Everywhere she looked she saw silver. They were setting the places for tonight. As Elspeth wandered through the tables her reflection was fed back to her, warped by dessert spoons. She stayed in the shadows. She wasn’t meant to be down here and she wasn't going to give Lola another excuse to whip her. Not that Lola needed many excuses after the bourbon and the sadness.

Honey was making fragrant black coffee at the bar. Upstairs Lola took her coffee with milk, diluting it from oil to the colour of her own skin. Not here, though.

“It’s all an act, darling. Everything is.”

Lola sang with a voice that sounded like chocolate death. It made Elspeth’s hair stand on end. It almost made her forgive Lola her sadness and how she would lead men upstairs to their room to let them comfort her. Elspeth didn’t know how they did it but she knew that it didn’t work. Elspeth wondered if Lola knew.

Lola said her sadness made her great.

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