Several people in the room exhaled in relief. The court made a sound like a closing book.
Someone laughed, a brittle sound that died quickly. From the shadows, a woman in white stepped forward, her mask a delicate lattice of bone. "Rules," she intoned. "One: No turning back. Two: No daylight inside. Three: Leave your burdens at the gate." horrorroyaletenokerar better
Silence thinned to a wire.
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. Several people in the room exhaled in relief
"What payment?" she whispered.
"You will each tell a horror," the usher said. "A short thing, true or false. If the court finds your tale wanting, it will take what it is owed." From the shadows, a woman in white stepped