "It feels like—" He swallowed, jaw clenched. "Like someone is reading me from the inside."
Orin barked a humorless laugh. "That's exactly what it is."
Juno's eyes narrowed. "Can we cut it."
Orin's mouth tightened. "Not cleanly."
Astra's breath shook. "Then dirty."
Orin glanced at her, eyes sharp. "You're near critical trace."
Astra's interface answered for her—cold and helpful.
TRACE WARNING: 67%+ PROXIMAL TO AUDIT LOCK
Astra swallowed. "I know."
Orin's smile was thin. "If you write again, you might trip a hard audit. Dominion hard audit. Not Underchain."
Astra's throat tightened. "If I don't write, Kael gets drained."
Kael's eyes flicked to her—hard and steady. "Don't."
Astra stared at him. "Don't what?"
Kael's voice was rough. "Don't make me the reason you lock."
Heat flared low in Astra's belly, angry and intimate. "You're already in my collar."
Kael's jaw flexed. "That doesn't mean you burn for me."
Astra's mouth curved bitterly. "It means I burn either way."
Orin snapped, "Less philosophy."
He shoved open a low iron door.
Cold air rolled out like a wet hand.
They stepped into the Saltroom.
It was exactly what Orin had promised: a chamber carved into stone with shallow channels cut in the floor, filled with stagnant black water. Rusted iron grates covered parts of it like ribs. Salt crusted the walls in ugly white blooms. Chains hung from the ceiling, old restraint points that had held bodies long before Astra was born.
A lamp burned low in a niche, its flame struggling as if it hated being here.
Astra's collar pulsed, confused by the density of interference. The pull of RETURN dulled further. The extraction pressure didn't vanish—but it shuddered, like the line had been forced to pass through grit.
Her interface dimmed.
SIGNAL: LOWANCHOR EXTRACTION: DEGRADED (SLOWING)LUMEN SEAL RESIDUE: MUTED (PARTIAL)
Orin exhaled. "Good. It's slowing."
Kael braced against a salt-streaked pillar, breathing hard. "How much."
Astra's eyes flicked to the interface without wanting to.
DRAIN RATE: 0.6x (REDUCED)ESTIMATED TIME: 00:05:40
The Saltroom had bought them minutes.
Minutes were everything.
Juno closed the door and dropped two wire disks at the threshold. They hummed softly, then went still.
"Nothing clean gets in," Juno said. "If it does, it'll trip."
Orin went to a low table against the wall—stone, stained, crude—and pulled out a small metal coin etched with a sigil that looked nothing like Dominion geometry. It was ugly, asymmetrical, and unmistakably Underchain.
Astra's eyes narrowed. "What's that."
Orin held it between finger and thumb. "Ghost Command key."
Astra's pulse kicked. "One of the canon patches."
Orin's mouth twitched. "You know the names."
Astra's throat tightened. "I've seen the UI."
Orin's gaze sharpened with interest. "Convenient."
Kael's eyes flicked to the coin. "What does it do."
Orin tossed it once and caught it. "Stores one command. Releases later. Like a knife you keep in your sleeve."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Give it to her."
Orin smiled thinly. "It's not free."
Juno snorted. "Nothing is."
Astra didn't blink. "Name it."
Orin's gaze slid to Kael's wrist crest residue, then to Astra's collar. "I want a copy of your watermark pattern."
Astra's stomach dropped. "So you can sell it."
Orin's smile didn't move. "So I can build counter-sigils that survive when the Church maps our tunnels."
Juno muttered, "Or so he can get rich. Could be both."
Astra's jaw tightened. "If I give you my watermark, Dorian gets my scent in every market."
Orin shrugged. "Dorian already has your scent. He's sniffing it with a leash."
Kael's voice was low, sharp. "Orin."
Orin looked at him. "Your Hound voice doesn't scare me in my room."
Kael's eyes darkened. "It should."
Orin's smile sharpened. "Then prove it."
The air in the Saltroom tightened.
Astra felt Kael's tension spike—and with it, the extraction line tugged harder, as if Dorian enjoyed the conflict.
Her interface flickered.
ANCHOR EXTRACTION: STABILIZING (LINE REACQUIRED)