Silence thinned to a wire.
A bell, tiny as a grain, dropped somewhere in the theater. The court murmured and nodded. The raven-masked usher reached for the crown-shaped hourglass on the arm of the throne. Its sand glittered like ground bone and moved too slowly for time. horrorroyaletenokerar better
"What payment?" she whispered.
The throne hummed. A thin wind fluttered the curtains. A single plucked string answered the actor's confession. He stumbled back into his seat, thinner by the width of a sigh. Silence thinned to a wire
"A memory," the throne said. "A single perfect memory. Choose any you wish, and it will be unmade from your soul." The throne hummed
A man approached the fountain, small as a bird and elegantly terrible. He wore a tailcoat the color of raven wings and a mask stamped with the same crown-and-hourglass symbol. When he lifted his head, she saw not eyes but reflections—tiny, deep wells that mirrored the assembled crowd.