Page 18 of The Red Woman on Mars

“Aloe vera. It has healing properties for skin irritations.” Ivey broke off the tip of one leaf and offered it to Vivian. “The gel can be rubbed on skin to soothe it. My mother was very fond of it. She was forever burning herself attempting to do the household staff’s jobs for them.”

“Your mother—is she responsible for your perspective on Martian clothing?”

Ivey gave a tiny, surprised huff. “Oh well done, Vivian.”

A Martian man in a liveried uniform entered the sunroom and cleared his throat. “Forgive me, Counselor Hayes, Miss Hayes. You’re needed by the solicitor.”

Ivey sighed. “Duty calls.”

The moment Caspian and Ivey departed, Xavier put his reader aside. “I want you to take your sister and go home,” he snapped. “Casp is to have no part in this. I won’t allow it.”

“What! Delilah is in the hospital. We aren’t going anywhere.”

“Spare me the theatrics, Miss Bowen.” He leaned his long body toward her. “You’ve chosen to play a critical role in this despicable experiment.”

“Chosen?” Vivian sputtered. “If you can’t understand why, it was a choice without a choice, I cannot make you see.”

“Please.” Xavier crossed his arms over his chest. “It is a low trick indeed for your sister to pretend to be ill to gain Caspian’s attention.”

Hot anger coiled in Vivan’s belly. “That’s not true.”

“No?” He regarded her with a scowl. She couldn’t help but notice with her standing and him seated, their faces were at the same height. “She conveniently fell ill a few days after attracting his attention? When you knew full well that he owns the finest hospital in Arcadia? You must think Caspian is an easy mark.”

Vivian took a step closer to him. “If you think it isconvenientto be sick on a new planet with a strange culture and a contract to fulfill, you are out of your damn mind.”

Xavier dropped his crossed arms. “I—she’s truly ill?” The man had the nerve to look dismayed.

“She is.” Vivian swallowed. “This kinetosis … Is it dangerous?”

Xavier’s eyes shifted away. “It can be.”

Vivian stared down at the broken piece of aloe vera still pinched between her fingers. Without her sister, Vivian wasn’t sure she could go on.

“Miss Bowen,” he said in a softer tone. “I spoke truly. The Hayes Community Hospital is the finest on all of Mars. Your sister is young and healthy. She will pull through.”

Vivian covered her mouth in one hand. She would not cry in front of him. She wouldn’t. “I have to go.” She walked at a clipped pace out of the sunroom and down the grand hallway to the foyer. She was nearly to the front door when a call stopped her.

“Miss, where are you going?”

Vivian turned to confront an Earther woman in a brown dress with a white apron and cap. Taking a deep breath, she schooled her face to calm. She wasn’t about to take her worry for her sister and anger with Xavier out on the Hayes household staff. “I’m going to the hospital to visit my sister. Am I being held here against my will?”

Trapped. Even here, she was trapped.

“Of course not, miss.” The woman twisted her hands. “Only, perhaps you wish to change first?”

Vivian looked down at her short white skirt and sleeveless red top. She’d quickly become comfortable in the revealing clothing. “Is there a dress code for a sick bed here?”

“You are guests of the Hayes family, and you should reflect well on the estate.”

“Right. Clothing is a game here.”

“A game?” the woman asked.

“Never mind.” Vivian ascended the stairs and found the morning’s yellow dress. She looked at a wrought iron clock mounted to Ivey’s wall and sighed.

From her small bag, she removed a needle and pulled off the packaging. She lifted up her borrowed shirt to expose her stomach, dotted with several bruises. Vivian found an unmarked spot of skin and, steeling herself for the prick of pain, pushed the needle into her stomach.

Two weeks. Only eleven more injections to go.