The pull on Kael stuttered.
The arbiter hand behind them tightened, then paused, as if the command had hit a new condition it hadn't wanted.
Kael exhaled hard. "It—stopped."
Astra swallowed blood. "For now."
Orin slammed a scar-sigil at a seam and a side panel cracked open—an older Underchain crawl, low and mean, smelling like damp iron and secrets.
"In," Orin snarled.
They dropped.
Stone closed behind them with a heavy, wet sigh.
Darkness swallowed the clean hum for half a heartbeat.
Astra's lungs burned. Her trace buzzed hot. Penance weight pressed her chest—eager for posture, satisfied by Kael's arm at her waist.
The intimacy of it in the dark made Astra's body ache with want she refused to indulge.
Kael's voice was rough at her ear. "Are you okay."
Astra laughed once, breathless, humorless. "No."
Kael's arm tightened slightly, then loosened as he caught himself.
"Consent," he whispered, forced and raw, "to me holding you while you hurt."
Heat flared low in Astra's belly.
"Yes," Astra said. "Hold. Don't fix."
Kael's breath shuddered. "I can't stand you paying for my spine."
Astra turned her head, mouth near his jaw.
"You're paying too," she whispered. "And you're still asking."
Kael went still at that, something in him tightening that wasn't command.
For a heartbeat in the dark, his mouth hovered near hers—almost.
He didn't take it.
He didn't let the system turn intimacy into a trigger.
Astra hated him for being noble.
She wanted him anyway.
Then Lyra's voice cut through the dark ahead, smooth as silk in a sewer.
"You two are adorable," Lyra murmured. "Now choose a direction before the arbiter escalates."
Astra dragged her gaze away from Kael. "You're still here."
Lyra's eyes glittered. "Where else would I be. I'm invested."
Orin snarled, "You're a parasite."
Lyra smiled faintly. "Parasites keep hosts alive. If the host dies, the meal stops."
Juno's face was pale. "Stop talking like that."
Lyra's gaze softened for a fraction at Juno—then sharpened again. "Sweetness doesn't survive in this city without teeth."
Astra's interface flickered, impatient:
ARBITER PROTOCOL: STEP 1 — FAILED (LINKED POSTURE)STEP 2 READY: SUBJECT CONTAINMENTEXECUTE IN: 00:00:12
Step 2.
Containment.
Arbiter cage.
Astra's blood went ice.
Kael's arm tightened at her waist, grounding. "Astra. Twelve seconds."
Astra swallowed hard. "I know."
Lyra tilted her head, listening to something Astra couldn't hear.
"Arbiter hates delays," Lyra murmured. "It'll pick the cleanest option: freeze the subject, then tear the holder away."
Astra's stomach turned.
Kael's jaw clenched. "I'll take the hit."
Astra grabbed his forearm hard. "No."
Kael's breath hitched. "Astra—"
Astra leaned in, close enough to make the dark feel hot.
"Consent," Astra whispered, viciously intimate, "to staying alive with me. Not as a martyr."
Kael stared at her like he wanted to argue and couldn't afford to.
"Yes," he rasped.
Astra's mind raced.
Delay Loop had bought them seconds once, but punishment was pending, and trace was already high. Another Delay Loop could drop her.
Ghost Command existed—store one command, release later. Lyra was asking for it, but she could also use it now if Astra let her.
Astra looked at Lyra.
Lyra's eyes glittered, patient. "We're almost out of time."
Astra's throat burned. "State your command."
Lyra's smile widened, delighted. "Already stated. One command. Stored. Released when I choose."
Astra's skin crawled.
She'd tried to limit it: can't harm Kael, can't surrender Astra, can't bind her to House or Church.
Limits were only as strong as the system's definition of harm.
Lyra lived on loopholes.
Kael's voice went low, lethal. "No."
Astra didn't look away from Lyra. "I don't trust you."
Lyra's smile didn't falter. "Good. Trust is expensive."
Orin hissed, "Then don't."
Astra's interface flashed:
STEP 2: CONTAINMENT — 00:00:06
Six seconds.
Kael's breath warmed Astra's hair. "Astra."
Astra turned her head slightly toward Kael, close enough to feel his mouth hover near her temple.
"Black water," she whispered.
"Black water," Kael answered, rough.
The phrase steadied him. It steadied her.
Astra made the choice anyway.
Not because she trusted Lyra.
Because she trusted the fact that Lyra wanted Astra alive.
Lyra's desire was a knife. Astra could hold the handle—if she kept her hand steady.
"Consent," Astra said to Lyra, cold and clear, "to one ghost command. Bound by my constraints."
Lyra's eyes glittered. "Accepted."
Astra opened PERMISSIONS like opening her throat to a blade.
The system buzzed hungry.
PATCH: GHOST COMMAND — AVAILABLEDELEGATE INPUT: LYRA SABLE (TEMP)WARNING: TRACE SPIKE
Astra's skull throbbed with pending punishment. Her trace was already screaming. Her penance debt pressed her chest like a hand.
She did it anyway.
Lyra stepped closer—not touching Astra, not touching her collar—just close enough that her breath warmed Astra's cheek in the dark.
It felt intimate in the worst way: a stranger near your pulse.
Lyra's voice dropped low, almost tender. "You're shaking."
Astra's mouth tasted blood. "Do it."
Lyra smiled.
"Fine," Lyra murmured. "One command."
Astra's interface flickered as Lyra's input lined up—text forming in the ghost slot like ink on wet paper.
Astra tried to read it.
The letters blurred as the Delay Loop punishment finally hit.
Pain lanced through her skull, bright and ugly. Her vision tunneled. Her knees threatened to dip. Kael's arm tightened at her waist, holding her upright.
"Stay with me," Kael rasped.
Astra bared her teeth. "I'm here."
Lyra's voice stayed calm, delighted, as if Astra's pain was simply part of the price.
"Stored," Lyra whispered.
Astra's interface confirmed, cold and irreversible:
GHOST COMMAND: STOREDOWNER: LYRA SABLE (DELEGATED RELEASE)CONSTRAINTS: RECORDED
Kael went rigid. "You made her owner."
Lyra's smile widened. "Not owner. Release-holder."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Same shape."
Lyra's gaze flicked to Kael, amused. "Everything is the same shape if you squint."
Astra swallowed bile. "What did you store."
Lyra tilted her head. "You'll see."
Astra's stomach dropped.
"Now," Lyra added, eyes glittering, "run."
Orin didn't wait for another argument. He surged down the tunnel, black paste ready. Juno sprinted after him, disks clattering.
Kael moved with Astra, arm at her waist, keeping posture linked—keeping arbiter from separating him cleanly.
Astra's interface flared again.
STEP 2: CONTAINMENT — EXECUTING…
The air thickened.
Not dead sand.
Not Lumen wards.
Something colder: a neutral clamp trying to freeze Astra's collar into a safe state.
Astra's throat tightened as the collar warmed, eager to obey containment like it had been waiting for an excuse.
Kael hissed. "It's grabbing you."
Astra's mouth tasted blood. "I know."
She tried to move faster.
The clamp tightened.
Astra's knees threatened to fold.
Kael's arm around her waist turned fierce, bracing, dragging her forward without pulling her throat.
"Consent?" Kael gasped, rough, desperate.
Astra's pulse kicked. "Yes—move me."
Kael did, controlled and brutal, teeth bared.
They burst into a wider chamber—older Underchain, walls etched with worn sigils that weren't Guild and weren't Church. The air here felt different: less lawful, more hungry. Like permission itself lived in the stone.
Orin slammed a scar-sigil into a central pillar, and the chamber hummed in answer—Underchain recognizing its own language.
The containment clamp hesitated.
Astra's interface flickered as if confused:
UNREGISTERED JURISDICTION: PERMISSIONS CONFLICTNOTE: UNDERCHAIN LAYER DETECTED
Lyra's smile turned sharp. "Here," she murmured. "This is where law comes to beg."
Orin snapped, "Stop flirting with the walls—move!"
But Astra saw it too: etched spirals, old contracts written into rock, a place where permissions were traded like blood.
The arbiter clamp tightened again—angry now, corrective.
Kael's crest flared.
Astra's collar pulsed, hungry, caught between neutral containment and Underchain permission logic.
Astra's trace buzzed. Her penance debt pressed. Her head throbbed from Delay Loop punishment.
She couldn't patch again.
Not without dropping.
She looked at Lyra.
"Release it," Astra snapped. "Your ghost command. Now."
Lyra's eyes glittered.
Kael's jaw clenched. "Astra—"
Astra didn't look away from Lyra. "Now."
Lyra smiled like she'd been waiting for the word.
"Alright," Lyra murmured. "Release."
Astra's interface flashed.
The stored command unfurled across her vision in cold white—clear now, cruelly simple:
GHOST COMMAND RELEASED:PERMISSIONS — GRANT (TEMP): UNDERCHAIN ACCESS KEYGRANTEE: LYRA SABLESCOPE: SUBJECT ASTRA VEY (LOCAL)
Astra's blood went ice.
Kael went rigid behind her, arm tightening at her waist like instinct—then loosening as he caught himself, horrified.
Orin swore. Juno's breath hitched.
Lyra's smile widened, delighted.
"Relax," Lyra said softly. "I didn't surrender you. I didn't bind you to House or Church. I just…" Her eyes glittered. "…introduced you to the Underchain."
And in Astra's vision, a new module lit up like a door cracking open in the dark:
PERMISSIONS: UNDERCHAIN — ACTIVE