diff --git a/grapharc/runtime/budget.py b/grapharc/runtime/budget.py
index 8ee4761..fc44af1 100644
--- a/grapharc/runtime/budget.py
+++ b/grapharc/runtime/budget.py
@@ -367,8 +367,8 @@ def deadline_guard(meter: BudgetMeter, *, what: str) -> Iterator[None]:
     What this does *not* guarantee:
 
     - Mechanism 2 cannot interrupt a thread parked inside a C call: a
-      `time.sleep(60)` sleeps out its 60 seconds and raises on return. This is
-      not a fan-out-only weakness. Mechanism 1 needs `invoke()` to be on the
+      `time.sleep(60)` is not interrupted mid-call, but the guard still raises
+      on exit. This is not a fan-out-only weakness. Mechanism 1 needs `invoke()` to be on the
       process's main thread, so *any* run driven from a worker thread — every
       request handler in a threaded server, every `ThreadPoolExecutor` caller —
       falls back to mechanism 2 for the whole run, nodes and fan-out alike.
@@ -382,9 +382,10 @@ def deadline_guard(meter: BudgetMeter, *, what: str) -> Iterator[None]:
     - Like any asynchronous exception, the interrupt lands wherever the node
       happened to be: it is as safe as Ctrl-C, no safer.
 
-    Short of that last case the ceiling is honoured at the node boundary: if the
-    deadline passed and the node swallowed the exception, this guard raises on
-    exit, so the node's writes never reach state.
+    Short of the never-returns case the ceiling is honoured at the node
+    boundary: if the deadline passed — whether the node swallowed the exception
+    or no interrupt was ever delivered — this guard raises on exit, so the
+    node's writes never reach state.
     """
     remaining = meter.remaining_seconds()
     if remaining is None:
@@ -486,5 +487,11 @@ def disarm() -> None:
             disarm()
     except NodeDeadlineExceeded as exc:
         raise NodeDeadlineExceeded(detail()) from exc
-    if state["fired"]:
+
+    # Reached only when the node returned normally. It may have swallowed the
+    # interrupt, or the deadline may have passed without the timer firing —
+    # the timer thread needs the GIL, which a node inside a long C call
+    # withholds until it returns; either way its writes must not land.
+    left = meter.remaining_seconds()
+    if state["fired"] or (left is not None and left <= 0):
         raise NodeDeadlineExceeded(detail())
diff --git a/tests/test_budget_enforcement.py b/tests/test_budget_enforcement.py
index 00c6166..55dcc44 100644
--- a/tests/test_budget_enforcement.py
+++ b/tests/test_budget_enforcement.py
@@ -542,6 +542,52 @@ def body():
     assert ran_for < 2.0, "the node asked for 5s and was not stopped"
 
 
+def test_an_overrun_is_refused_at_exit_even_if_the_timer_never_fired(monkeypatch):
+    """A node that holds the GIL through the deadline — a long C call, or plain
+    timer-scheduling latency — denies the timer thread its turn: `fire()` never
+    runs, the node returns normally, and an exit check that tests only
+    `state["fired"]` lets the overrun's writes land. The contract is the node
+    boundary, so the exit check itself must notice the spent deadline.
+
+    The timer is replaced with one that never fires, which makes this the
+    deterministic statement of that contract: asserting on whether a real
+    timer's async exception got delivered in time is a race (see
+    `_run_swallower` above), whereas the exit check runs unconditionally.
+    """
+
+    class NeverFires:
+        """`threading.Timer`'s surface as the guard uses it, minus the firing."""
+
+        def __init__(self, interval, function):
+            self.daemon = False
+
+        def start(self):
+            pass
+
+        def cancel(self):
+            pass
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(threading, "Timer", NeverFires)
+    outcome: dict[str, object] = {}
+
+    def body():  # a worker thread uses mechanism 2, like any threaded server
+        meter = BudgetMeter(Budget(max_seconds=0.05))
+        try:
+            with deadline_guard(meter, what="node 'n'"):
+                time.sleep(0.2)  # outlast the deadline; nothing interrupts it
+            outcome["raised"] = None
+        except NodeDeadlineExceeded as exc:
+            outcome["raised"] = exc
+
+    worker = threading.Thread(target=body)
+    worker.start()
+    worker.join(timeout=10)
+    assert not worker.is_alive()
+    assert isinstance(outcome["raised"], NodeDeadlineExceeded), (
+        "the node overran, no interrupt fired, and the guard let its writes land"
+    )
+
+
 def test_a_node_that_finishes_in_time_is_left_alone():
     def brisk(state):
         time.sleep(0.05)