The library was quiet as Rose finished her story, the air heavy with the shared weight of their secrets. All eyes turned to Mia. At twenty-three, she was the newest addition to their circle, having moved to town only months ago when her husband, Dr. Silas Thorne, took over the local surgical practice. She was naturally soft-spoken and introverted, but today she looked particularly delicate, her voice raspy and thin.

​"Silas noticed my voice yesterday," Mia began, her fingers nervously pleating the fabric of her skirt. "I told him it was just a scratchy throat from the change in weather, but he wouldn't hear of it. He said a new environment means new pathogens, and he couldn't have his wife falling ill."

​

​The scene Mia described was one of cold, professional efficiency. Silas was a man who valued precision above all else. When they had retired to their suite the previous night, he hadn't reached for a book or the radio. Instead, he had opened his heavy leather medical bag.

​"Come here, Mia," Silas had said, his voice as sharp as a scalpel. "Your lymph nodes are slightly swollen. We aren't taking chances. I’ve prepared a comprehensive course: a potent antibiotic, a shot of iron for your stamina, and three concentrated vitamin boosters."

​"Five?" Mia gasped, her eyes wide with terror. "Silas, surely that's too many? It’s just a sore throat. I can gargle salt water..."

​Silas had looked up from the vanity, where he was already lining up five archaic glass syringes on a sterile white towel. "Mia, we’ve discussed this. You are new to this climate. Your immune system is struggling. Now, don't make me repeat myself. Remove your robe and prepare."

​At the book club, Alana let out a soft moan of sympathy. "Five injections in one session... and Silas uses the extra-long needles, doesn't he?"

​Mia nodded, her eyes glistening. "He says the antibiotic needs to reach deep into the muscle to be effective. I tried to argue, I really did. I told him I was scared. I started to cry before he even picked up the first syringe."

​"And did he comfort you?" Hanna asked, her voice tight with interest.

​"He told me that my cryies due to 'needle hysterics' were only making my throat worse," Mia whispered. "He said if I couldn't be a brave wife, he would have to treat me like a recalcitrant patient. He made me lay face down across the foot of the bed, my hips elevated. The vulnerability was... it was overwhelming."

​She described the terrifying ritual of preparation. Silas was silent as he drew the liquids. Clink. Draw. Tap. Five times. The glass barrels looked massive in the dim lamplight.

​"The first was the antibiotic," Mia told them, her voice trembling. "It was thick and milky. When the steel needle entered, I felt my whole body seize. It felt like he was pushing a hot nail into my hip. I screamed into the silk bedspread, but Silas just leaned his weight into me, his forearm pressing firmly across my small of my back to keep me pinned."

​"Stay still, Mia," Silas had murmured during the ordeal. "This is for your own good. You want to be healthy for the gala next week, don't you? This is the iron. It will sting."

​"It didn't just sting," Mia sobbed to her friends. "It burned. And then came the three vitamins. By the third one, I was begging him to stop, my legs shaking uncontrollably. I told him I couldn't take any more, that I was going to faint. But Silas was relentless. He told me that submission was part of the cure."

​By the fifth injection, Mia had stopped fighting. She had simply buried her face in her arms, sobbing quietly as the final needle did its work. The authoritarian precision of her husband had completely overwhelmed her resistance.

​"When he was done," Mia said, looking at the other women, "he spent twenty minutes massaging the injection sites with his large hands. It was painful, but... I've never felt so completely owned, so protected. He told me I was a good, quiet girl for taking my medicine."

​"Five shots," Rose whispered, a look of profound respect on her face. "You did well, Mia. Silas is a very thorough doctor."