Astra's stomach dropped.
Handler Protocol.
Not Guild ink.
Not Church warmth.
Dominion military architecture.
Old. Deep. Clean in the ugliest way.
Kael's face went pale in the lamp's weak light. "No."
Astra's throat burned. "It's real."
Kael shook his head once, sharp and furious. "I don't have handlers."
"You do," Orin said grimly. "You had them before you learned to call it 'orders.'"
Kael's jaw clenched so hard his teeth creaked. His eyes went dark and vicious.
Astra felt heat flare low in her belly anyway—because anger on him looked like power, and power always tempted her.
She forced herself not to get stupid.
"Astra," Kael said, voice rough, "tell me you're not becoming that."
Astra met his eyes. "I'm not becoming anything without consent."
Kael's throat worked. "And the system."
Astra's mouth tightened. "The system doesn't care about consent. That's why we do."
Lyra's voice came soft, amused. "Romantic."
Astra shot her a look that could cut. Lyra lifted her hands slightly, smiling. Fine.
Orin rubbed his face, frustrated. "So what does handler protocol do."
Astra forced her eyes back to the panel.
The interface offered a neat prompt, as if it was asking her to accept a gift.
HANDLER ASSIGNMENT: PENDINGCANDIDATE: ASTRA VEY (SUBJECT) — COMPATIBLEREQUIRES: ACCEPTANCE + MARKING ACTIONWARNING: ACCEPTANCE MAY OVERRIDE CONSENT GATES UNDER THREATBENEFIT: FULL CUSTODIAN CONTROL (72 HOURS)
Full custodian control.
Astra's stomach turned.
Because "control" was the word the system used when it meant ownership.
Kael's gaze burned into her face. He saw enough to know it was bad.
"What does it want," Kael asked.
Astra swallowed. "It wants me to accept being your handler."
Silence hit the chamber like a slap.
Juno's eyes widened. "Handler like—"
"Like a leash," Orin said, blunt.
Lyra's smile sharpened. "Like a crown."
Kael's jaw clenched. "No."
Astra's throat burned. "If we refuse, the system may route the override through owner or Guild instead. It will keep escalating until something wins."
Kael's eyes went cold. "Then we cut the system."
Orin barked a laugh. "Sure. Let's cut the Empire."
Kael didn't blink. "We cut what we can."
Astra's mind raced. If she accepted handler assignment, she could potentially command Kael's crest under threat—stop the auto-execute. But it might also bypass consent gates the moment the system decided the threat was "high."
Meaning Astra could accidentally become the thing Kael feared most.
And Dorian—silk in her collar—would love that. Because if Astra became handler, Dorian could frame her as the controlling one. The cruel one. The leash.
He could ruin her from inside.
Astra's throat burned as Dorian's voice purred, delighted.
"Do it," he whispered. "Take your Hound by the throat. He'll hate you for it. And then he'll need you. Beautiful."
Astra clenched her jaw so hard her teeth hurt.
Kael's hand remained at her waist, warm and steady, like he was anchoring her without realizing it might also anchor the system's choice.
Astra looked at him, close enough to see the faint sheen of sweat at his temple. Close enough to feel his restraint trembling.
Kael's voice came low, raw. "If you accept that, I won't know where I end."
Astra's chest tightened.
Heat and grief tangled together.
She leaned closer, voice low and fierce, making a vow sound like flirtation because she needed him to feel it in his bones.
"Then we write where you end," Astra murmured. "Together."
Kael's breath hitched.
His eyes flicked to her mouth.
Astra didn't kiss him.
Not yet.
Not like this.
She let the almost-kiss hang there like a blade held at the throat of the moment.
"Consent," Astra whispered.
Kael swallowed, eyes dark. "Always."
Astra nodded once. "Then answer me."
Kael's jaw flexed. "What."
"If I accept handler protocol," Astra said softly, "will you let me hold that power—only under our rules."
Kael's breath caught. His gaze searched hers like he was trying to find the lie.
He didn't.
Astra wasn't lying.
She was terrified.
Kael's voice came rough. "Our rules."
Astra's mouth tightened. "Consent spoken. No collar touch. No command without confirmation. And if I ever feel it turning into ownership—"
Kael cut in, low and lethal. "You stop."
Astra nodded. "You say it and I stop."
Kael's hand at her waist tightened—warm, grounding, dangerous.
"And if I'm the one lost," Kael said, voice raw, "if the system borrows me again—"
Astra leaned in, breath warm at his jaw. "Then I bring you back," she whispered. "By name. By voice. By whatever it takes."
Kael stared at her.
Then he nodded once, sharp and chosen.
"Yes," he said.
Lyra made a soft sound behind them, annoyed. "Gods."
Juno looked like she was holding her breath.
Orin muttered, "If you two are done making vows, we still have an Empire trying to eat you."
Astra didn't look away from Kael as she spoke. "We're not done. We're just moving."
Astra's interface pulsed again, impatient.
HANDLER ASSIGNMENT: PENDINGESCALATION PATH: IN PROGRESSEXTERNAL GRID CONTACT: INCREASING
Orin's warning became real—a clean pressure pressed against the dead-sand channels like fingers searching for a seam. Somewhere above, someone was close enough to taste their location.
Astra swallowed.
Decision time.
She reached up—not to her collar, not to the seal—only to the cloth wrap, pinching it lightly as if reminding herself she still owned her throat. That she wasn't just hardware.
Then she looked at Kael and asked one last time, because she refused to become a handler without him choosing it too.
"Kael," Astra said, low and steady, "do you consent to me accepting handler protocol—temporary—under our rules."
Kael's jaw clenched. His eyes were dark, furious, frightened.
Then he forced the word out like a vow he hated needing.
"Yes."
Astra exhaled hard.
The interface immediately offered the next step—clean and terrible:
MARKING ACTION REQUIREDTARGET: KAEL RAITHE — MILITARY CRESTMETHOD: HANDLER SIGIL (TEMP) — TOUCH REQUIREDWARNING: TOUCH MAY BE RECORDED BY WITNESS SEAL
Touch required.
Of course.
The system always demanded touch when it wanted ownership.
Astra's throat burned.
Kael's gaze tightened. "Where."
Astra swallowed. "Your wrist crest casing."
Kael's breath hitched. He didn't pull away. He didn't offer it like a kneel either.
He held his arm out—steady, deliberate—like a soldier giving a weapon to a comrade, not a man giving himself to a master.
Astra's chest tightened.
Heat rose low and fierce because the gesture was trust, and trust was the most dangerous seduction of all.
Astra leaned in, close enough that her breath warmed his skin, and spoke low.
"May I," she whispered.
Kael's voice was rough. "Yes."
Astra placed two fingers on the casing over his wrist crest—light, careful, chosen.
The moment her skin met the casing, the world sharpened.
Astra's interface flared.
A thin line of geometry formed under her fingertips—sigilcraft responding to permission, to oversight, to the system's hunger.
Pain sparked through Astra's nerves again, immediate and bright. Trace buzzed hot.
Astra clenched her jaw and kept her hand steady.
Kael's breath hitched.
His muscles tightened, then forced themselves still.
Astra carved the temporary handler sigil with two slow strokes—simple, clean, ugly in its simplicity. Like drawing a collar tag.
Kael didn't flinch.
But Astra saw the micro-tremor in his forearm.
She hated it.
She wanted to lick the tremor away. Bite it. Kiss it. Turn it into something that belonged to them instead of the Empire.
She didn't.
Not now.
She finished the mark and lifted her fingers away like she was disarming a bomb.
Kael exhaled hard, jaw clenched. "What changed."
Astra's interface answered before she could.
HANDLER ASSIGNMENT: ACCEPTED (TEMP)HANDLER: ASTRA VEYHOUND: KAEL RAITHEDURATION: 72 HOURS (INTERIM OVERSIGHT)NOTE: HANDLER MAY ISSUE OVERRIDE DURING THREATCONSENT GATE: MODIFIED (THREAT EXCEPTION ACTIVE)
Threat exception active.
Astra's blood went cold.
Because the system had taken their agreement and still slipped a knife under it.
Kael saw Astra's face and went very still. "Astra."
Astra swallowed. "Threat exception."
Kael's jaw clenched, fury flaring. "So it can bypass—"
"Yes," Astra said, voice flat. "If it decides the threat is high enough."
Dorian's silk laughter curled through her collar, delighted.
"Oh," he murmured. "Now you're something. Now you're dangerous."
Astra's throat burned.
The external pressure against the chamber rose again—cleaner now, closer. Orin swore under his breath and slapped a scar-sigil.
"They're about to breach," Orin snarled.
Juno's disk hummed low, ready.
Lyra's eyes glittered. "This is going to be messy."
Kael's gaze locked on Astra, dark and intense. "If the exception triggers, don't let it take you."
Astra's mouth curved, sharp with bitter humor. "Tell the system."
Kael's voice dropped, intimate and fierce. "I'm telling you."
Heat flared low in Astra's belly—because being told like that felt like being claimed, and she hated that she wanted it.
Astra leaned closer, breath warm at his jaw, and whispered, "Then stay close. And if I speak like a handler—if I start sounding like them—"
Kael's eyes burned. "I stop you."
Astra nodded. "Good."
The chamber's dead sand lines shuddered—signal pressure finding a crack.
Orin's face went pale. "Breach in—"
Astra's witness seal vibrated under the cloth like a trapped insect, suddenly excited. It had found signal. It had found a "safe path."
Her interface flashed a final, merciless update:
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH (EXTERNAL GRID DETECTED)HANDLER OVERRIDE: RECOMMENDEDAUTO-EXECUTE WINDOW: 00:00:03
Kael's hand twitched at Astra's waist again—wrong, borrowed.
Astra's fingers tightened reflexively.
And the handler panel in her vision offered a single clean button, colder than any blade:
EXECUTE OVERRIDE — NOW