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

that stupid. Even if I outsmarted him, which, judging by the slowness of his reflexes, wouldn't be all that difficult, now more than ever I had to control my temper. Plus, he wasn't alone.

As I ran, the voices of schoolchildren chimed in my ears. Violent Violet, Violent Violet. My nickname at school. I'd become notorious early on in my life for finding trouble. But if I didn't stop now, I would only be digging a deeper grave for myself.

The man, and now his companions, pounded down the street after me. I wasn't sure what he intended to do if he caught up with me. Beat me for my insolence? They were apparently on the lookout for "strays", a term I hadn't heard before, but I could take a good guess as to what it meant. Women who, for whatever reason, found themselves living in Patrus with no male to act as a guardian. No guardian in this country equated to less than zero rights. Unsupervised women became like lost children, wandering the streets at risk. According to my knowledge, this was one of the reasons why polygamy was allowed in Patrus—to give Patrus-born women plenty of options, and ensure they never had to be without a man.

But even though I was aware of all this, my pride wouldn't let me flash my ring at my pursuers and my hands remained tightly balled. The guy would only take my show of a ring as fear, weakness on my part. And there was nothing I hated more than giving a bully what he or she wanted.

Reaching the end of the alleyway, I glanced behind me. There was still a fair distance between us. Though my speed had been hindered by running in bare feet over the coarse concrete, I had gotten a head start.

I looked left and right, sparing a couple of seconds to figure out which would be the most direct route, before hurtling to my right. I'd been in such a rush, I hadn't noticed a man crossing my path at exactly the same moment and I found myself slamming into a hard chest. I staggered back, gazing up at a familiar face. Not Lee's. But Viggo's.

Based on the surprise on his face, he hadn't been sent to find me by Lee. He was obviously just doing his regular evening rounds. Next to him was another man, a warden I recognized from the profiles Lee had shown me the night before.

My pursuers' footsteps behind me stopped short, and I twisted to see them do an almost comical abrupt about-turn and head off in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing without your husband?" Viggo asked me in a low, disapproving tone.

"I'm on my way to him now," I replied tersely. I considered turning the guys who had been chasing me into Viggo and his companion, because I was sure that harassing a woman the way that guy had was against the law. Even though females were supposed to never be unsupervised, it couldn't be legal for men to prey on "strays".

Viggo gripped my arm firmly. His palm felt rough and warm. He pulled me out of the darkness of the alleyway and into the bustling street.

"Where is your husband?" he repeated.

"I last saw him in The Red Boar," I muttered.

"You are not supposed to be alone," he said tersely, glancing at my ring, which was visible now that I'd unclenched my fists. "Surely your husband has told you that?"

"I'm not alone," I said, probably too snappily considering I was talking to a warden now. "He's just around the corner. We accidentally got separated in the crowds."

Viggo retained his grip on me as we headed down the street, but I shrugged him off when we turned a corner. I'm not a damn child. I had already put up with Lee holding me earlier, I didn't see a reason why I had to put up with Viggo when he wasn't even my "husband". I didn't bother to check Viggo or his partner's reaction to my assertion of independence. But although he stayed close, he didn't try to resume his hold on me.

We walked in steely silence until we reached the restaurant. Lee was bouncing on his feet near our table, looking bedraggled with worry while speaking into a phone. His eyes gleamed with relief as he noticed us approach. Relief, but also doubt and disturbance. A dozen questions must have been roaming his mind, but he would have to wait until later for an explanation.

"Violet," he gasped, taking my hands and pulling me to his chest.

Viggo cleared his throat. "With due respect, Mr. Bertrand, I would keep a better eye on this one… She has a rather adventurous mind for a bakery girl."

Viggo's green gaze rested on my face once more. Then he turned on his heels, his long trench coat billowing in the breeze as he and his companion stalked away.

12

Lee was understandably shaken. The others looked confused too and I was forced to address all of them, even as I looked around for Cad, praying that he hadn't come back out here.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I, uh, I needed to use the restroom but it was out of service. I found a back door and went through it. I hoped to find another restroom nearby, but I got lost." Here I turned to Lee, and tried to look apologetic. "I'm sorry, it was stupid of me. I guess I’m still getting used to the rules."

Lee slid an arm around my waist before facing his colleagues. "I need to get my girl home, gentlemen. I apologize. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

To my relief, he led me away from the restaurant, and firmly out of Cad's potential view. We returned to the teeming sidewalks, where Lee stopped to hail a cab—one of the dozens of blood-red cars roaming the roads at this hour. It was of course too risky to discuss anything meaningful in the back of