Seraphine's request didn't sound like a threat.
That was what made it worse.
The chapel corridor held its breath around them—candlelight, gold ward-lines, incense sweet enough to hide blood. Astra could feel the Lumen sigils humming under her collar like a second pulse, cleaner than the Dominion, but just as hungry for obedience.
Seraphine's smile stayed soft.
"I want the collar to hear you say," she murmured, "that you choose your proxy owner—freely."
Rusk listened through holy stone like a knife resting on a table.
Dorian lingered in Astra's nerves like velvet smoke, amused and patient, waiting for her to put herself in a cage with a prettier name.
And Kael—Kael stood just behind her, heat and tension braided tight, his hand hovering near her waist like he was afraid to touch and afraid not to.
Astra's interface burned gold over white:
LUMEN WITNESS CLAUSE: DECLARE CHOSEN AUTHORITYPHRASE REQUIRED: "I CHOOSE KAEL RAITHE."EFFECT: PROXY OWNER ROLE STABILIZED (CHOSEN)
Kael's voice came rough and urgent at her ear. "Astra—don't."
Seraphine's eyes flicked to him, almost indulgent. "It's only words."
Astra tasted blood where she'd bitten her tongue earlier, felt trace heat crawling behind her eyes, and forced her breathing slow.
Words were never only words here.
Words were levers.
Words were chains.
Astra lifted her chin toward Seraphine, making her own calm into a weapon.
"You want to stabilize him," Astra said. "So you can hold him."
Seraphine's smile sharpened, pleased that Astra understood the game. "So I can stop command from dragging him into the kennel," she corrected softly. "And stop House Veyrn from taking you."
Rusk's voice threaded through the wards, calm and cold. "Don't pretend this is mercy, Seraphine."
Seraphine didn't look away from Astra. "Don't pretend you care what it's called, Captain."
Kael's jaw clenched. His shoulders tried to square by reflex—command in the air, old habit in his bones—but he fought it, eyes locked on Astra like she was the only thing real.
Astra turned slightly, close enough that her breath warmed the corner of Kael's mouth.
"Black water," she whispered.
Kael answered instantly, rough and present. "Black water."
Heat flared low in Astra's belly—sharp, ugly, alive—because he said it like a vow he chose.
Then Astra leaned a fraction closer, intimate as a secret and just as dangerous.
"Consent," Astra murmured, "to me using your name as an anchor in this light."
Kael swallowed hard. "Yes."
Astra felt the yes hit her like oxygen.
She pulled back, enough to keep her mind sharp, and faced Seraphine again.
"I'll say your phrase," Astra said, voice flat.
Kael stiffened. "Astra—"
Astra didn't look away from Seraphine. "On my terms."
Seraphine's eyes brightened. "Speak them."
Astra forced her voice steady. "One: no hands on my collar. Two: no separation by force. Three: you block Rusk from issuing commands through Kael while we're under your ward."
Rusk's voice snapped. "That is not within your—"
Seraphine cut him off, soft and smiling. "Shh, Captain. Let the collar negotiate."
Astra's jaw tightened. "Four: the phrase cannot be used to justify owner commands. Not by him. Not by you. Not by anyone listening."
The candle-flame in the brass holder brightened slightly, as if the wards liked that line.
Seraphine's smile didn't move. "Bold."
Astra's gaze stayed cold. "Necessary."
Seraphine tilted her head, assessing. "And how do you intend to bind a phrase to meaning, Astra Vey."
Astra's throat burned. Because she didn't have a clean method.
She had a dirty one.
The only thing the system still respected when it was forced to: consent stated clearly.
Astra turned back to Kael.
His eyes were dark and furious and too human. He looked like he wanted to grab her and run and also like he knew running would only make the net tighter.
Astra stepped into his space—close enough to make the chapel feel smaller, close enough that Seraphine's light warmed both their faces.
"Kael," Astra whispered, low and sharp, "do you consent to being chosen—only as my ally and shield—never as my owner."
Kael's throat worked. The proxy role inside him pulsed like a bruise.
"Yes," Kael said, rough. "I consent."
Astra's pulse kicked hard.
"And," Astra continued, forcing the next line out through burning throat, "do you consent to refusing any owner command unless I ask you—out loud."
Kael's jaw clenched like it hurt to promise something that required him to be gentle.
"Yes," he said. "I consent."
Seraphine watched them with bright hunger, like she adored consent the way she adored power—because it could be weaponized.
Astra didn't care if Seraphine enjoyed it.
She cared if it worked.
Astra turned back toward the ward-light, toward the gold prompt that wanted to brand her choice into law.
The corridor felt tight around her ribs.
Orin stood to the side like a coiled blade, eyes scanning. Juno held her disk like a prayer she didn't believe in.
Seraphine lifted a hand, not touching, just indicating the brightest part of the ward circle on the floor.
"Step forward," Seraphine said softly. "Let the light witness."
Astra stepped onto the glowing line.
The collar tightened—measuring, delighted.
The witness seal under her damp wrap vibrated like it wanted to sing.
Astra's interface flared gold and white, and the phrase waited like a trigger.
Kael's hand hovered at her waist, asking with his eyes.
Astra gave a tight nod.
Kael held her—warm, steady—bracing her without touching her throat.
The intimacy of it made Astra's stomach twist with heat. She hated that her body responded to a situation built from traps.
She used the heat anyway.
Astra lifted her chin, looked straight at Seraphine's saintly smile, felt Rusk's listening pressure, felt Dorian's velvet amusement—
—and spoke clearly, exactly, so the system couldn't pretend she hadn't.
"I choose Kael Raithe."
The words landed in the ward-light like a coin dropped into still water.
For a heartbeat, everything held.
Then the chapel wards answered.
Not with sound.
With structure.
Astra's interface exploded in gold text.
LUMEN WITNESS CLAUSE: ACCEPTEDCHOSEN AUTHORITY: REGISTEREDPROXY OWNER ROLE: STABILIZING…
Kael inhaled sharply, like something inside him had tightened.
Astra didn't let the system finish the sentence alone.
She spoke again immediately, before anyone could interrupt, before Seraphine could add a "holy interpretation," before Rusk could twist it into command.
"As my ally," Astra said, voice cold and explicit. "As my shield. Not as my owner. Not as my leash. I do not consent to ownership."
The wards hummed.
The collar pulsed—confused, irritated—
—and then, for the first time in too long, Dorian's silk voice stuttered.
His presence flickered against the holy signal like smoke slapped by wind.
Seraphine's eyes gleamed. "Good," she whispered, pleased in a way that made Astra want to bite her.
Rusk's voice cut through, sharp. "That addendum is invalid."
Seraphine smiled toward the air. "In my house, it's witnessed."
Astra's interface updated again—gold lines threading into Dominion text like a new layer of law.
CHOSEN AUTHORITY TYPE: GUARDIAN (LUMEN)NOTE: OWNER COMMANDS RESTRICTED UNDER CONSENT TAGCOMMAND OVERSIGHT: OBSCURED (WITHIN SANCTUARY)
Kael's shoulders eased by a fraction, then tightened again as he read what "Guardian" meant.
Not owner.
But still a role.
Still a handle.
Astra felt the collar settle, less hungry now, like it had accepted a different kind of hierarchy: protection dressed as scripture.
Seraphine stepped closer, eyes bright. "You just rewrote the meaning without a crestwright's hand."
Astra's throat burned. "Don't call it rewriting."
Seraphine's smile sharpened. "Fine. Call it prayer."
Kael's voice came low and lethal. "Seraphine. We're leaving."
Seraphine didn't flinch. "No."
Kael's jaw clenched. "We didn't agree to captivity."
Seraphine's gaze slid to Astra. "Did you," she asked softly.
Astra felt the trap tighten.
Seraphine wanted Astra to say yes to staying.
To turn sanctuary into consent.
Astra refused.
"We agreed to one hour," Astra said. "Examination. Answers. No binding."
Seraphine's smile warmed by half a degree. "Then we begin."
One attendant stepped forward, lifting the brass candlestick. The flame inside it brightened, throwing clean light over Astra's throat wrap.
The witness seal vibrated hard, hungry.
Kael's hand at Astra's waist tightened slightly—jealousy and protectiveness colliding—then loosened as he caught himself.
"Consent," Kael murmured, rough, "to me holding."
Astra's pulse kicked. "Yes."
Seraphine watched the exchange like it was dessert. "Guardian who asks," she murmured. "How rare."
Kael's eyes went murderous. "Stop watching her like she's a relic."
Seraphine's smile sharpened. "She is."
Astra swallowed blood. "Examine, then."
Seraphine's hand hovered near Astra's collar without touching, and the Lumen flame washed the metal in clean light.
Astra's interface flared, and new text slid in—quiet, fatal.
MODULE UNLOCK: PERMISSIONS (LUMEN LAYER)NOTE: GUARDIAN BOND CREATEDEFFECT: COMMAND SHIELD (SANCTUARY ONLY)COST: PENANCE DEBT ACCRUAL
Penance debt.
A new kind of trace.
A new price.
Astra's stomach turned.
Seraphine saw the flicker in Astra's eyes and smiled like she'd just confirmed a prophecy.
"You can see it," Seraphine whispered.
Kael went still. "See what."
Seraphine didn't answer Kael. She kept speaking to Astra like Kael wasn't in the room.
"The interface," Seraphine said softly. "The truth behind your collar."
Astra forced her face blank. "I see light."
Seraphine's smile didn't move. "You see law."
Rusk's voice snapped, colder now. "You're tampering with Dominion property."
Astra's collar pulsed at property, offended.
Seraphine's tone stayed mild. "Everything is property to you."
Rusk's voice sharpened. "Deliver them."
Seraphine's eyes glinted. "No."
There was a thin pause—command calculating optics in a holy house.
Then Rusk spoke again, quieter, more dangerous.
"Fine," he murmured. "Then I'll take the Guardian."
Kael's body twitched, reflex rising.
Astra saw it instantly—command trying to slide around the new Guardian label, trying to grab Kael through old channels.
Astra stepped back into Kael's space, shoulder brushing his chest, grounding him with contact that was chosen.
"Kael," Astra whispered, intimate as a blade, "black water."
"Black water," Kael answered, rough.
Astra's interface flickered:
COMMAND PRESSURE: REDUCED (SANCTUARY)NOTE: EXTERNAL PURSUIT DETECTED — SHIELD ACTIVE