Page 65 of Better in Black
“You were wonderful,” Ari murmured; she wanted nothing more than to seize Anna and kiss her, but she was too aware of all the eyes on them.
Sylvain laid a hand atop Matthew’s. “You know,” he said, “I do believe I’ve seen enough of the Hell Ruelle for now. Perhaps you could show me the rest of Soho?”
Ari shot him a grateful look. “A fine idea,” she said. “I think Anna and I will return home. We both have patrol tomorrow.”
Everyone retrieved hats, bags, and gloves, and headed for the exit. On their way out, Ari was irritated to note little groups of people whispering to one another as they passed by. But Anna just shook her head.
“Better just to go home, Ari. If one decided to confront all the malicious gossip at the Hell Ruelle it would occupy one’s whole life.”
Ari sighed, pressed herself up against Anna’s side affectionately, and together they went home.
—
Anna’s flat was too small for two—Ari had realized it within a month of moving in, and Anna, rather abashed, had confessed that she had taken the place on the assumption that she would alwayslive there alone. They would need something bigger eventually, but for now Ari didn’t mind: rather than cramped it felt always intimate, the two of them up against one another in ways that felt visceral and alive.
It was the morning after Anna’s announcement, the sun was shining, and Ari was watching Anna dress. Anna was stepping out of her pajamas and then into her underthings, and for a moment Ari gazed with a warm desire at Anna’s long and lean body, the taut muscles of her back and the slight curve of her hip, a detail only visible in this one brief moment between undressing from bed and dressing for the day. Anna paused in doing up her trousers. “What was that?”
“What?” Ari said, a little too loudly, concerned she had let out an involuntarily loud sigh of yearning.
“The post,” Anna said. “Didn’t you hear the thump through the slot downstairs? Quite a lot of it, by the sound.”
“I didn’t,” said Ari, truthfully, but since she was dressed and Anna wasn’t, she went downstairs. She came back up with a furrowed brow and a veritable armload of letters.
“What—” said Anna, and then stopped as Ari let the pile fall onto the writing desk. It was very apparent what. Dozens of envelopes, most in pastels, some decorated outside with ribbon, almost all perfumed. “Oh. Perhaps you’d like to get started on those, as a favor to me?”
While Anna did up her shirtfront, Ari sat at the desk, took the pewter letter opener, and began going through the letters. “Oh dear, so many perfumes mixed together makes a very strange scent,” Ari remarked. “Dearest…Beloved…Darling…ugh, Most Sensual.” She looked up at Anna. “Apparently you have ruined a number of lives.”
“I guarantee,” Anna said wearily, “if I start looking through those, I will have met less than half of them.”
The letters were only the start. The news of Anna’s unavailability for romance had clearly spread swiftly through Downworld. The afternoon, and the evening, and the next day, and the day after that, became to Ari a whirlwind of weeping damsels, tearstained notes, no less than a half-dozen warbling hired troubadours, two (two!) string quartets, and a belly-dancer quickly chased off by a constable. One night a tall, thin faerie with a lizard’s tongue, hands, and feet, scuttled about on the façade of their building until Anna chased her off with a broom, leaning out the sitting-room window. Even their mundane neighbors seemed taken aback by what they could see of the proceedings. The old widow down the street, who sat in a rocker outside the greengrocer with her head completely swathed in black mourning crepe, rocked all the harder with every new scandalous appearance.
On the third day, Ari returned from the chemist’s to find Anna arguing on their front step with a woman in a pince-nez and a dress about twenty years out of fashion, although she looked about Ari’s age. Ari had never seen her before in her life.
“It’s not about you,” the woman was saying earnestly. “It never was.”
“How can it not be about me?” Anna demanded, but the woman had caught sight of Ari approaching and stepped back as if stung. She gave Ari a considering, not particularly friendly stare.
“Hello,” Ari said.
“Oh, I know who you are,” the woman said. Anna bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose with her hand. Ari thought she might be counting to ten.
“Well, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” Ari said sweetly.
“This,” Anna said with her eyes still closed, “is Honoria Glossop. She is the president of”—she stopped and gathered herself—“my appreciation society.”
“The Anna Lightwood Appreciation Society,” Ms.Glossop said, nodding. “Founded in 1901 in celebration of the coronation of King Edward, by myself and my school chum, Topsy. And you,” she added, thrusting a finger at Ari like a rapier, “are Ari.” She shook her head. “Oh, the Society has not yet extended their appreciation to you, I can tell you that much.”
In the face of this rudeness, Ari nodded at Anna by way of silent greeting, pushed past Honoria Glossop, and went up the stairs to scream into a pillow.
A few minutes later Anna came in and sat down on the bed next to where Ari was lying. Ari felt Anna’s graceful warm hand begin petting her back. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“It’s not your fault,” Ari said. “It’s not even your responsibility. You stood up for yourself, and for me, at the Hell Ruelle, and I’m glad. But,” she added, rolling onto her side, “just out of curiosity, how much longer do you think this might go on?”
“I think it’ll burn itself out in another day or two,” Anna said, though she didn’t sound confident. “There might be a few who hang on longer, but they’ll lose interest soon enough. And if not, well, that’s why we carry weapons.”
“I mean,” said Ari, “that’s not why we carry weapons.” She hesitated. “It’s quite a lot of pressure, you know,” she said, carefully keeping her voice light. “Being the one you gave everything up for. Not pressure from you,” she added quickly. “Just pressure from…from all of London, it feels like?”
“Darling,” Anna said, and kissed her. And then whatever else Anna was going to say was delayed by about ten minutes.
