Every Exquisite Thing

by Cassandra Clare

  “We have quite a good library,” she said to Anna. “Perhaps I could show it to you?”

  Anna, with a show of supreme self-control, did not immediately fall to the floor. She managed to say yes, the library, yes, she would love to see it, yes, library, yes, yes . . .

  She told herself to stop saying she wanted to see the library and looked over at her mother. Cecily smiled. “Go on, Anna. Christopher, would you mind accompanying us to the greenhouse? Mrs. Bridgestock has a collection of poisonous plants that I think you will quite enjoy.”

  Anna cast Cecily a grateful look as Ariadne led her from the room. Her head was full of Ariadne’s orange-blossom perfume and the way her tumble of dark hair was pinned up in a gold comb.

  “It’s this way,” Ariadne said, leading Anna to a set of double doors toward the back of the house. The library was dark and had a chill. Ariadne released Anna’s arm and illuminated one of the electric lights.

  “You use electricity?” Anna said. She had to say something, and that was as good a thing as any.

  “I convinced Father,” Ariadne said. “I am modern and possessed of all sorts of advanced notions.”

  The room was full of crates, and only some of the books had been unpacked and shelved. The furniture, however, had been placed. There was an ample desk, and many comfortable reading chairs.

  “We’re still settling in here,” Ariadne said, sitting herself prettily (she had no other way) on a deep red chair. Anna was too nervous to sit, and paced along the opposite side of the room. It was almost too much to look at Ariadne here in this dark, private place.

  “I understand your family has a very interesting history,” Ariadne said.

  Anna had to speak. She had to figure out a way to be around Ariadne. In her mind she donned her real clothing—the trousers, the shirt (the mental one had no stains), the fitted waistcoat. She slipped her arms through the sleeves. Thus attired, she felt confident. She managed to sit opposite Ariadne and meet her gaze.

  “My grandfather was a worm, if that’s what you mean,” Anna said.

  Ariadne laughed aloud. “You didn’t like him?”

  “I didn’t know him,” Anna said. “He was, quite literally, a worm.”

  Clearly, Ariadne didn’t know that much about the Lightwoods. Usually, when one’s demon-loving relative develops a serious case of demon pox and turns into a giant worm with massive teeth, word gets around. People will talk.

  “Yes,” Anna said, now examining the gilded edge of a writing desk. “He ate one of my uncles.”

  “You are funny,” Ariadne said to Anna.

  “I’m glad you think so,” Anna replied.

  “Your brother’s eyes are quite extraordinary,” Ariadne noted.

  Anna heard this a good deal. Christopher’s eyes were lavender in color.

  “Yes,” Anna said. “He’s the good-looking one in the family.”

  “I quite disagree!” Ariadne exclaimed, looking surprised. “Gentlemen must compliment you all the time on the shade of your eyes.”

  She blushed and looked down, and Anna’s heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t possible, she told herself. There was simply no chance that the Inquisitor’s beautiful daughter was . . . like her. That she would look at another girl’s eyes and note their color as lovely instead of simply asking her what fabrics she wore to bring out their shade best.

  “I’m afraid I am quite behind on my training,” Ariadne said. “Perhaps we could . . . train together?”

  “Yes,” Anna said, maybe too quickly. “Yes . . . of course. If you . . .”

  “You may find me clumsy.” Ariadne twisted her hands together.

  “I’m sure I won’t,” Anna said. “But that is the point of training, in any case. It is a delicate thing, training, despite the obvious violence, of course.”

  “You will have to be delicate with me, then,” Ariadne said, very softly.

  Just as Anna thought she might faint, the doors opened and Inquisitor Bridgestock came in, with Cecily, Gabriel and Christopher in tow. The Lightwoods looked vaguely exhausted. Anna was conscious of her mother’s eyes on her—a sharp and thoughtful look.

  “. . . and we have our map collection . . . ah. Ariadne. Still in here, of course. Ariadne is a fiendish reader.”

  “Absolutely fiendish.” Ariadne smiled. “Anna and I were just discussing my training. I thought it would be sensible to partner with another girl.”

  “Very sensible,” Bridgestock said. “Yes. A very good idea. You shall be partners. Anyway, Lightwood, we’ll look at the maps at some point. Now, Ariadne, come into the parlor. I’d like you to play the piano for our guests.”

  Ariadne looked up at Anna.

  “Partners,” she said.

  “Partners,” Anna replied.

  It was only on the way home that Anna realized that Ariadne had asked her to the library and not shown her a single book.

  “Did you like young Ariadne Bridgestock?” said Cecily, as the Lightwoods’ carriage rumbled home through the dark streets of the city.

  “I thought her very amiable,” said Anna, looking out the window at London sparkling in the vast night. She longed to be out there among the earthbound stars, walking in the streets of Soho, living a life of music and adventure and dancing. “Very pretty, too.”

  Cecily tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her daughter’s ear. In surprise, Anna looked at her mother for a moment—there was a little sadness in Cecily’s eyes, though she couldn’t have guessed why. Perhaps she was simply tired after being bored by the Inquisitor all night. Papa, for instance, was quite asleep in the other corner of the carriage, and Christopher was leaning against him, blinking drowsily. “She isn’t nearly as pretty as you.”

  “Mother,” Anna said in exasperation, and turned back to the carriage window.

  Under the arches of the railway viaduct, near the south end of London Bridge, a large gathering was taking place.

  It was midsummer, so the sun set over London at nearly ten o’clock. This meant the time to sell at the Shadow Market was reduced, and the whole place had a bit of a frenzied air. There was steam and smoke and flapping silks. Hands reached out, shoving wares under shoppers’ noses—gems and trinkets, books, pendants, powders, oils, games and toys for Downworlder children, and items that could not be classified. There was a hum of smells. The tang of the river and the smoke from the trains overhead mixed the remains of the day’s produce from the mundane market—squashed produce, bits of meat, the odor wafting from oyster barrels. Vendors burned incense, which tangled with spices and perfumes. The miasma could be overpowering.

  Brother Zachariah moved through the crush of stalls, immune to the smells and the crowding. Many Downworlders drew back at the approach of the Silent Brother. He had been coming here for weeks now to meet Ragnor Fell. Tonight, he also glanced around to see if he spotted the vendor he had seen on one of his previous visits. The stall he was looking for could move on its own; it had feet like a chicken. The woman behind it was an elderly fairy woman with a wild mass of hair. She sold colorful potions, and Matthew Fairchild had purchased one and given it to his mother. It had taken all of Jem’s efforts to bring Charlotte back from death’s door. She had not been the same since, nor had Matthew.

  The stall was not present tonight, nor, it seemed, was Ragnor. He was about to take a final turn around the Market before departing when he saw someone he knew bent over a stall of books. The man had a shock of white hair and striking purple eyes. It was Malcolm Fade.

  “Is that you, James Carstairs?” he said.

  How are you, my friend?

  Malcolm simply smiled. There was always something a little sad about Malcolm: Jem had heard gossip about a tragic love affair with a Shadowhunter who had chosen to be an Iron Sister rather than be with the one she loved. Jem knew that for some, the Law was more important than love. Even as he was
now, he could not understand it. He would have given anything to be with the one he loved.

  Anything except that which was more sacred than Jem’s own life: Tessa’s life, or Will’s.

  “How goes your quest?” said Malcolm. “Has Ragnor turned up any information for you about a certain demon you’ve been seeking?”

  Jem gave Malcolm a quelling look; he preferred that not too many people knew of the quest he had undertaken.

  “Malcolm! I have the book you wanted!” A warlock woman carrying a book bound in yellow velvet strode up to Malcolm.

  “Thank you, Leopolda,” said Malcolm.

  The woman stared at Jem’s face. Jem was used to this. Though he was a Silent Brother, his lips and eyes had not been sewn shut. He did not see or speak as humans did, but the fact that without runes he could have done so seemed to distress some people more than the sight of a Silent Brother who had bound himself less reluctantly to the quiet dark.

  We have not met.

  “No,” the woman replied. “We have not. My name is Leopolda Stain. I make a visit here from Vienna.”

  She had a German accent and a soft, purring voice.

  “This is Brother Zachariah,” Malcolm said.

  She nodded. There was no hand extended, but she continued to stare.

  “You must forgive me,” she said. “We do not often see Silent Brothers in our Market. London is a strange place to me. The Market in Vienna is not so bustling. It is in the Wienerwald, under the trees. Here, you are under this railway. It is quite a different experience.”

  “Zachariah is not quite like other Silent Brothers,” said Malcolm.

  Leopolda seemed to conclude the study she was making of Jem’s face and smiled.

  “I must bid you a good night,” she said. “It is good to see you, Malcolm. It has been too long, mein Liebling. Too long. And it has been most interesting to meet you, James Carstairs. Auf Wiedersehen.”

  She slipped away through the crowd. Jem watched her go. She had decided to call him James Carstairs, not Brother Zachariah, and the choice seemed deliberate. There were certainly many denizens of Downworld who knew his Shadowhunter name—it was no secret—but suddenly Jem felt like a butterfly under a pin, caught in the gaze of the lepidopterist.

  Can you tell me about her? he asked Malcolm, who had returned to examining the book in his hand.

  “Leopolda is a bit of an odd one,” Malcolm said. “I met her while I was traveling in Vienna. I don’t think she leaves her city often. She seems to get around with some famous mundanes. She is . . .”

  He hesitated.

  Yes?

  “. . . more connected, I suppose, to her demon side than her human side than most of us are. More than me, certainly. She makes me feel uneasy. I’m glad that you came over. I was looking for a way to politely escape.”

  Jem looked in the direction that Leopolda had gone. Someone more connected to the demon side . . .

  That was someone he might need to speak with. Or watch.

  Anna lay in her bed, eyes closed, trying to will herself to slumber. In her mind, she was dancing again. She wore her imaginary finest evening wear—a suit of deep gray, a waistcoat of sunny yellow with matching gloves. On her arm was Ariadne, as she had been tonight, in the blue dress.

  Sleep was not coming. She pushed herself out of bed and went to the window. The night was warm and close. She had to do something with herself. Her brother’s clothes were still in her wardrobe. She picked them out and smoothed them on the bed. She had planned on returning them, but . . .

  Who would miss them? Not Christopher. Their laundress might, but no one would question that Christopher might simply lose his trousers, possibly in the middle of a crowded dance floor. And the older clothes—he wouldn’t need them, not at the rate he was growing. The trousers were too long, but they could be hemmed. The shirt could be nipped in at the back. A few simple stitches were all it would take.

  Anna was not a natural seamstress, but like all Shadowhunters, she possessed the basic skills to repair gear. She couldn’t have made lace or done precise tailoring, but she could get this job done. She tacked his shirt and waistcoat in the back to make them fit and flatter her torso. The jacket was a bit more complex, requiring tucks on the back and the side. The shoulders were a bit wrong, and the effect a bit triangular, but all in all it was a passable effort. She practiced her walk in the fitted trousers, now that they no longer scraped the ground.

  She had always loved gear as a child, its easy maneuverability, the way it allowed her to move unfettered. She had always been surprised that other girls, unlike her, didn’t resent being pressed back into dresses and skirts when training was over. That they didn’t resent the loss of freedom.

  But it was more than the comfort of the clothes. In silks and ruffles Anna felt silly, as if she were pretending to be someone she was not. When she wore dresses out on the street, she was ignored as a gawky girl, or stared at by men in a way she did not like. She had only been out in her brother’s clothes twice, both times late at night— but oh, women looked at her then, smiling women, conspiratorial women, women who knew that in donning the clothes of men, Anna walked in their power and their privilege. They looked at her soft lips, her long eyelashes, her blue eyes; they looked at her hips in tight trousers, the curve of her breasts under a man’s cotton shirt, and their eyes spoke to her in the secret language of women: You have taken their power for your own. You have stolen fire from the gods. Now come and make love to me, as Zeus made love to Danae, in a shower of gold.

  In her mind’s eye, Anna bent to take Ariadne’s hand in hers, and the hand seemed real.

  “You are so beautiful tonight,” she said to Ariadne. “You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”

  “And you,” Ariadne answered in her mind, “are the most handsome person I have ever known.”

  The next day, Anna spent two hours writing a note to Ariadne that ended up reading:

  Dear Ariadne,

  It was very nice to meet you. I hope we can train together sometime. Please do pay a call.

  Regards,

  Anna Lightwood

  Two entire hours for that, and a pile of drafts. Time no longer had meaning, and might never have meaning again.

  In the afternoon, she had plans to meet her cousins, James, Lucie, and Thomas, along with Matthew Fairchild. James, Matthew, Thomas, and Christopher were inseparable, and always meeting at a house or a hideout. They were invading her Aunt Sophie and Uncle Gideon’s home today. Anna only attended their little gatherings on occasion, as did Lucie—the girls had many occupations to amuse themselves with; today, she desperately needed something to do, something to moor her mind in place, to keep her from fighting and pacing her room.

  She walked with Christopher, who was excitedly talking of some kind of device that would fly through the air by means of four rotating blades. It sounded like he was describing a mechanical insect. Anna made noises that indicated she was listening although she was most assuredly not.

  It was not far to their cousins’ house. Her cousins Barbara and Eugenia were in the morning room. Barbara was stretched out on a sofa, while Eugenia was furiously working at a bit of needlepoint as if she truly hated it and the only way she could express her hatred was by stabbing the stretched cloth with the needle as vigorously as she could.

  Anna and Christopher went up to the rooms that had been set aside for the use of Sophie and Gideon’s children. James was there, sitting on his window seat, reading. Lucie was sitting at the desk, scribbling away. Tom was throwing a knife at the opposite wall.

  Christopher greeted everyone and immediately sat down in the corner with a book. Anna dropped down next to Lucie.

  “How’s Cordelia?” she asked.

  “Oh, she’s wonderful! I was just writing to her quickly before Thomas helps me go over my Persian lesson.” Lucie was a
lways writing to her future parabatai, Cordelia Carstairs. Lucie was always writing. Lucie could write in a room full of people talking, screaming, singing. Anna was sure that Lucie could probably write in the middle of battle. Anna approved of this highly—it was very good to see two girls so devoted to each other, even platonically. Women should value other women, even if society often did not.

  Ariadne came into her mind again.

  “What’s wrong, Anna?” James said.

  He was looking at her curiously. Anna loved all of her cousins, but she had a very soft spot for James. He had been a somewhat awkward young boy, gentle and quiet and bookish. He had grown up into a young man Anna could see was extraordinarily handsome, like his father. He had a soft fall of the Herondale black hair; from his mother, he had inherited his demonic trait—his inhuman golden eyes. Anna had always thought they were rather pretty, though Christopher had told her that James had been teased relentlessly at the Academy because of them. It was the teasing that prompted Matthew to get the explosives and Christopher to arrange for a wing of the building to blow up.

  It was honorable to defend your friends, your parabatai. Anna was proud of them for doing it. She would have done the same. James had been such a shy, delightful little boy —it made Anna furious to think that he had been mocked. He was older now, given a bit more to brooding and staring into the distance, but still kind under it all.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I just . . . need a new book to read.”

  “A most sensible request,” James said, swinging his long legs off his reading perch. “What sort of book? Fortunately, Aunt Sophie and Uncle Gideon have a respectable collection. Adventure? History? Romance? Poetry?”

  All the younger set were fearfully bookish. Anna put it down to Uncle Will and Aunt Tessa’s influence. They seldom let one leave the Institute without a book they felt one simply must read.