Page 60 of The Red Woman on Mars

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

3 Sols to Presentation Day

Vivian awoke to darkness, a heaviness pressed against her back. Where was she? Sumter, sleeping beside her sister? No. The memories came in a rush.

Delilah missing. A ship to Catena.

A hostel with one bed.

Vivian rolled over to face Xavier, and he slipped an arm around her waist. His warm body melded into hers. In sleep, his austere face was relaxed. Without thinking, she reached out one hand to touch his stubbled cheek.

He opened his deep brown eyes, and the hand that had been around her waist grabbed her wrist. She felt an unexpected thrill of excitement run through her. He released her and pulled backward abruptly. “I do beg your pardon.” In one swift movement, he pulled himself out of the bed and padded to the bathroom.

His absence left the bed cold and empty. Vivian rubbed her wrist. It didn’t hurt—his grip was not particularly strong. But she felt the pressure of his touch linger.

When they were both dressed, they gathered their meager belongings into the duffel bag and left the room. Xavier pulled a burner credit chit from his front pocket to purchase warm pastries and black coffee from a vendor outside the lodging house. Regularly dining with Arcadian oligarchs had refined Vivian’spalette, and the pastry tasted stale and the coffee bitter. Still, she tried to let the hot food and drink comfort her as they threaded their way through the densely packed streets of Catena.

Today, they would find Delilah and bring her home.

All would be well.

“Here.” Xavier gestured to a nondescript one-story building with an icon of two glasses clinking mounted at the top. They pushed the door open and stepped inside.

In the mid-morning, the shadowy room’s simple black tables were empty. Vivian didn’t see anything like the server robots that had run the tavern she’d gone to with Silas. A single older Martian woman with stringy gray hair stood behind a long bar, wiping a glass with a towel.

The woman widened her eyes at their appearance and dropped her cloth. “Well now, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Yvonne.” Xavier held out a hand.

The woman took his hand and pulled him into an embrace. She turned to two men nursing drinks at the far corner of the bar and barked, “We’re closed.” Grumbling, they heaved off their stools and shuffled to the door. Yvonne shut and locked it behind them before returning behind the bar. “You shouldn’t be here, X. You know they’ll tear you apart if they realize who you are.”

Vivian blanched and looked searchingly at Xavier. Hadn’t he told her they would be fine here?

Xavier’s calm face didn’t change as he sat on a stool opposite Yvonne. “Then help shorten my stay. I’m here to find Silas.”

“Silas,” Yvonne snarled. “The last I heard that wastrel was racking up gambling debts in the Arcadian military.”

“He has my sister,” Vivian burst out, hands gripping the back of one of the stools. “Please, we must find her.”

Yvonne’s eyes narrowed. “And who might you be?”

Xavier inclined his head in Vivian’s direction. “Yvonne, I am pleased to introduce you to Miss Vivian Bowen.”

Yvonne’s entire body jerked back. “You’re one of the Red Mothers, aren’t you?” she whispered with awe. “Here to change the future of Mars.” Shaking off her serious expression, she snapped her towel in Xavier’s direction. “X, I wouldn’t have expected this from you of all people. Naughty boy.” She smirked at Vivian. “Are you carrying the next Dorsey heir, then?”

Xavier scowled. “I am merely helping Miss Bowen locate her sister. I know of your correspondence with Zuri. You’ve kept track of Silas for her sake.”

“I may know something,” Yvonne admitted.

“You once told me you owed Zuri a debt you could never repay, for failing to protect her from Silas.”

“You are not Zuri. I was never a big enough fool to think I could protectyoufrom Silas. Not when the two of you were so codependent in your youth.” Yvonne bent her head and scrubbed an invisible stain on the countertop. “These days, Silas is a man I would not want to cross.”

Codependent?Vivian wondered.I thought they were boyhood rivals.

Xavier didn’t object to Yvonne’s characterization of his relationship with Silas. Without comment, he pulled two sparkling jeweled cufflinks out of his pocket and laid them on the worn bar.

Yvonne picked up one of the cufflinks and squinted at it. “You know this has no value here.”