Marathe & Steeply, the Odalisque myths (pp. 529–530)
The little wens of his field-persona’s electrolysis were now brightly pink against the pallor of Steeply’s face, which appeared both puffy and drawn.
Context
Dawn is the disguise's enemy, and Marathe watches it win by degrees. The electrolysis wens flare pink against a face gone "puffy and drawn," and the tell Marathe reads coldest is in the hands: "Steeply manipulated his cigarette with his left hand and used his right arm to cradle the left elbow. But Marathe knew quite well that Steeply was right-handed." The feminine elbow-cradle forces the operative to smoke wrong-handed, and Marathe clocks it instantly. The cover is a discipline that light and fatigue degrade in real time — by daybreak the persona is visibly a costume worn by an exhausted man holding his cigarette in the wrong hand.