The Gender Game by Bella Forrest (historical books to read txt) 📗

the bag of dirty napkins on the floor in front of the passenger's seat, they'd found something to eat already.

It was a quick lunch and we rested for another fifteen minutes before returning to the clearing for our afternoon session.

We resumed where we had left off, and by the time darkness began to close in—which was as early as six-thirty due to the denseness of The Green—I had worked with every single weapon Ms. Dale had brought with us. I'd definitely had my comfort zone pushed, but once I'd gotten the hang of the technique, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d envisioned. Wielding a gun had started to come naturally to me. That didn’t make me any less afraid of the weapons, though—not so much of being shot at as afraid of the damage I could inflict with them myself. I had a hard enough time controlling my fists.

We packed everything up, headed to the truck, and journeyed back to the palace. It was late by the time I arrived in my room. We'd hit rush hour on the way back and been delayed. Ms. Dale told me she would greet me at nine the next morning.

Except for a chambermaid to bring me some dinner, nobody came to see me that night. I'd thought that Alastair might, but perhaps he wouldn't bother until the papers were ready—supposedly in two days.

With my arm muscles sore and body aching, I slept far more easily that night, though my slumber was punctuated with a nightmare involving echoing gunshots, red flies, and silver snakes.

The next two days passed in much the same manner as the first, except that Ms. Dale varied the weapons she taught me to use. On the second day, we focused on crossbows and knives, and on the third, she brought along a sack full of more common objects. Every day items that could be turned into weapons, like pens, rope, and hair pins.

We met with a few more scares from the wildlife—like a pack of wolves Ms. Dale warded off with an explosion of gunshots, and a horde of venomous spiders raining from the trees. But otherwise, thanks to her experience in this environment, things went as smoothly as I could have expected them to go.

I could have sworn, though, at one point, that I actually saw the shadow of a person darting through the trees—or some other kind of creature that stood tall and upright. But it vanished quickly, before I could even point it out to Ms. Dale, leading me to conclude it was the mist playing tricks on my eyes.

At the end of the third day, we finished half an hour early and sat together on the log, steeling ourselves for the journey back.

I sensed melancholy in my trainer. Melancholy that I shared. Neither of us knew when, or if, we would ever see each other again.

She gazed down at her gloved hands, her feet grazing the soil.

"I saw that you were a disturbed girl," she said quietly. "But I never thought it would come to this."

I stared at my own hands. "Neither did I."

"I wish I could have done something to help keep you out of trouble. I know you cared about my opinion."

"I doubt there's much you could have done," I muttered. I was on a collision course.

I was beyond wanting to explain the details of the murders I'd committed to Ms. Dale, because the details didn't matter. All Matrus saw was that I had claimed two lives.

"Maybe encouraging you to pursue the occupation of a warden was a mistake on my part," she said, as though she hadn't heard me. "Maybe you should have been channeled into something tamer, though it would've been a waste. You were my best student."

I dug my nails into the log. She was speaking as though this second lease on life I'd been granted by Alastair was hardly much better than being put down.

"Ms. Dale… Did Mr. Jenks really not tell you any details about the task ahead of me? Nothing at all?"

My trainer hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "He didn't give me specifics, because he said they were not required… I will say one thing, however." Shifting on the log, she twisted to face me. Her expression was serious, her brown irises glimmering in the pale evening light. "Once you reach the other side of the river, trust no one, Violet. Do you understand me?"

Swallowing, I nodded.

7

After Ms. Dale returned me to my room, I was left to wait alone. I didn't know when Alastair would come for me. The papers were supposed to be ready, but it was possible they could be delayed.

There was nothing I could distract myself with; no books or newspapers. I ended up taking a long shower to wash my hair free of all the gunk that had accumulated in it from The Green. When I emerged in the bedroom in my bathrobe, I was surprised to find a chambermaid waiting for me. I hadn't heard her enter through the noise of the shower.

"Mr. Jenks wishes to know if you are ready for a reception," she said, her voice a tad monotone.

"Uh, yeah. I will be in a minute."

She nodded and exited the room.

Grabbing some fresh clothes that had been placed in the closet for me during the day, I quickly dressed and draped my hair in a towel.

I moved to sit down, but my nerves would not allow it. This was it. My last night in Matrus. Wringing my hands, I paced up and down the far end of the bedroom until footsteps sounded outside the door. There came a polite yet sharp knock.

"Come in," I called.

The door glided open. In stepped Alastair sporting a deep blue suit and carrying his crossbow again, followed by… I could not believe my eyes.

Queen Rina.

The queen of Matrus herself.

I hardly knew how to react. I stared, rooted to my spot and gaping at her