Rusk held his hand out like he was offering help instead of collecting a debt.
Astra's collar tightened in answer. The pull in her spine sharpened, eager to align with any recognized authority. It wanted to be useful. It wanted to be seen.
Kael didn't move, but the air around him changed—edges honed, body turning into a barricade without taking a single step.
"She's under my custody," he said.
Rusk's gaze didn't flicker. "Custody can be revoked."
Lyra stayed near the Underchain seam, lantern lifted, watching like this was a stage and she knew all the trapdoors.
Astra's throat burned. The interface flickered faintly, dampened by the Underchain sigils, but not dead.
CLAUSES (VIEW ONLY)— Recall Trigger: ACTIVE— Authorized Claim: AVAILABLE— Audit: PRIORITY
Authorized claim.
A hinge.
Astra's pulse thudded. She looked at Kael's wrist crest, then at Rusk's.
Two leashes. Two hands on the same chain.
Rusk took a step closer. The shallow water in the canal rippled around his boots.
"Move aside, Kael," he said, calm as a file stamp. "Don't make this dramatic."
Kael's jaw flexed. "You're in Underchain tunnels."
Rusk's mouth twitched. Not a smile—an acknowledgment. "And yet here I am."
That was the first real threat. Not the order. The impossibility.
Astra felt Lyra's attention sharpen behind her. Like Lyra didn't like surprises unless she'd bought them.
Rusk's eyes slid to Lyra, then back to Kael. "Sable," he greeted, like her name was something he'd read in a report.
Lyra gave him a lazy tilt of her head. "Captain."
"You're meddling," Rusk said.
Lyra's smile was silk over teeth. "I'm breathing. In this city, it's basically the same crime."
Rusk ignored her and addressed Kael again. "Final warning."
Kael didn't answer with words.
His wrist crest glimmered—subtle, restrained. Authority held back, like a knife kept in the sleeve.
Rusk's gaze dropped to it.
Then Rusk's own crest flared.
A pulse shot through the chamber—not magic, not light, but pressure. A command wave that made Astra's teeth ache. The Underchain sigils along the wall hissed faintly, resisting like stone refusing to kneel.
Kael went rigid.
Not in a fighting stance.
In a caught stance.
Astra saw it: the slightest lock in his shoulders, the micro-hesitation in his breathing.
His leash had tightened.
Astra's interface snapped to life, bright and cruel even through the dampening.
PERMISSIONS (EXTERNAL)KAEL RAITHE — COMPLIANCE: ENFORCEDSOURCE: CAPTAIN RUSK DAINORDER: STAND DOWN
Kael's jaw clenched so hard the muscle jumped.
He didn't lower his gaze.
He didn't back away.
But his body… refused to complete the violence.
A Hound restrained by another Hound.
Astra's stomach turned.
Rusk's voice stayed even. "Good."
Kael's eyes flicked—once—to Astra.
It wasn't a plea. Kael didn't do pleas.
It was a warning dressed as eye contact.
Don't make me watch them take you.
Astra's collar tugged her forward again.
RETURN.
Her legs shifted, almost eager. The system loved clear hierarchies. Loved neat chains of command.
Astra swallowed and did what Kael had taught her: she let the collar believe it was winning.
She took a step.
Then another.
Kael's hand twitched, wanting to grab her, but the leash held him back. The fact of it burned across his face like shame.
Rusk watched Astra's movement with detached satisfaction. "There."
Lyra's lantern lifted slightly, catching the sheen of sweat at Astra's hairline. "Careful," Lyra murmured. "She's not a doll."
Rusk's eyes slid to Lyra, bored. "Everything is a doll if you hold the right strings."
Astra kept walking.
Not because she agreed.
Because she was counting.
One… two…
The faintest warmth at her throat—her known clause.
Punishment Delay: 6.0s
Astra's mind sharpened.
If she could make the collar punish her—on purpose—she could buy a window. A dirty loophole. A costly one.
But the underchain dampening already made the signal intermittent. If she spiked it now, it would scream louder than before.
Her trace would jump again.
Audit would bite down.
Astra tasted panic and forced it into a smaller shape.
Rusk's hand hovered inches from her chain. He didn't touch yet. Like he wanted the moment to land. Like he enjoyed watching obedience arrive on its own.
Kael spoke, voice tight with restrained fury. "Captain. Let her go."
Rusk didn't even look at him. "You're compromised, Kael."
Kael's nostrils flared. "I'm present."
Rusk finally turned his head slightly, just enough to grant Kael a fraction of attention. "You're emotionally misaligned."
Astra felt Kael's shame like a second pulse in the room.
Rusk continued, calm as execution. "And misalignment spreads. That's why we don't let weapons love the hand they're meant to bite."
Lyra made a soft sound—half laugh, half disgust. "He said love," she teased, but her eyes were sharp.
Kael's stare stayed locked on Rusk. "This is Dorian's order."
Rusk's mouth curved—thin. "Yes."
Astra's collar flared at the Marquis's name, as if it recognized its god.
Rusk reached for Astra's chain.
Astra moved first.
Not away.
Closer.
She stepped into his space with deliberate slowness, tilting her throat up just enough to make the gesture read as compliance. Intimacy as camouflage. Consent as weapon, because she was the one choosing the motion.
Rusk's eyes flicked to her mouth. Older men weren't immune to pretty danger. They just pretended they were.
Astra smiled softly, the kind that made men forget knives existed.
"My lord wants me intact," she said, voice low.
Rusk's hand paused. "Yes."
"Then don't bruise the throat he paid for," Astra murmured, letting the words land like a caress and a warning at once.
Kael made a sound behind his teeth—restrained violence. Jealousy? Possessiveness? Or just hatred of seeing her have to perform.
Rusk studied Astra with new interest. "Smart," he said.
Astra held his gaze and let the collar pull at her spine like a puppet string while her mind stayed razor-clean.
Smart enough to see the hinge.
Authorized claim.
If Kael claimed custody now, would the system treat his custody as the strongest nearby authority? Or would Dorian override regardless?
Astra didn't know.
But she knew what the collar loved more than obedience.
Clarity.
She turned her head slightly, as if to glance back for permission—playing the role of a subject waiting for her handler to speak.
Her eyes met Kael's.
And Astra gave him the smallest, most dangerous nod she could.
Claim me.
Kael's throat worked. The leash on his wrist glowed, resisting what he wanted to do.
Rusk's gaze snapped to Kael, sensing motion even without movement. "Don't."
Kael's jaw tightened. He drew a breath like a man stepping onto a blade.
"Astra Vey," he said, voice controlled, loud enough to be heard by stone and system alike. "By Hound custody statute—"
Rusk's crest flared again, command pressure slamming outward. "Silence."
Kael's mouth stopped mid-word. Not choice. Enforcement.
Astra's interface flashed, furious and bright.
AUTHORIZED CLAIM: INTERRUPTEDSOURCE: CAPTAIN RUSK DAINCOMPLIANCE: ENFORCED
Kael's eyes burned.
And Astra understood, cold and clean: Kael's leash wasn't just a governor. It was a gag.
Lyra's smile vanished.
"Well," she murmured. "That's ugly."
Rusk's hand finally closed around Astra's chain.
The touch was not intimate. It was administrative. A clerk stamping a document.
Astra's collar surged with relief at being handled by recognized authority. The recall command pulsed harder.
RETURN.
Her legs tried to fold.
Rusk said, almost gently, "Come."
Astra stepped.
Kael moved—one inch, half a step—and his body locked again under the enforced stand-down. The frustration on his face was a living thing.
Astra's throat burned with something hotter than pain.
Humiliation.
Not because Rusk held her chain.
Because Kael couldn't stop it.
Lyra shifted near the Underchain seam, fingers tracing a sigil along the hidden door. Astra caught the motion—too smooth, too ready.
Lyra had options.
Lyra always had options.
Astra's eyes narrowed.
Rusk started to lead her toward the tunnel mouth.
Astra let herself be guided for three steps.
On the fourth, she made a choice.
Not a rebellion.
A payment.
She forced her fingers to brush her own collar—just once, a forbidden touch. The crest punished instantly, eager to correct her.
The delay clause flickered like a cruel little mercy.
Six seconds of grace.
Then pain.
But in that brief grace, Astra's interface blinked open with a new, razor-sharp line she hadn't seen before.
PAIN PARTITION: AVAILABLEWARNING: DANGEROUSRESERVOIR: 0%
Astra's breath caught.
A patch.
Not unlocked by permission.
Unlocked by desperation.
She didn't have time to fear it.
She reached—more instinct than command—and shoved the oncoming pain into the empty reservoir like stuffing fire into a bottle.
For one heartbeat, the burn in her throat dulled.
Her knees steadied.
Rusk didn't notice the internal shift, but Kael did—because Kael watched her like survival depended on it.
Astra met his gaze again and let him see it:
I can stand.
Kael's eyes widened a fraction—shock, then immediate calculation.
Lyra's lantern bobbed as she moved, positioning herself not behind Rusk… but behind Kael.
That was wrong.
Astra's pulse spiked.
Rusk tightened his grip on Astra's chain. "Move."
Astra moved with him, obedient in body, violent in mind.
Behind them, Lyra's voice turned sweet. "Captain," she called, "before you go—how much is Dorian paying you for this delivery?"
Rusk didn't turn. "Enough."
Lyra laughed softly. "He always thinks enough is a number."
Astra heard the faintest click.
Metal on metal.
A hidden mechanism.
Kael's head snapped toward the sound, too late.
Lyra's fingers flicked a sigil on the wall.
And the Underchain door—the only escape—slammed shut with a final, echoing lock.
Lyra smiled at Kael over the lantern flame, eyes bright and unapologetic.
"Sorry, Hound," she said. "I'm profitable."