Lenity wasted no time marching to his estate, her steps radiating fervent purpose. The devadoots she passed along the way gave her a wide berth, their movements careful, their gazes quick to avert when she looked their way.

  Were they avoiding her? The thought wormed into her mind uninvited, as much as she hated to admit it. Did they not like her because she was the executioner? No. That couldn't be it. She was merely enacting the punishment dictated by the laws; everyone understood that the laws were absolute. Just because she saw the punishment through, it was the devadoot's fault for breaking the law to begin with.

  Look at this; now Cicerone was getting in her head, too!

  The guards stationed at Cicerone's residence took one look at Lenity's steely glare and wisely chose not to intervene. Not a single word was exchanged as she strode past them, her presence alone enough to part the way.

  She made her way through the grand halls of his opulent residence, not pausing for anything or anyone. When she reached his chambers, she pushed the door open without so much as a knock.

  In the room, a tall, broad devadoot lounged lethargically on a comically oversized poster bed. Cicerone's figure was striking, but also unnervingly alien. Where arms should have been, a pair of unfathomably massive white feathered wings spread out, spanning his entire height in length each. At the center of each wing was a single enormous eye—its irises a hypnotic, rich brown—staring lazily at the ceiling as though disinterested in the world.

  Where most devadoots or humans would have a head, Cicerone instead possessed a slender white tendril emanating a soft, alluring luminescence and casting a faint light that danced across the opulent room.

  Cicerone's physique was undeniably captivating—smooth, well-toned, and flawless in its form. But Lenity quickly turned her gaze away from his shamelessly naked body. If she ever had to admit that he looked attractive for a second, she would hate herself forever.

  "A sea urchin? Seriously!?" Lenity's voice rang with indignation, her whole body nearly shaking with fury as she glared at the lounging figure.

  Cicerone lazily lifted one of his colossal wings, the massive eye at its center swivelling to focus on her with mild curiosity. For a moment, it seemed he didn't quite follow what she was saying. But then, realization dawned.

  He chuckled.

  He actually chuckled. At her.

  Without a mouth, there was no place for the sound to originate from. Instead, Cicerone relied on his mastery of illusions to project his thoughts directly into Lenity's mind. This meant that his laugh wasn't an accidental slip but a deliberate act designed explicitly to needle her further.

  "He saw you as a sea urchin? That's amazing." his voice echoed in her mind, dripping with amusement. "I had no control over that by the way, I just made him see everyone as the animal he thought best represented them. And he thought you were a sea urchin!"

  Cicerone's jubilation grew, his entire form radiating smug satisfaction. "You know what? I see it."

  Lenity, on the other hand, was beyond livid. "Don't think you're untouchable just because you were once an archgod." She growled, jabbing a crystalline finger in his direction. "That reign is over, and now I'm at the top of the food chain. So don't test me."

  Cicerone seemed more entertained than anything else. He lazily rolled off his bed and onto his feet, then wandered over to his dresser in the corner of the room. Without a word, a servant appeared, seemingly summoned by an unspoken command, and began dressing him. Cicerone stood idly in place, allowing the servant to drape him in countless layers of rich embroidery.

  Cicerone sent his thoughts to Lenity: "Food chain? Are you sure that's the word you want to use when you're still carrying that farce of a wing on your back, Ms. Executioner? Until you grow some real wings, you'll always just be a child, my... Urchin. Maybe actually grow up, and I might take your words into consideration."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Lenity was seething. She could tell that Cicerone had commanded his servant to dress him in the most obnoxiously flamboyant clothes possible. He was practically being buried in jewelry. A new servant had entered the room with a chair for him to sit in while she massaged his shoulders. Another servant arrived with a small basin filled with pure arcana and set it at his feet to commence a pedicure.

  Lenity spat back at Cicerone. "I'm a child by choice, thank you very much. I don't agree with the aging ceremony." She said proudly. "Plus, I can already fly, so I don't even need my wings."

  Cicerone erupted into laughter, which made the servants' task significantly more difficult. Speaking of servants, a new group walked into the room, the crowd so large that they knocked Lenity side to side as they pushed past her to work on preening his feathers.

  "Wings can do much more than just grant flight, my Urchin," Cicerone taunted playfully, "They gave me sight, after all. I can't imagine what they could offer someone with as much potential as you. It's... disappointing."

  He tilted his luminescent tendril in a referential facsimile of a head tilt, "Besides, how can you be such a zealous stickler for those laws of yours yet denounce every tradition? Isn't that just hypocritical?"

  "Our laws don't mandate our cultural practices," Lenity replied, her tone steady and familiar, like reciting a well-worn argument. "I can choose to partake or abstain as I see fit while remaining totally appropriately deferential to the law."

  She paused, letting her words settle before adding, "Besides, if wings were so wonderful, why don't you have more? Or perhaps... are you unwilling to commit such an immoral act?" Lenity emphasized every word of her final question, keen to highlight his own hypocrisy.

  A few more servants ran into the room. Someone bumped into the floating disk on Lenity's back and nearly dislodged the thing from its position. One group of servants began fanning Cicerone with large leaves, and another adjusted his jewelry so that it was most exquisitely displayed; all the while, the previous group was still adding more jewelry. "Don't lecture me, Urchin," Cicerone's voice was smooth, his amusement clear. "I'm just following the rules of our traditions. You like following rules, don't you?"

  More servants filed in to moisturize the giant eyes embedded in his wings and more still to apply makeup to those eyes. So many attendants crowded the space now that Lenity was being steadily pushed back by the living wall they formed around Cicerone.

  Lenity's finger shot out, trembling with fury as she pointed directly at Cicerone, who was nearly lost beneath the mounting crowd of attendants. "You'd better bring Addle back to normal, Cicerone!" she demanded, her voice cutting through the noise.

  Cicerone formed his thoughts into a verbal illusion in such a way that it made him seem like he was shouting from far away and obscured, despite his special abilities meaning there was no reason to. "Sorry, I didn't hear that. The sound of my hundreds of priceless servants adorning me with all this jewelry is just so... deafening."

  Another group of servants swarmed around Lenity without warning, beginning to apply makeup to her face, smooth the wrinkles from her gown, and polish the floating disk on her back, all while slowly ushering her out of the building. She wasn't even in his chambers anymore, but Cicerone's taunting voice still echoed out to her. "I'll have my servants give you a little makeover—we'll have to hide all that peasantry now, won't we? After all, we wouldn't want to make a poor first impression on our guest. Speaking of which… when was that guest supposed to arrive again?"

  Before Lenity could react, Cicerone conjured an illusion of a clock, the hands ticking exaggeratedly, showing that she was rapidly approaching late for her meeting. A fresh wave of curses and insults bubbled in her throat, but the guest took precedence.

  With a furious swish of her arms, she shoved the swarm of servants aside and stomped off. "This isn't over!"

  As Lenity stormed from the estate, she was met by a long line of over a thousand servants on either side applauding her as she left. As soon as she dismissed it as a petty illusion, a large swathe of the servants disappeared, still leaving hundreds mockingly applauding. She was wrong. It wasn't a petty illusion; it was just petty.

  As she reached the gate out of his estate, Lenity was met by a servant who held a large sack. The servant handed the sack to Lenity, and she saw that it was filled to the brim with precious gemstones. "His lordship said to use this sack to buy yourself some shoes."

  Lenity threw the sack to the floor, watching the precious gemstones spilling out, scattering across the ground with a sharp clink that sent a ripple of unease through the nearby servants. Several jumped back, their faces etched with concern, but Lenity paid them no mind. She turned her back on the glittering jewels, her relaxing break watching the rainbows off the edge of the world completely forgotten by this point. With grim determination, she made her way to the meeting place with the guest, her steps heavy and hurried.