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

now than when I'd first come in. I realized that I was hungry. I definitely could stomach something. "I'll eat," I acquiesced.

He rose to his feet with a smirk. "And that brings us to another 'don't': Don't ever tell anyone that I've cooked for you."

9

Lee's dinner was delicious — no doubt the freshness of the produce contributed a lot to the flavor. The food was simple, with basic herbs and spices, and the core ingredients were enough to make it take off.

I ate more than I had intended to and after I finished, I found myself leaning back in my chair, holding my stomach.

He eyed me with amusement, setting down his own fork. "Had enough?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He hadn't wanted to talk much over dinner. Maybe because he hadn't wanted to ruin my digestion, but now his mood became more serious.

"There are a lot of rules you're going to have to absorb. A lot to bombard you with at once. But I plan to keep you under my wing as much as possible. You'll learn the ropes as we go about our activities. You'll never go out alone, and when I'm gone, you'll stay in the house with Samuel and not answer the door to anybody."

It sounded like what I was used to: a prison life. I wondered how different my days would end up being on this side of the river, after all.

"Tomorrow we will have a tight schedule," Lee went on. "In the morning, I'll need to take you shopping. In the afternoon, we have an appointment in the marriage hall. We will sign the papers and be wed. Then, in the evening, I'm going to take you into the lab to meet my associates and, most importantly, show you around."

My head spun. A tight schedule was an understatement. "Your associates… you've told them about me already, I assume?"

"In brief," he replied. "I told them the same day I found out you were coming over here. It wasn't really a surprise to anyone that I should keep it a secret; I'm not exactly known to be a talkative person when it comes to my personal life… Anyway, don't worry about them. They won't be very interested in talking to you. Men don't talk much to women here — they'll ask a few polite questions, and that will be that."

"Won't they be suspicious that you're bringing a Matrian girl into the lab?"

"We won't stay long enough to cause suspicion," he replied. "We'll do a quick walkabout and then head off. But it'll be enough to give you a bearing on the place."

After another pause, he stood up. "Wait here," he said.

He headed out of the room while Samuel padded inside. The dog wagged his tail and nuzzled his head against my knees before slipping it onto my lap. He sat down in front of me, and I stroked his ears until Lee returned.

Lee was carrying a red folder, which he laid on the table. One by one, he pulled out what appeared to be profiles of a dozen men, each sheet containing a headshot along with personal data.

"These men will be obstacles in retrieving the egg from the lab." He tapped a finger on the photograph in the center of the table in front of us, a photograph of a young man who looked more beast than man compared to the others who, although tough-looking, were fairly well-groomed. His dark brown hair draped down to his shoulders in waves. His forehead was low and wide, his face rough and unkempt. But he struck me as handsome in spite of his roughness. I was instantly attracted to his physical appearance—something I couldn't say in the case of the other men scattered over the table, or Lee for that matter. His deep-set eyes radiated a fierce green even in the photograph. "Viggo Croft" was his name.

"These are the wardens in charge of security surrounding the labs and the palace," Lee said. "They have received the highest level of training Patrus has to offer. They are the best of the best when it comes to protection around here. You'll often spot them roaming the border of the Crescent. Especially Viggo. He's the chief coordinator and very little gets past him… He resigned from the force about a year back, due to 'irreconcilable differences' with the man who was chief at that time—he clearly has a strong independent streak—but got himself into a spot of trouble with the law while he was on leave. At the time, King Patrick struck a deal with him that if he returned to the force to work for the next four years without pay, the infraction would be expunged."

"What was the infraction?" I asked, feeling a spike of curiosity.

"Obstruction of justice,” Lee replied.

That had been my first infraction.

"Anyway," Lee continued, "the point is, he's not managing the security by choice at the moment. It's a service that he's forced to perform in order to avoid jail."

He paused, eyeing the papers. I wasn't sure how Lee's "point" was actually relevant to the task at hand.

"So… guards are always around? Day and night?" I asked.

"More or less."

"Then how exactly do you plan to retrieve the egg if they're constantly stalking the place?"

Lee sat back in his chair. "With difficulty… But we'll take this one step at a time. Tomorrow in the lab, I'll show you the location of the egg, and then we'll discuss the next step."

His response didn't sit right with me. I didn't like being fed information in dribs and drabs. "I'm not a Patrian woman," I reminded Lee while keeping my tone polite. "I'd like to know the full extent of my role in this mission."

Lee breathed out. "I understand that, Violet. But I'm saying this for your own sake. I don't want to overburden you with so much information now. You've just arrived."

Hm. Maybe he was right that I ought to give myself a bit of landing time. I needed to know