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Inside her quarters, Kesta paced until the walls seemed to move with her. The cracked band pulsed at irregular intervals. Each flare carried a faint sensation—not pain, exactly, but an imposed awareness of distance. Dreven was somewhere near the command platform. The band wanted her to know. She pressed a cold instrument against it. The surface displayed a warning.

CLAIM ASSET MOVEMENT RESTRICTED.

Kesta laughed once, without humor. The door opened. Sera entered with a medical satchel and closed it behind her.

“Your guards believe I am checking the fracture.”

“You are.”

Sera set the satchel down. “I am also asking whether you intend to obey.”

“No.”

“Good. Obedience would make this conversation tedious.”

Kesta held up her wrist. “Can you remove it?”

“The visible housing, yes. The deep mesh may remain connected to your nerves.”

“What happens to claim law if the housing is gone?”

“You become publicly ambiguous. Some camps will treat you as unclaimed. Some will treat the missing band as evidence of theft. Dreven’s spoken claim remains valid until he revokes it before witnesses.”

“So even after I cut off the symbol, he keeps the protection.”

“And the authority others believe accompanies it.”

Kesta looked toward the door. “Will he stop us?” Sera’s expression softened, though not kindly. “He will want to.” They began with anesthetic around the cracked edge. The band resisted every tool. It tightened when Sera inserted the first separator, sending a spike of false panic through Kesta’s chest.

“Conditioning response,” Kesta gasped.

“Name five things you chose today.”

“I treated Dreven. I read the Hallow count. I argued with the council. I refused confinement. I asked you here.”

The panic receded enough for Sera to cut deeper. Outside, one of the guards shouted. Heavy steps approached. The door opened before Dreven knocked. He filled the threshold, horns nearly touching the upper frame, silver eyes fixed on the tool beneath Kesta’s band.

For one terrible instant his body moved before his face did. One hand lifted. His tail struck the doorpost. Every line of him said stop. He stopped himself. Sera did not remove the separator. “She asked me.” Dreven looked at Kesta. “The band is damaged. Removal could trigger the mesh.”

“Then help us make it safer.”

“I cannot.”

“You can revoke the claim.”

His silence was answer enough. Kesta’s anger turned cold. “You will let me cut this thing off my arm, but you will not say the words that make me free.”

“If I revoke it now, every camp between here and the ruins can legally seize you.”

“Then change the law.”

“I cannot change the planet before nightfall.”

“No. But you could stop using the planet as an excuse for your own fear.”

Dreven’s breathing slowed by force. “If I release the claim while the empire is hunting you, Rath will move within the hour.”

“Perhaps. But then what I do about Rath will be my decision.”