Chapter Thirty-Nine
Presentation Day
Vivian dreamed she was in the ocean, floating in a salty sea, buffeted by gentle waves. Well-fed, rested, sated, and protected.
At peace.
As her body moved toward wakefulness, Vivian knew there was something she’d remember soon. She kept her eyes closed and tried, for at least a little while longer, to forget the knowledge that still eluded her.
Presentation Day.
Today was Presentation Day.
Vivian rolled over in bed, chasing that feeling of peace. Through the thin walls of the tiny apartment, she could hear water running and the clang of a pan. What if this was her life? A modest apartment. A generous lover. A future she chose.
Not the crushing weight of expectations and responsibilities.
She could pretend, at least for a little while.
“Morning,” Vivian murmured as she entered the kitchen. The smell of fresh coffee lingered in the air. She rummaged in the cabinets to find herself a mug.
From his position at the stove, Xavier gave her a warm, intimate smile. “Good morning. I hope you like eggs.”
“I do.” She settled on the bar stool and wrapped her hands around her hot cup of coffee. This simple domestic scene meant more to her than a hundred elaborate balls. She wanted to hold on to this moment, to this man, to this glimpse at a different life, for as long as she could.
Xavier put the spatula down and moved toward her. He swiveled her stool to face him and bent down so their foreheads touched. “Did I scare you last night? I know I got rather intense.”
Vivian reached a hand behind his head and pulled him toward her.
Should she be scared? He’d offered her a peek inside a dark past still haunting his present.
Not so different from her own circumstance.
“It’ll take a lot more than that to scare me.
” Emboldened, she took his lower lip between her teeth and lightly bit down.
He made a sound low in his throat and reached his hand to the back of her head.
She lost herself in the feel of his lips on hers, remembering the sensation of floating in the ocean from her dream.
Until something tickled her nose, and she pulled back. “What’s that smell?”
Muttering a curse, Xavier dashed back to the stove top and pulled the pan off the burner. He looked morosely at the dark brown crusty eggs. “I wanted to do something nice for you.”
The sound of the apartment’s buzzer made Vivian flinch. Already? She thought they’d have more time.
“Your stylist has arrived,” Ivey’s voice pronounced over the comm. “Let me in.” When she walked in the apartment door, Ivey wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. What is that?”
“My fault,” Xavier admitted. “I burned the eggs.” He opened the lid of the trash can.
“Wait!” Vivian said, horrified. She grabbed the panhandle out of his hand and tipped it onto a dish.
“I can make more,” Xavier protested. “You don’t have to eat spoiled food.”
“Spoiled? This isn’t even close,” Vivian said around a mouthful of charred eggs. “How’s Delilah?”
“Fine.” Ivey pulled a formal crimson dress out of her pack and laid it out on the back of the sofa. “Our doctor says she needs rest and fluids. Caspian is with her at the moment, but he plans to join you at the Council chamber. And you? Are you feeling ready, Vivian?”
Instead of answering such an impossible question, Vivian asked, “Has the media noticed our return?”
Ivey shook her head. “Not that I’ve seen.”
Vivian rose, carrying the plate of eggs, and switched on the wall-mounted screen in August’s living room.
On the screen, a Martian reporter stood on the steps of a stately white building that Vivian assumed was the Council.
“All eyes in Arcadia are turned today to Presentation Day. Two Red Mothers remain missing, and Counselor Xavier Dorsey’s whereabouts are unknown.
Meanwhile, Chancellor River Hawk, newly elected leader of the Catena dome, has released a shocking new video message. ”
The broadcast shifted to River, seated comfortably behind a plain steel desk, their voice smooth and calm.
“Today, I speak directly to the Red Mothers. Join us. You are welcome in Catena. You don’t need to agree to be trotted out like a prize on Presentation Day by wealthy Arcadian oligarchs who will not grant you equality in their society. In Catena, you will be free.”
“River must know the sample was destroyed,” Vivian murmured.
“I’m surprised the Intelligence hasn’t suppressed this,” Ivey said.
“It can’t,” Vivian and Xavier said together.
Xavier smiled, and he gestured for her to continue.
“In Mead vs. Martian Intelligent AI, the Council banned the Intelligence from interfering with Arcadian freedom of the press,” Vivian said. “Journalists can report on whatever they’d like, no matter what the Intelligence thinks.”
“Well said,” Xavier murmured.
On screen, two journalists were discussing Chancellor River’s appeal.
They both seemed baffled by the idea of a Red Mother wanting to leave Arcadia.
“These girls had no money and no prospects on Earth,” one said.
“I heard, when they arrived, their bones were sticking out from malnutrition, and they were carrying communicable diseases. Absolutely dreadful!”
A wave of hot anger hit Vivian’s belly.
“I heard the same. The Intelligence liberated the Red Mothers from a dystopia and welcomed them into Arcadian society. Why would Chancellor River think that any Red Mother would be foolish enough to turn her back on the comfortable life we’ve given them here?”
Xavier made a sound of disgust. “What I wouldn’t give to rebut those two nitwits on the Council floor.”
Ivey laughed. “I’ll look forward to it.”
“I can’t. I made an agreement with the Intelligence to withdraw my opposition in exchange for its help on Catena.”
“You did?” Ivey looked baffled. “But … that work is so important to you.”
Xavier rubbed the back of his neck. “It doesn’t matter, not today.
I would never step on Vivian’s big moment.
And besides, even if I hadn’t agreed to the Intelligence’s terms, I wouldn’t be able to speak against the Red Mothers initiative today.
Not in an open forum during a special session. I’m not a wronged party.”
“I am,” Vivian said softly. What would she say in the Council if she were allowed to speak? “What about using Martian Collective Sovereignty as a line of argument?”
Xavier frowned in thought. “Martian Collective Sovereignty covers the obligations of the Martian government and its people to develop the means to live independent from Earth. If anything, it could hurt our case. What is the Intelligence doing, if not providing a method for Martians to carry their own children in the next generation?”
Vivian snapped her fingers impatiently. “I need the book you gave me. My reader’s back in the dormitory.”
Ivey stooped and pulled a reader out of her pack. “Which book?”
“Introduction to Martian Law.”
“The Ayesha Wilson version, Ivey.”
Ivey’s lips turned up as she ran a search on the reader. “X, darling, tell me you did not give Vivian a law textbook as a present? Especially not one where you authored the introduction. How gauche.”
“It’s the best gift anyone has ever given to me.
” Vivian grabbed the reader out of Ivey’s hands and located the right section.
“Here. ‘Martian Collective Sovereignty is based first on the concept of property in one’s own person, expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to have bodily integrity and be the exclusive controller of one’s own body and life. ’ ”
Xavier’s eyes lit up. “You’ve got something here.”
“The Red Mothers do not have exclusive control over their own bodies.”
“I’ve never thought of it that way.” He looked down at the reader. “Yes. It’s not how a Martian solicitor would consider the facts of the case, but it works. It’s simple and brilliant.”
Vivian’s heart leapt at his enthusiasm before her excitement faded. What was she doing? She couldn’t stand in front of the Council and denounce the Red Mothers initiative. Her purpose today was to find Ren and beg him to honor his offer. To send money to her parents.
She thought about racing through the streets of Catena on a moped. Punching Silas in the jaw. Listening to Xavier open up to her about his past.
She wanted a life with adventure and ambition and love. Not a gilded cage.
I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry, Dad. I can’t do it. Not even for you.
“Xavier, could you help me prepare an argument?”
His face sobered, understanding the gravity of the decision. “Is that truly what you want?”
“It is,” Vivian whispered softly. She knew, suddenly, and with blazing certainty, that she’d never wanted anything more in her entire life.
“Then I am at your service.”