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

"How was the journey?" he asked, pouring a glass of water for himself.

"It was fine…" I struggled to embellish my answer.

"Do you have my picture with you?" he asked. "And my letter of recommendation?"

"Yes."

"Okay. You may as well hand those back to me. You only needed to carry them in the unlikely event that you were stopped by someone before I met up with you on the dock."

Lee had placed my suitcase on the floor near my feet. I stooped down and retrieved the gray folder, handing it to him.

"Thanks." He glanced briefly inside it before stowing it away in one of the kitchen drawers. He resumed his seat and placed his hands on the table, twisting his silver watch. "So, I'm sure you want to know more about me."

"Um, yes."

"My full name is Lee Desmond Bertrand. Named Lee by my father, Desmond by my mother. I am twenty-five. On paper, I'm native to neither Matrus nor Patrus. In fact, I was born in the middle of Veil River. Literally. My mother was fleeing from Patrus to Matrus to give birth to me, but timing was not on her side."

He paused to sip from his water.

"Why was she fleeing?"

"Her relationship with my father was a tumultuous one. She had wanted to move back to Matrus even before she fell pregnant with me, but my father forbade it. He wanted me to be born in Patrus. Being a migrant and a woman, there was nothing she could do at the time except go along with her husband's wishes, obviously. But she plotted an escape the night she went into labor, a plot that went horribly wrong… I was lucky to have survived."

"Did she survive it?" I wondered.

"Yes. She died a few years back."

"Oh, I see. So… you have no true nationality?" I posed.

"I have allied myself officially with Patrus, though my loyalty has always been with Matrus, like my mother's was. My mother was spotted on the river by a Matrian the night she gave birth, and she and I were taken to the city hospital. I managed to spend the first ten years of my life in Matrus—and they were my happiest years—before my father reclaimed me. But in the strict sense of the term, yes, you are correct…I have no true allegiance to any nationality."

"And how did you become… this?" I asked.

"Let's just say I was still young when I came here, and my father's position was of great benefit to me… Honestly, the less you know about this particular subject, the safer you and I will both be."

I pursed my lips. "I see."

He glanced around the kitchen. "I've been in this residence for the last three years. I live alone with Samuel, with no siblings or family in general to bother us. My father died a year ago… My duties are down in the lab, near the palace. It takes about half an hour to commute by motorcycle, depending on the time of day. I will be out a lot during the week, sometimes also at the weekend."

"What sort of work does a scientist in Patrus do, exactly?" I asked. "I read about a pharmaceutical King Maxen has commissioned development on…"

"Yes. Patrus is trying to become as proficient as Matrus in the fields of biology and medicine. King Maxen wants to catch up, become as competent in them as Patrus is in architecture and engineering… But the new king has no intention of playing fair, of building from scratch based on their own research and merits. He wants a head start. Upon his ascendance to the throne, infiltrating Matrus' lab was a logical first step. He wants to reverse-engineer what was taken in the raid and work out how to recreate it… Of course, he knows that there's not much Matrus can do to fight back; he uses Queen Rina's reluctance—and practical inability—to start a war to his advantage."

I lowered my brows. "In all the years you've been undercover, what sort of missions have you been on for Matrus?" I couldn't help but ask, even though I suspected that he would be reluctant to answer.

"Never a mission, per se," Lee replied. "So far, the necessity hasn't arisen. I have been Matrus' eyes and ears, reporting back what I see and hear from the higher levels of the patriarchy, so they can plan and take action accordingly on their side. That's why you're here to assist with the task ahead, because I cannot do everything on my own. And I can't be caught. My presence here and the trust the authorities have in me are extremely important to Matrus.”

He lapsed into silence, his blue gaze still on me. I wondered whether he wanted me to talk about myself a bit, though I was sure that he'd already been told everything about my history.

"I-I understand… Will there be some sort of test by the authorities for how well you know me?" I asked. "Or how well we know each other? Before we're allowed to, uh…"

"Marry?"

I was glad that he spared me the word. "Yes," I managed, heat creeping to my cheeks.

He shook his head. "Sometimes it is required. But it won't be in my case." He swallowed the last of his water, surprisingly cool about the subject. I ought to be like that, too. This wasn't a real marriage. It was just an arrangement. An arrangement that would allow me to stay safely in Patrus, and that would be annulled as soon as our job together was done.

"I noticed you didn't shake my hand, back on the dock," I said, changing the subject. "Is that something you don't do here?"

"It's not something that's done between the sexes." He heaved a sigh, pushing his glass aside. "There is a lot that you're going to need to pick up on while you're here… This is going to be a long discussion. Are you sure you don't want something to eat?"

I was feeling less nervous