Back in her aerie, Madeira lay across the lace-and-silk bed. She stared into a silver-framed mirror held at arm’s-length. The miraculous face looked back at her, the yellow eyes dark with appraisal, the rich mouth too taut.
Tears spilled in two shining trails down the marvelous curves of her cheekbones. It occurred to her she could create a lovely effect by attaching a pair of jeweled snails to her cheeks, as if they had crawled from her eyes. Snails of polished citrine, to match the eyes.
She rolled to her back, so that the tears pooled in her eyes, so that she saw nothing but a glittering blur.
She rested in a bed that was hard and narrow, but not yet cold. Or perhaps it was and she could not feel it. Her thoughts were slowing and she had lost interest in the sensations of her body.
The Flesh Tinker had stood by the coldsleep couch, a rare calm smile on his face. “I wish you no dreams and safe arrival,” he had said in that beautiful terrible voice, and then he had dogged down the transparent cover.
She felt less dismay than she might have expected. The odds were very good, after all, that one day she would wake on a new world.
And if not.... A thin thread of bittersweet amusement tracked through her cooling mind. What an elegant trophy she would make for the Flesh Tinker’s wall, that look of perfect astonishment lighting her perfect features, forever.
PULPHOUSE
ISSUE FOUR
TRADE:
Statement of Limitation
LEATHER: Number of 250
50 Trade Publisher's Copies (PC) and 25 signed Leather Publisher's Copies (PC) were also produced.