Chapter 74: Material Misrepresentation

Serenith wakes to sunlight warm across her face, and for a moment she simply lies there, soaking it in, eyes fluttering open slowly to golden fields stretching toward the horizon and the faint smell of hay drifting on the breeze.

All feels right with the world.

Three whole nights now, and not once has she had to listen to Lucien’s sweat-slicked pelvis slapping against someone for hours on end. It’s been, without exaggeration, the most restful stretch of her entire time beside Lucien.

She climbs out of her portable cloud bed with a contented stretch, folds it neatly into a small, glowing square, and tucks it away into a magical fold sewn somewhere into the hem of her gown. She lifts the gown briefly, grinning proudly down at her new pair of floral-print panties. Another piece of armour against Lucien’s unrelenting attacks on her dignity.

She smooths the fabric back into place before floating gently down off the cottage roof.

Her bare feet settle into cool morning mud, and she smiles, trotting cheerily through the waking village, watching children dart between houses and villagers stepping out to begin the day’s labor.

The whole world condensed, for the moment, into one small, sun-warmed, entirely content patch of land in the middle of nowhere, and she lets herself enjoy every bit of it without hurrying.

She pauses to admire a trio of children attempting, with tremendous conviction and zero success, to ride a very unwilling pig, giggling helplessly at the spectacle, and startles hard when a hand closes around her shoulder from behind.

She turns to find Kamiko there, expression grim.

Serenith’s smile drains away instantly.

"What’s wrong?"

"You should come see," Kamiko says, already turning back the way she’d come. "Lucien, he really isn’t doing well."

"He’s being a baby." Serenith replies with a roll of her eyes, falling into step beside her anyway. "He’s been being a baby for three days straight."

Kamiko shakes her head, solemn, not slowing her pace. "I’m worried, Serenith. Genuinely."

Serenith catches the real fear sitting behind Kamiko’s eyes then, and something in her own chest tightens sharply. She blitzes ahead without another word, floating fast into one of the village buildings where Kamiko’s small delegation has been staying, following the sound of soft, unmistakable whimpering down a narrow hall to a room at the end of it.

She slips inside slowly.

Curtains drawn tight against the morning light. A single lantern burning low in one corner. Someone lying beneath a heap of blankets pulled all the way up over their head, whimpering softly, shaking in steady, rhythmic tremors beneath the covers, breath hitching every few seconds.

"L-Lucien?" she calls, gentle and hesitant.

Only a whimper answers her.

"This is ridiculous!" She frowns, hovering closer. "A mortal cannot actually get ill from going without sex for three days. That’s not how bodies work."

A single ragged, shuddering breath is the only response.

"You’re impossible!" She scoffs. And rips the blankets off him in one sharp motion.

She drops immediately to her knees, both hands flying to her mouth.

He’s a skeleton of himself. Literally.

Ribs showing sharp beneath grey, papery skin. Face gaunt and hollow, cheekbones jutting where there used to be a jaw she’d found entirely too pleased with itself. Eyes glazed, half-lidded. Hair falling away in patches across the pillow beneath him, thin wisps of it caught on the fabric like something already being mourned. Even his lips have gone pale, cracked at the corners like he hasn’t had water in days.

She gasps, eyes already welling fast, and the apologies come tumbling out of her before she can stop them.

"Lucien! How?! I’m sorry! I didn’t know. I had no idea you," she looks him over, tears welling thicker in her eyes, "I’d only meant to teach you a little patience. But... never this! Please, just hold on!" She begs. "Just hold on a little longer, I’ll fix it, whatever it takes!"

Her voice hitches and stutters as one of his hands lifts weakly toward her, fingers curling into a small, deliberate, faintly recognizable squeezing motion.

Her eyes go wide. "Of course. Of course, whatever you need!"

She tears down the front of her own gown without a second thought, revealing a set of glowing, radiant breasts that make Lucien’s eyes go enormous, watering visibly with something like worship, as he reaches up toward them with trembling fingers, lips parting, mouth falling open, his whole face washed gold in the soft light spilling off her.

A snicker drifts in from just outside the door.

Serenith’s head snaps toward the sound instantly.

Lucien freezes mid-reach.

She turns back to him slowly, his hands still hovering mere inches from her chest, and watches, really watches this time, as his appearance flickers, just slightly, right as another muffled snicker sounds from the hallway.

Her expression goes very still.

She grabs his face in both hands and tears the illusion magic clean off him with a single, sharp pull.

Lucien shoots upright instantly, both hands thrown into the air, tilting his head with an expression of pure, practiced innocence.

"It was just a prank." he pleads. "Please don’t smite me!"

Serenith slowly pulls her own gown back up, halo already flaring bright, golden light gathering fast into one clenched fist as she stalks forward, jaw working, entirely unamused.

"It was Kamiko too!" Lucien says quickly, scrambling backward off the bed. "She used the illusion magic. I didn’t do this alone."

Kamiko bursts through the doorway at that, both hands raised. "That is not entirely true."

"It is entirely true!" Lucien says.

Kamiko snaps her teeth at him. He blows her a raspberry in response.

Serenith turns her full attention onto Kamiko instead, the very air around her starting to warp faintly with the sheer amount of energy she’s radiating.

"His devilish charms talked me into it." Kamiko says as she drops immediately into a full, flat bow, hands pressed to the floor. "I was helpless against that smirk, I swear it!"

"Traitor!" Lucien gasps.

Kamiko bites her tongue, refusing to look up from her bow.

And then, without any real warning, Serenith starts laughing.

Her head thrown back, one hand pressed flat to her chest, the sound building until she’s genuinely heaving with it, wings fluttering to keep her aloft through the fit, a stray tear sliding down one cheek.

It takes her a long moment to finally stop, catching her breath in short, hiccupping pulls, wiping at one eye, looking between the two of them with something almost fond despite the halo still crackling faintly overhead.

"That was hilarious." she says. "So funny. I’ll definitely remember that one."

"Please go easy on us." Lucien begs, watching the fury still radiating plainly off her despite the laughter.

"I’d never hurt Kamiko." She smiles warmly.

Lucien pouts. "And me?"

Serenith smiles wider.

She lifts one hand.

Kamiko and Lucien both brace instinctively.

She snaps her fingers.

Kamiko cracks her eyes open to find herself standing in the middle of an empty field, rolling grassy hills stretching in every direction as far as she can see.

"Where are we?" Lucien asks as he straightens up beside her, stretching, glancing around.

Kamiko’s eyes go wide the moment she registers that Lucien is standing there completely naked. She looks down at herself next and lets out a startled yelp. She’s stark naked too.

Serenith floats down from above, grinning ear to ear.

"Lady Serenith," Kamiko says softly, both hands flying to cover herself, "I understand you’re upset, but this is—"

"This is," Serenith says, cutting her off cleanly, "about three hours from the bunny village." She squints into the distance, pointing. "If you walk that way, you should make it back by lunch." She spins on the spot, frowning. "Actually, is it that way?" She waves a dismissive hand. "Between the two of you and your clever little heads, I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually."

Kamiko gasps.

Lucien just chuckles, stretching leisurely beside her. "You should be grateful you didn’t get kicked into another dimension entirely."

"Hurry up, you two," Serenith calls over her shoulder, already drifting away. "Shouldn’t keep the bunnies waiting."