Motif · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

The Crown of the Sepsis Whore

Donut's first legendary prize, a cat-sized tiara of smoky gems she puts on before anyone can read the warning: whoever wears it is placed permanently in the Blood Sultanate's royal line and must slay the Sultan and every other royal before leaving the ninth floor; fleeting, so that another crown appears elsewhere if it comes off. 'It's purple. Purple is my color.'

Segment appearances

• Chapter 15 — The Thorn Room
• Chapter 17 — Two goddesses
• Chapter 18 — Club Vanquisher
• Chapter 19 — What's in the box
• Chapter 22 — Uzi Jesus
• Chapter 30 — Four drugs
• Chapter 32 — Minge
• Chapter 52 — Two of five
• Chapter 72 — Falling Up

Progression

Katia's private message: the Crown is on her head, and there is a way out, beginning with resurrecting Yemaya (ch. 15); Eileithyia promises in a deity message to clear the issue, pointing to what a goddess in her own temple can do (ch. 17); the crown on Katia's head, on Carl's mind (ch. 18); Donut sees the purple tiara and goes rigid — 'This is just like with Ferdinand' — and there are two ways out, the pregnancy boon and the Celestial Attendant boon (ch. 19); Donut's replacement tiara of Mana Genita (ch. 22); Mordecai, privately: 'It’s either her or Donut', and in his view Katia self-sabotaged her own solution (ch. 30); the orchid won and not wanted (ch. 72).