Dead World

I | Ceremony-3

She saw the ferryman’s head jerk to look at it, his eyes wide behind the mask and seemingly rabid with fury—for it was expressly f*******n to bring anything but yourself to one’s coronation.

What happened next happened very quickly—as he carried her onto the boat and seated her on a cushioned bench, then slapped her in shackles, and finally stuffed a black hood over her head, at which point everything went dark and she nearly passed out, but was prevented from doing so by the muffled whinny of a draft horse somewhere on the shore.