I kind of saw that too. But on closer inspection I'm pretty sure it's a crown sitting atop a pile of dust/ashes. So that means dusted vampire royalty, either queen philanon or the strakoi equivalent most likely. The narrator probably isn't the "character" shown, since that one is dead, but it that's not necessarily a hard rule there.

Is it really ashes-dust? Or is it mist?

Or is it spec..... :-P

I don't get it.

The tiara definitely does appear to have a K'Z'Kesque quality to it's design.

Looks solid, the tiara is sitting on it, not under it. Also pretty grainy if you look at the piles. The wisps on the side are probably bits of it blowing away.