Astra felt her internal stabilizer rule grip tighter—prioritize Astra's chosen ruleset until safe.
She breathed through the pressure.
Meros spoke calmly. "Ninety days remains. Supervised self-writes remain. Trace mitigation remains." His eyes flicked to Kael. "Collateral escrow is deferred—conditional."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Conditional on what."
Meros looked at Astra. "On proof that your internal stabilizer is not a disguised owner channel."
Astra's stomach turned.
He was accusing her of being a covert handler.
Astra's mouth went dry. "And how do I prove it."
Meros's smile returned, polite as a knife. "You submit to a Guild seal—temporary. It will sit over your collar as a read-only witness. It will not control you. It will record."
Record.
Astra hated that word.
Because recording turned into evidence.
Evidence turned into ownership.
And yet—if she didn't accept, audit lock might trigger anyway, and then the collar would choose a claimant on her behalf.
Kael's voice was low, tight. "Astra, don't let them put a seal on your throat."
Lyra's smile widened slightly, eyes bright with private amusement at Kael's protectiveness. "He's right," she said softly. "Seals are sticky."
Kael's gaze snapped to Lyra. "Quiet."
Lyra's smile sharpened. "Make me."
Astra felt the heat spike between them, jealous and vicious, and forced it down.
Not now.
Astra looked at Meros. "Your seal doesn't control. It records."
Meros nodded once. "Correct."
Astra's throat tightened. "And if I refuse the seal."
Meros's voice stayed calm. "Then the Guild cannot guarantee mitigation. You will be released as a hazard notification."
Hazard notification.
A clean way of saying: We will tell everyone where you are.
Orin swore under his breath. Juno's fingers tightened. Kael's posture hardened, as if preparing to drag Astra out by force.
Astra didn't move.
She stepped closer to Kael—not behind him, not under him—beside him. Close enough that her shoulder brushed his arm, chosen contact.
Then she spoke to him softly, private. "No touch," she murmured.
Kael's jaw flexed. "I know."
Astra's breath warmed his jaw as she leaned in a fraction. Heat-5 tension sharpened, not as romance—an intimate bargain in the middle of law.
"If they seal me," Astra whispered, "I need you steady. Voice only. No collar touch."
Kael's eyes darkened. "I'll be steady."
Astra's mouth curved faintly. "Say it like a protocol."
Kael's throat worked. Then he complied, low and deliberate. "Astra—if they place a seal, you will keep breathing and you will not surrender your posture."
Astra felt her spine settle.
The collar loved it.
Astra hated that it did.
She turned back to Meros. "Fine. Temporary Guild witness seal. Ninety days. Supervised Write(Self). Deferred escrow."
Meros's smile warmed slightly, as if pleased she'd chosen "clean." "Wise."
Astra's eyes stayed hard. "If you lie, I will make your statute bleed."
Meros's brows lifted. "You threaten the Guild."
Astra smiled without warmth. "I state system behavior."
Meros gestured to the attendant. "Prepare the seal."
The attendant lifted the slate. A small metallic disk slid out from a hidden compartment—thin, silver, etched with a sigil that looked like a crest but too precise, too complete.
It hummed softly, like it was alive.
Kael's body tensed.
Lyra watched with quiet satisfaction, eyes gleaming.
Orin's hands flexed.
Juno shifted her feet, ready to throw a disk the second this turned into a trap.
Astra forced her breath steady.
Meros stepped closer—careful, controlled, hands visible. "This will touch your collar," he said calmly. "Do you consent."
Consent.
A word that sounded almost merciful when spoken by a man who could destroy her with paperwork.
Astra lifted her chin. "Yes."
Meros raised the seal disk toward her throat.
Astra's collar pulsed in eager recognition. The interface flared.
EXTERNAL SEAL: DETECTEDWARNING: CLAIM OVERLAY RISKINTERNAL STABILIZER: HOLD
Astra felt the first contact—cold metal brushing the collar's rim.
Pain didn't hit immediately.
Instead, the system went quiet in a way that felt like drowning.
Astra's vision stuttered.
AUDIT MODE: OPENINGGUILD WITNESS: LINKINGTRACE: 74.2% (UNDER REVIEW)
Meros pressed the disk into place.
The seal clicked—soft, final—like a lock deciding it belonged.
Astra's throat burned.
Not from pain.
From intrusion.
Like someone had set a mirror on her collar and turned it toward her secrets.
Kael's voice cut low beside her, steady, protocol-shaped. "Breathe."
Astra breathed.
The seal hummed.
Then—without warning—Astra's interface flashed a new panel she had never seen before, not from her collar, not from the Null Anchor, not from her own self-write.
It looked like a third system had stepped into the room and opened a file.
GUILD EVALUATION — ANOMALY CLASSIFICATION: "INTERFACE BEARER"NOTE: SOUL-SIGNATURE MISMATCH CONFIRMEDRECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE ACQUISITION
Astra's blood ran cold.
Immediate acquisition.
Not mitigation.
Not supervision.
Take.
Meros's face didn't change, but his eyes sharpened—interest sliding into possession.
Lyra's smile deepened like she'd just watched a trap spring exactly on time.
Kael felt Astra stiffen and leaned closer, voice low. "What."
Astra's lips barely moved. "He's not stabilizing me."
Kael's jaw clenched. "He's taking you."
Meros's polite voice rose, addressing the room as if announcing a formal decision. "Subject Astra Vey is confirmed as an Interface Bearer. By Guild emergency statute, custody is required to prevent catastrophic trace events."
Orin's face went murderously still. "Emergency statute," he spat. "In my tunnels."
Juno's disk was already in her fingers.
Kael stepped forward half a pace—then stopped, remembering no collar touch, remembering that open conflict could trigger auto-compliance.
Astra's throat burned around the seal.
Her interface flickered again—calm and cruel.
AUDIT LOCK: ENGAGINGAUTO-COMPLIANCE: LIKELYNOTE: GUILD WITNESS SEAL HAS PRIORITY CHANNEL ACCESS
Priority channel.
The seal could override her stabilizer.
Astra's stomach dropped.
Meros smiled politely. "Please remain still. Resistance will be recorded as hostile concealment."
Lyra's voice drifted, amused. "Told you to read the ink."
Astra's gaze snapped to Lyra—cold, burning. "You knew."
Lyra's smile didn't move. "I suspected."
Kael's eyes flashed. "Lyra."
Lyra's gaze flicked to Kael, amused. "What? You thought I was here for romance?"
Jealous heat spiked through Astra's chest—sharp, ugly—but it was drowned by something colder: betrayal's clean edge.
Astra's interface—half-drowned under the Guild seal—flickered a single lifeline.
GHOST COMMAND SLOT: EMPTYWRITE (SELF): AVAILABLE (AUDIT RISK EXTREME)
No stored blade left.
Only her own knife.
And if audit lock engaged fully, she wouldn't get to choose what she wrote.
Meros stepped closer, hand lifting—not toward the seal this time, but toward Astra's wrist, like he meant to escort her.
Kael moved.
Not touching Astra's collar.
Not attacking Meros.
He simply stepped into the space between Meros's hand and Astra's body, posture rigid as law.
Meros blinked once. "Imperial Hound. You are collateral. You do not obstruct."
Kael's voice was low and lethal. "Try to take her and see what obstruct means."
Meros's smile sharpened. "Threat noted."
The attendant's slate hummed.
Astra felt the seal on her throat tighten—tiny pressure like a hand closing.
Auto-compliance rising.
Astra had seconds.
She could feel it the way she felt the collar before a force-lock: muscles preparing to obey without her.
Kael's voice dropped beside her ear—steady, protocol-shaped, intimate as a vow. "Astra—if you feel yourself slipping, you will look at me and keep breathing until it passes."
Astra met his eyes.
His gaze was a wall.
Not ownership.
A point.
Astra breathed.
Then she made her choice.
Not loud.
Not pretty.
A desperate loophole carved in motion.
Astra opened Write(Self) and wrote one line directly into the moment the seal was trying to close:
IF GUILD WITNESS SEAL ATTEMPTS PRIORITY OVERRIDE → TRIGGER DELAY LOOP AND HOLD BODY CONTROL UNTIL COUNTDOWN ENDS
The system punished her instantly.
Pain surged—hot and invasive—then—
Nothing.
The Delay Loop caught it, snapping a six-second gap between cause and consequence.
Astra's vision sharpened with brutal clarity.
Six seconds.
Kael saw it in her face and didn't ask. He moved.
Orin lunged for the door seam. Juno's disk flashed in her fingers.
Lyra's eyes widened—genuine surprise for the first time.
Meros's polite smile finally cracked, a thin slice of irritation.
Astra's collar pulsed.
The seal hummed.
And the interface—the only thing that had ever belonged to her alone—counted down in cold white numbers as her stolen seconds bled away:
DELAY LOOP: 06…05…04…