"Ah, Alek, I’m so glad you decided to take me up on my offer to talk. It would have been such a shame if I was forced to have Iona kill you." The snake of a man spoke slowly and smugly.

Like always, he had the kind of stuck-up grin on his face that was just begging to be punched. That, combined with his slick back black hair and pointed chin, gave him a very stereotypically sinister look. He reminded me of the kind of villain you would see on several over-the-top TV shows. The well-tailored suit he was wearing, accompanied by an ungodly amount of jewellery, was not helping him at all either.

"Why don’t we cut off all the bullshit, Cromwell? Iona told me you want the Crown of Lust, and although I don’t have it in my possession, I know where it is and I can take you to it." I responded, causing the man to tense his jaw slightly. He clearly did not like being talked to like this, and that told me that I would need to adjust if I wanted things to go my way.

His hands reached forward, but he didn’t intend to touch me. Instead, he just waved them in front of me as I saw one of his rings glow moments before I felt its magic wash over me. Although I didn’t know what he had just done, I was given a pretty big clue when he said. "Say that again."

Because of this, I was immediately aware that he must have used something to detect lies. As such, I chose my words carefully when responding to him. "I know where the Crown of Lust is and I can take you there."

Cromwell paused again after I said this. Apparently, the man wasn’t expecting me to be this agreeable. After a few moments of thinking and tapping his finger on his chin, he spoke again. "And why exactly would you do this? Why would you want to help me after I sent someone to kill you and sent Iona to arrange for this meeting? What is it you want in return?"

"All I want is for you to leave me and my family alone, Warden Arcanum," I answered, and my choice to call him by his official title proved to be the correct one as it brought his pompous grin back with renewed pomp. "That said, I am a little curious as to how you found out about the artifact and why you are after it, but as I said, all I really want is for you to leave me and my family alone."

"Hmm…" The man tapped his chin as he mused to himself. "I suppose that since you are being helpful, I might as well give you a few answers. The Voice of the Council was the one who tasked me with retrieving the crown, even before your father’s death."

"The Voice…" I gasped in disbelief. 

In the end, even Cromwell was just working for another person, but I couldn’t have imagined it would go much further than the Voice. The Archmage, who held the position of Voice of the Council, was the strongest and most influential member of the Council of Thirteen. Not only did they publically speak for the ruling body, but they had the power of veto and got the ruling vote in ties.

The position of power that they held went back to the very beginning of the city’s history. When the founder established Caellas with the aid of the twelve founding families, each of them was given a seat on the council, while he ruled above them as their voice. It is from this arrangement that the tradition of the Council of Thirteen continued to this day.

Since it was such a powerful figure wanting this relic from the very start, I had no chance of living a peaceful life. It made it clearer than before that my only options were to leave or die since I doubted that they would take kindly to my taking the crown’s power for myself and becoming a demigod. 

"The crown was one of twelve relics of the gods bestowed on the founding families by the founder for their service during the Godsfall. The relics are only meant to be used by the family they were given to, and as the next to become Warden Arcanum, it was my duty to make sure they were returned to the proper hands once the Amonvar’s line died out." Cromwell went on to explain, but this just raised one important question.

"Is that why you offered to speak to the courts about changing my last name so that the Amonvar line would continue?" If this were true, I couldn’t believe it. That would have been a very magnanimous thing to do for someone shady enough to have risen to his level.

"Yes, it would have made my job a whole lot easier if you had just taken me up on that offer." He answered, and my draw dropped. "Oh, don’t give me that look. It wasn’t an entirely selfless offer. If I could use the relic myself, I would, but the Voice has some need for it. Something about returning it to the meteorite engine. He didn’t explain, and that’s beside the point. Now, that your curiosity has been sated, where is the Crown of Lust."

"My father kept it in his estate. I can safely and quickly lead you through the estate’s wards if you want" I chose my words carefully since the lie-detecting spell was still on me.

At the same time as trying carefully not to lie, I was being very careful not to say too much. If I gave too much away, Cromwell might just have decided it was better to kill me and go on himself. Of course, he could just brute force all the wards and defences my father set up, but although Cromwell was a powerful arcanist himself, my father was much more talented, and undoing his work would take quite some time. Working with me was definitely the easier and quicker option.

"Very well, we’ll head there immediately. The soon I get the crown for the Voice, the better." Cromwell said, as he moved over to the table I was chained to.

Instead of undoing the chain bound to my cuffs, he undid the magical bindings on the table sign, so that my bonds still had the chain tied to them. I assumed that this was so he could tie me to stuff in case he had to go off on his own, but I wasn’t given much time to think about it. As soon as I was forced up into a standing position, the man put a hand on my shoulder and we disappeared.

A bout of extreme nausea hit me, and all I could focus on for a few seconds was trying not to vomit. Once nausea faded away, I realised what had happened, that we were no longer in the Starspire but standing at the gates to my estate. It must have taken quite a bit of power to teleport all the way from the centre of the city to the forested ring on the border of the floating landmass, where the estate is located, and yet Cromwell didn’t at all look fazed by it.

"I see you’ve already made yourself at home." Cromwell pointedly commented as she stared at the gates, where the name Allur was emblazoned instead of Amonvar.

"Ah, yeah…" I awkwardly shuffled. "Shall we go in? The defence systems won’t flag you as an intruder if you enter with me."

He turned to face me, and just gave me a stern glare as he said. "Lead the way, but know that if you try anything, I'll drop you before you say anything."

I had no doubt that his claim wasn’t just an empty boast. Although I had never seen it for myself, the stories of the magic someone of his level was capable of could be quite terrifying. It was said that several of the founding families' archmages levelled entire cities by themselves during the Godsfall.

Not wanting to be killed, I hurriedly made my way into the estate. The gates opened up by themselves on my arrival, allowing both myself and Cromwell to enter. As we made our way up the gravel driveway, my eyes flickered around at the various golems along the outer perimeter. The two knightly ones at the front gates weren’t the only such defences this place had. 

In total, there were one hundred and twenty basic golems and thirty elite golems spread throughout the estate. However, even if the golems all attacked Cromwell at the same time, I doubted that they could actually stop him. If anything, it would only slow him down. Maybe in a pinch, it would be a good method of buying time, but I had a much better idea of how to take him out. 

As we walked into the main foyer of the manor, I was relieved to see that all of my mother's and the belongings that I had piled up here were gone. Hopefully, they were safe and sound, getting as far away from here as possible. In time, if everything went well, I would soon be making my own escape and trying to meet back up with them.

Without Hex to guide me, navigating the labyrinthine halls of the manor was much harder than normal. Thankfully, though, I managed to eventually lead us to my father’s old study before Cromwell got so annoyed by my sense of direction that he decided to end me.

Once inside the office, I wasted no time going over to the window and placing a hand on it. The man accompanying me just watched with keen interest as I activated the hidden enchantment. By all appearance, it looked like the window shattered, but in truth, it was just an illusion disappearing to reveal the hidden portal behind it.

As Cromwell stared at the swirling mass of blue and silver in this portal, he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. "A demi-plane, how ingenious. No manner of divination would have ever found the crown while it remained on another plane of existence, even one artificially created."

When it became clear that I wasn’t going to step into the portal, the man turned his attention back to me. Before he could say anything further, I explained. "There’s a trap in there, that will kill me if I’m in there when you approach the crown."

"Very well." Cromwell let out a sigh as he moved over and picked up the chain connected to my handcuffs. 

The man brought the other end of the chain over to the part of the wall that was made of stone, where he activated the chain's enchantments and magically affixed it. "If your claims a true and this isn’t some kind of trap on your part, I’ll think about freeing you after I have the crown."

Given, the way the man sinisterly smiled as he said that, I had my doubts that he was ever going to let me go in the first place. In the end, though, it wouldn’t have mattered because I was sure he was going to kill me once he found out that the crown had been made powerless.

As Cromwell slowly stepped closer and closer to the portal, I prepared myself, tensing and drawing on the divine power within me. That said, I hadn’t yet drawn it out of my body, as the powerful arcanist would have been able to sense that. The moment he disappeared into the demi-plane, I sprung into action.