[QCRIT] THE SKIN PAINTER’S FACE, DARK HORROR, 118k, Second Attempt

This is attempt number two after some feedback from both an editor and an agent as well as some helpful feedback from last time.

Dear [Agent Name],

THE SKIN PAINTER'S FACE is an adult dark fantasy with horror elements and a slow-burn romantic arc, complete at 118,000 words, which works as a standalone but with series potential. It combines the East Asian folkloric mystery of Yangsze Choo's The Fox Wife with the gothic magic and body horror of Rachel Gillig's One Dark Window.

1. You can't go north of the Wall.
2. Keep your head down.
3. Don't look behind you when a sulphur flame is lit.

In the course of a single week, Nya breaks all three.

When her brother is bitten by a corrupted spirit, Nya has no choice but to sign her life over to a fox-masked sorceress. Indebted to the sorceress's service, she crosses the Wall she has dreamed of her entire life to work at an opulent guesthouse, where she must learn to host nobles and spirits alike. The bathhouse is beautiful beyond her wildest dreams and she is taken under the wing of Io, one of the senior hosts.

But the guesthouse harbours a deadly secret. A demon walks its corridors, enchanting and killing at will, pursued by two very different men: Lord Sha, the terse but handsome Hatamoto sworn to eradicate all demons, and Kaito, the empress's charming but untrustworthy spy.

When one of the Hatamoto's men is found murdered, his skin split along his spine, Nya is discovered at the scene. To prove her innocence, she must accept Kaito's help—even though doing so might cost her life, and even as she fights her growing feelings for a man who lies as easily as he breathes. As the Hatamoto becomes increasingly convinced that Nya is the demon he hunts, she uncovers the true reason the creature is after her.

Caught between opposing forces, Nya must find the demon before it can execute its plan—to kill those she has come to love and tear open a gate to the demon realm. If she fails, she will never find her way home, south of the Wall again.

[Blurb about me here]