Temporary. Always.
The envoy's smile returned, colder now. "Then we wait outside your walls."
Seraphine's smile sharpened. "Do."
"And when she steps out," the envoy continued, voice smooth, "primary holder will resolve to the only authority left: House Veyrn."
Astra's blood went ice.
Kael's hand tightened at Astra's waist. "No."
Seraphine's eyes glinted at Kael. "Guardian," she murmured, "this is what happens when you refuse vows. You keep your freedom… and you keep your threats."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Stop selling chains as wisdom."
Seraphine smiled. "Stop pretending you're not already wearing one."
The Guardian bond hummed. Penance pressed. The sanctuary mark warmed under Astra's skin like a brand that hadn't decided if it would protect or punish.
Astra forced her breathing slow.
Tactical decision: they needed an exit that wasn't "stepping outside" into House arbitration. Something that counted as "inside sanctuary" while moving them physically out. A crypt route, a consecrated tunnel, a processional passage.
Astra looked at Seraphine's attendants—silent, eyes down. The church always had hidden corridors. It had to.
"Seraphine," Astra said, voice calm, "there's a lower passage."
Seraphine's smile sharpened. "There's always a lower passage."
"Then you let us use it," Astra said.
Seraphine's eyes glittered. "And why would I."
Astra met her gaze. "Because if you don't, House will take me. And then you lose your miracle."
Seraphine's smile didn't move. "I don't lose what I can record."
Astra's stomach tightened. "You want more than record. You want leverage."
Seraphine's eyes brightened—pleased that Astra was finally speaking her language.
"Yes," Seraphine murmured. "I do."
Astra nodded once. "Then here's leverage: you let us leave through your lower passage, and I'll answer one question truthfully before I go."
Seraphine's smile sharpened. "One."
Astra's mouth tasted blood. "One."
Kael's hand tightened, grounding. He leaned close, voice rough at Astra's ear. "Don't give her more than you must."
Astra didn't look away from Seraphine. "I won't."
Seraphine's eyes glittered. "Agreed."
The envoy's smile thinned. "Sister-Matriarch—"
Seraphine glanced at him like he was dust on her sleeve. "Wait outside," she said. "Or pray for patience."
The envoy's jaw flexed. He bowed once, sharp, and stepped back into the corridor shadow—retreat that felt like a promise of violence later.
As he withdrew, Astra caught one detail she hated:
a faint glimmer at his throat under the House sigil.
Not Lumen.
Not military.
Guild.
A tiny witness stamp, half-hidden. Proof of who had certified his paper.
Astra's stomach turned.
Seraphine turned back to Astra, eyes bright. "Your question," Seraphine murmured.
Astra didn't hesitate. She chose the smallest truth that still cut.
"How does my soul-signature mismatch let me see the interface," Seraphine asked softly.
Astra inhaled, tasting incense and rage.
"It shouldn't," Astra said. "But the collar doesn't match me. So it can't fully lock my perception."
Seraphine's smile sharpened into satisfaction. "So you're a flaw."
Astra's jaw tightened. "I'm a person."
Seraphine's eyes glittered. "A person with a flaw the Empire can't predict."
Kael's voice cut low. "We're leaving."
Seraphine nodded once to an attendant. The robed woman moved silently to a side panel and pressed a hidden seam. Stone sighed. A narrow stairwell opened, spiraling down into darker air.
"Go," Seraphine said softly. "But understand this, Astra: sanctuary isn't free. You're carrying penance debt now."
Astra's chest tightened at the weight. "I know."
Seraphine's smile warmed. "Good. Debt makes people return."
Astra didn't answer. She didn't promise anything.
Kael's hand stayed at Astra's waist—asked-for, steady—guiding her toward the stairwell.
Orin moved first, already slipping into the dark like he belonged there. Juno followed, disk ready, jaw set.
As Astra stepped onto the first stair, Seraphine's voice stopped her—gentle, knife-clean.
"One more thing," Seraphine murmured. "Your Guardian bond is stamped in gold now. If House forces primary resolution outside… the system may choose the closest authority to you."
Astra's blood went cold.
Kael's breath hitched behind her. "Me."
Seraphine smiled. "Yes."
Astra turned her head slightly, close enough to feel Kael's breath, and whispered their anchor like a vow she refused to let anyone else write.
"Black water."
"Black water," Kael answered, rough.
Heat flared in Astra's belly—dangerous, intimate—because his voice still belonged to him when he chose it.
They descended into the lower passage.
The air cooled. Candle scent faded into old stone and damp. The stairwell walls were etched with Lumen scripture that glowed faintly, just enough to keep shadows honest.
Halfway down, Astra's interface flickered—gold and Dominion text fighting for space.
SANCTUARY MARK: ACTIVE (TEMP)PENANCE DEBT: 6 (RISING)WARNING: DEBT SEEKS POSTURE — COMPLIANCE DEFINITION APPLIES
Standing within Guardian proximity.
Astra swallowed.
Kael's hand tightened at her waist, then loosened.
"Consent?" Kael murmured, rough.
Astra's throat burned. "Yes."
Kael stayed close without crowding—enough to satisfy the posture definition without making it feel like ownership. He was learning the shape of restraint in real time, and it made Astra's nerves sing with equal parts anger and want.
At the bottom of the stairs, the passage opened into a narrow crypt corridor. Stone niches. Cold air. A faint hum of wards, older and heavier than the chapel above.
Orin paused, listening. "This goes under the outer wall," he muttered. "But it exits into a courtyard."
Juno's eyes widened. "Outside."
"Outside," Orin confirmed.
Astra's stomach tightened. Outside meant House. Outside meant command. Outside meant primary holder snapping like a trap.
Kael's voice went low. "Then we don't step into the open."
Orin's mouth twisted. "We don't have another route."
Astra forced her breathing slow.
She could withdraw sanctuary—trigger audit, expose Guardian bond, invite Rusk.
Or she could keep sanctuary mark active, step out… and risk primary resolution choosing Kael as closest authority.
Astra's interface flickered again—cold and calm—like it enjoyed presenting her with two knives.
EXIT DETECTED: OUTSIDE SANCTUARYNOTE: HOUSE CLAIM PROBABILITY HIGHPRIMARY HOLDER RESOLUTION: READY (ON EXIT)
Kael's hand at her waist tightened. "Astra. Tell me."
Astra turned her head slightly, mouth near his jaw in the crypt-dark.
"Consent," Astra whispered, heat braided with strategy, "to one more ugly trick."
Kael swallowed hard. "Yes."
Astra's eyes narrowed.
"If primary holder wants 'closest authority,'" Astra murmured, "we change who counts as authority near me when we step out."
Kael stiffened. "How."
Astra's throat burned. "We break proximity."
Kael's jaw clenched. "You want to separate."
Astra nodded once. "For seconds."
Kael's hand tightened, then eased as if it hurt to consider. "No."
Astra's voice sharpened, intimate as a threat. "Then House takes me."
Kael's breath shuddered, anger flashing. "Or I take the hit."
Astra's mouth curved razor-thin. "You've been taking hits all night."
Kael's eyes burned into hers in the dark. "I'll keep taking them."
Astra hated the way that sounded like devotion.
She used it anyway.
"Kael," Astra whispered, "consent to stepping out first. Alone. Draw the resolution onto you—away from me—then Orin and Juno move me through while the system is busy choosing."
Kael's face tightened. "It will choose me."
Astra swallowed. "Yes. But if it chooses you while you're alone, it can't pull me through you in the same second."
Kael's jaw clenched like it hurt to breathe. "That's gambling."
Astra's eyes stayed hard. "Everything is."
Orin listened, then gave a short nod. "It might work. If we move fast."
Juno's disk hummed, eager. "I can jam for a breath."
Kael stared at Astra like he was tasting poison and deciding to drink it anyway.
"Consent," Kael rasped, "to me stepping out alone."
Astra's throat burned. "Yes."
Kael leaned closer—so close their breaths touched in the crypt-dark—and his voice dropped into something raw and intimate.
"If I'm chosen as primary holder," Kael murmured, "I will not use it to own you."
Astra's pulse kicked hard.
"You ask," Astra whispered.
Kael's breath shuddered. "Always."
Astra held his gaze for one heartbeat too long—heat flaring in her belly, dangerous and alive—then forced herself to look away before wanting softened her.
"Go," Astra said.
Kael released her waist—slow, deliberate—like letting go was a vow.
Then he turned and walked toward the courtyard exit alone.
The door seam ahead was thin stone and old iron. Orin pressed a hidden latch. Cold night air leaked in, sharp with rain and city smoke.
Kael stepped through first.
Astra watched his back disappear into the night.
Her interface flickered violently.
EXIT EVENT: GUARDIAN OUTSIDE SANCTUARYPRIMARY HOLDER RESOLUTION: INITIATING…
Astra's chest tightened.
Juno lifted her disk, humming dirty static into the seam. Orin braced Astra by the shoulder—careful, not throat—and whispered, "On my count."
Astra's collar pulsed once, hungry.
In the courtyard outside, Kael's voice carried back faintly—rough, controlled—like he was speaking to something only he could see.
"I deny House," Kael said.
A second later, Astra's interface flashed so bright it hurt.
PRIMARY HOLDER RESOLVED: KAEL RAITHE (GUARDIAN)NOTE: AUTHORITY ASSIGNED — OUTSIDE SANCTUARY
Astra's blood went ice.
Orin hissed, "MOVE!"
He yanked Astra forward. Juno's disk screamed. Astra stumbled through the seam into cold night air—
—and the collar at her throat answered the new reality like it had been waiting for it.
Not to House.
Not to command.
To Kael.
Astra's interface updated mid-step, calm and fatal:
PRIMARY HOLDER: KAEL RAITHE (GUARDIAN) — ACTIVE