The corridor, quiet as a cathedral sanctuary and lit by a solitary flickering candle, lay before Splendor, as she peered around her bedroom door. She wanted to think it yawned before her, but that would make it seem half-asleep. In fact, a lion's den couldn't look more dangerous. She'd no idea what that thing lurking in the shadowed corner behind the chrysanthemum vase was. A bronze bust stood on top of the chest of drawers. Did its eyes just move? Then there was the faintly musty ...