Chapter Sixteen
When Vivian arrived at Luz’s new home, she held her friend as if it had been years, not weeks since they had last parted. “How are you feeling?” Vivian asked anxiously, thinking of Dr. Chavez casually rattling off potential side effects.
Luz made a throwaway gesture. “Just some nausea. Nothing I can’t handle.
Come inside and let me show you around.” With only five rooms, Wim’s home would be considered modest by the standards of the Martian aristocracy, but Vivian found it charming.
She liked the simple, practical furniture with none of the pretense of Hayes House.
From the window, Vivian glimpsed the grandeur of the Yarrow family house shining down on them from its elevated perch atop a crater.
After giving her a tour, Luz sat her down in the living room across from Wim and returned with a tray with three glasses and a pitcher filled with a bright green drink. As she poured, Luz warned, “I’m still perfecting the recipe. I overdid it on the lime juice.”
“This is excellent, my dear,” Wim told her cheerfully. “It would never occur to me to drink a vegetable. Your creativity astounds me. What do you call this?”
“It’s just a cucumber agua fresca.” Luz gave a pleased little smile at the compliment.
“I grew up on them. In Harlem, we’d add a spicy rim of tajin, but I’m not sure yet how to re-create the chamoy sauce.
” She tapped a finger on her glass. “I think I want to try tracking down dried hibiscus flowers, if they exist here.”
“We saw people wearing hibiscus flowers on their hats,” Vivian said. “Outside the clinic. Do you remember?”
Luz’s expression lit up. “That’s right.”
“A rim of spice? Ingenious!” Wim exclaimed. “If you have need of hibiscus flowers, then that is what you shall have, my darling.”
Luz regarded him fondly and sipped her agua fresca. Vivian, for her part, was completely baffled. Where had her jaded friend gone?
“I am so pleased, Vivian my dear, that you have come to visit,” Wim continued.
“I admit I have been remiss in my duties since I welcomed Luz into my humble home. But the Red Mothers are thriving in my absence. Secretary Yarrow has been most pleased by the pace of partner selection. Most pleased. My lady has always concerned herself with results.”
“Secretary Yarrow is a very sensible woman,” replied Luz.
Vivian raised her eyebrows at Luz, who lifted a corner of her mouth in response.
“Very true, my dear, that is exactly what I say. She is the sort of woman whom one cannot regard with too much deference.” Wim made a sudden gesture at his artificial eye.
“Ah … it is Secretary Yarrow now. She is inviting us to dine with her this evening. Who could have imagined we would receive an invitation so immediately after your arrival, Vivian? Such an honor. Let us make haste.”
Vivian wasn’t sure she wanted to have dinner with the formidable Constance Yarrow, but she’d known it was a possibility. She took a moment to change into the elegant lilac dress she’d brought with her just in case.
“How are you? For real?” Vivian asked in an undertone as they followed Wim up the steep redstone path to where Yarrow House perched on the top of a low crater.
“Wonderful.” Luz squeezed her arm. “I have a home again. A kitchen! Wim found me a steamer pot—he went to three stores to track one down—and I made my abuela’s pork tamales. Took me all day. I made the chili ancho sauce and everything.”
“I miss your cooking,” Vivian confessed. “I’m glad you can continue here.”
“All my life, I’ve had to hustle. And now … I have time. My most important job is growing this baby. And—I can’t believe I’m saying this—I’m looking forward to being a mother.”
“And Wim?” Vivian couldn’t help wrinkling her nose.
“I know what you think of him, Viv baby. And you were right to turn down his offer. But I find being with him restful.”
“Restful? He never shuts up.”
Luz snorted. “He says what he means. He doesn’t play mind games. And he isn’t trying to trick or force his way into my bed. Works for me.”
“I suppose,” Vivian agreed doubtfully.
The walk was brief, and they had no opportunity to converse further.
Up close, Vivian could see the U-shaped great house had a copper facade.
An elegant inner courtyard held an expansive redstone plaza and an opulent bubbling fountain with a fish spouting water into the sky.
They were greeted at the double doors by a stoic Earther man in an old-fashioned butler uniform who bowed them into the spacious dining room.
Xavier Dorsey was there.
Again.
How did the man keep showing up when she least expected him?
Next to him sat a younger man with the same deep brown skin and a much more pleasant expression.
The man sprang to his feet and bowed over her and Luz’s hands.
“It’s an honor to meet two of the esteemed Red Mothers.
I’m August Yarrow, the nephew and heir of the much-admired Secretary Constance Yarrow. ”
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Vivian said to August. She raised her eyebrows coolly at Xavier. “Mr. Dorsey, I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon. I thought you’d traveled to the far domes.”
Xavier rose. “There and back. I had the honor of escorting my younger sister Zuri home to Dorsey House.”
Poor Delilah. She’d been certain Caspian would be kept away through Presentation Day. If she’d known otherwise, perhaps she wouldn’t have settled for such an inadequate substitute.
Vivian turned her attention back to August. “Why haven’t we seen you at any of our events?”
August glanced at his cousin. “I have not yet found the time.”
At the head of the grand faux-wood table, still seated, Secretary Yarrow harrumphed. “And yet, you have found the time to play soldier with the militia, haven’t you?”
August’s eyebrows drew together. “The security of our dome is of the utmost importance. The Catena separatists have become increasingly provocative since the election, and we need to ensure our forces are prepared to defend our dome.”
“I have Catena handled. Securing the Yarrow bloodline”—she pointed a finger at Xavier—“and the Dorsey bloodline are of the utmost importance. Above all else.” Secretary Yarrow turned to Vivian, asking her, “And have you made any progress in selecting a spouse, Vivian Bowen?”
Vivian glanced at Xavier and suppressed a note of hysterical laughter. “I haven’t found a man who holds my interest.”
“You do give your opinion very decidedly, don’t you, Miss Bowen?”
Xavier pressed his lips together in what Vivian could only surmise was disapproval.
“Madam, your final guest has arrived,” the butler announced from the doorway. “Chancellor River,” he declared with a bow.
Constance rose at last and moved slowly to the arched doorway with her carved wooden cane in time to greet a handsome young Martian with bronze skin and sharply cut cheekbones wearing a high-necked, floor-length black tunic with silver buttons down the front.
Beside her, Vivian heard Xavier mutter, “She invited them here. Whatever for?”
August replied in an undertone, “And with no warning.” His hands at his sides clenched into fists.
“Chancellor, I trust you are acquainted with my nephews and the reverend? Let me introduce you to two of our Red Mothers, Miss Luz Flores and Miss Vivian Bowen. Ladies, this is Chancellor River Hawk, newly elected leader of the Catena dome.”
Luz and Vivian exchanged a curious glance and gave their best Martian curtsies.
River smiled. “A pleasure. Constance graciously invited me to dinner when she learned how much I wished to speak with the Red Mothers.”
Constance barked a short laugh. “After you begged and bullied me, you mean to say.” To Luz and Vivian, she said, “I have learned in our short time together that River can be most persuasive when they set their mind to it.”
River tilted their head, and their short curly hair flopped on their forehead. “I hope I can always count on you, Constance, to speak the unvarnished truth as you see it.”
“Shall we dine?” August asked diplomatically and offered his arm to Vivian.
River swept into the room unescorted, their tunic flaring at the waist to reveal slim black pants. When everyone was seated on the brocade dining chairs, River looked between Luz and Vivian. “What do you think of Arcadia so far?”
“It’s quite pleasant, thank you,” Luz murmured.
Vivian had spent so much time seated at dull meals with potential partners, making polite, restrained conversation.
She found she had no taste for it this evening.
Batting her eyes at River, she cooed, “Martian society is the height of fashion. I can hardly keep up with the social schedule and the style of dress.”
River gave her a toothy grin. “I think you’ll find, Vivian, if you ever have the chance to visit the Catena dome, that Martian society comes in many forms. Not all of us believe in spending our limited resources on frivolity.”
“I thought your people wanted as little to do with Earthers as possible,” Xavier objected.
“We wish to limit our dealings with Earth. Earthers are always welcome in Catena if they share our vision of Mars’s future. And the addition of two Red Mothers would be a great asset to our cause.”
“None of that.” From her seat at the head of the table, Constance pointed a long finger at River. “Play nice, Chancellor.” She looked between Luz and Vivian. “You would find Catena dirty and poorly run after spending time in the greatest dome on Mars.”
River’s eyes glinted, but they didn’t respond to the jab.
August leaned forward from his position at the right hand of his aunt and poured Vivian a glass of dark red wine. “Are you interested in fashion, then, Miss Bowen?” he asked in a clear attempt to change the subject.
Vivian was perfectly willing to go along with him. What did she care for political posturing on topics she barely understood? “Oh yes.” She winked at Luz, seated across the table. “We ladies are obsessed with Martian hat couture.”
Seated next to her on her right, Xavier murmured, “I have not known you long, Miss Bowen, but I believe I am correct in saying that you sometimes enjoy professing opinions that are in fact not your own. I would venture to say you care nothing for hats.”
Vivian let out an involuntary snort of laughter. “Careful. If you tell my secrets, I may tell yours.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” he said with a smile. It was a genuine smile, so unlike his usual smirk. Vivian found she could not look away. An Earther servant moved between them, setting a salad down in front of her with young greens, radishes, and dill fronds.
Across the table, Luz watched her with an unreadable expression, looking between Vivian and Xavier with two fingers pressed to her lips.
“How did your first appearance before the Arcadian Council go today, Chancellor?” August asked.
“Nothing can match the thrill of speaking as a democratically elected leader with the full support of my people behind me. You should try it.”
Xavier scowled. “Democracy devolves into violent populist demagoguery. There is no place for such a dangerous, unstable system of government on the domes of Mars.”
Constance waived a hand. “It isn’t River’s fault they were born into a democracy. Chancellor, I am most pleased you have opted to resume diplomacy between our domes after so long without relations.”
“And I would be more pleased if you would agree to share your technology.” River tilted their wineglass toward Vivian and then toward Luz. “And your resources.”
Vivian glanced down to see Xavier’s nails digging into his palm underneath the table.
“The Intelligence has advised against the sharing of technology with Catena when you insist on devoting so much of your limited resources to terraforming,” Wim put in, leaning past Luz to glare at River.
“I have no interest in the derivative ideas generated by a machine.”
Vivian covered her face with her napkin to hide her grin.
“My lady!” Wim exclaimed. “I fear I must protest this blasphemy.”
“Don’t provoke him,” Constance told River. “Remember you’re a guest in my home.”
“Not to mention the Council agreed today to send you fifty thousand gallons of water at considerable expense,” Xavier murmured.
“My people are so grateful.” River pressed a hand to their heart.
“Your people despise us,” Xavier retorted.
“I am sure their feelings would change if you shared your reproductive technology.”
Xavier took a sip of his wine and said mildly, “The decision is not mine to make.”
Vivian had intended to stay out of the contentious conversation, but she couldn’t help asking, “You need water? Are your treatment plants not enough?”
River shrugged. “We had a temporary shortage.”
“I trust, Chancellor, you will use our generosity as an opportunity to rethink the ratio of resources Catena pours into terraforming. You must invest in the fundamentals first.” Xavier’s serious expression made Vivian think of her textbook.
If Catena had been neglecting water treatment, it would be a breach of Martian Fundamental Rights.
Not to mention incredibly dangerous on a desert planet.
“Thank you for your concern, but I assure you that I have the matter under control.” River turned to Luz and Vivian. “My parents named me River because they believed I would see rivers on Mars in my lifetime.”
All the other Martians at the table wore varying expressions of exasperation at the statement.
“How lovely,” Vivian exclaimed. “Isn’t that a lovely idea, Mr. Dorsey?” She bit her lip to keep from grinning at Xavier’s stuffed expression.
“Terraforming Mars is a fool’s errand,” Xavier said stiffly.
“The Intelligence quite agrees,” Wim announced.
“How nice it must be, Mr. Dorsey, to have the Intelligence on your side,” Vivian said.
As August made another attempt to steer the conversation onto neutral ground, Xavier turned to her and murmured in a voice pitched below the conversation, “I know what you’re doing.”
“And what’s that?”
“You’re trying to provoke me.”
“Is it working?”
Xavier made a sound low in his throat. “You have no idea.”
“Good.”
As their next course arrived, Vivian found herself aware of Xavier’s body seated beside her. The deep rumble of his voice. The way his long, elegant fingers held his wine glass.
She nearly forgot she despised him.