The Gender Lie (The Gender Game #3) by Bella Forrest (ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📗

I nodded, feeling immensely proud of Viggo. “How long have you been watching?” I asked.

“Since the beginning, but I was tucked off in one of the side rooms. I didn’t want to interfere. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from this idea, but so far, I am impressed. The potential for it… is really quite remarkable.” There was a note of praise in her voice, and something else—something I couldn’t quite place.

“Does that mean you’re going to hold off on the Benuxupane for now?”

Desmond hesitated. “Actually, that’s what I wanted to tell you—I discovered a stockpile of Benuxupane. It’s in the same area that you raided for Viggo’s cure. I’ve authorized a team to go after it.”

“Oh… Isn’t that risky? It’s only been a few weeks since the facility was hit… hell, we blew up a warehouse. Wouldn’t security be increased?”

Desmond held up a hand. “I’ve considered this, of course, and I think the team can pull it off.”

“But Viggo and his program—”

“Will continue, uninterrupted,” Desmond said and I wondered if she could appreciate the irony of her interrupting me with that statement. “And just for your edification, I spoke with Mr. Croft and told him his month started today… I wanted to tell you about the Benuxupane because of what happened after we implemented the other pills. I figured you would want to be informed. But until I am sure that Mr. Croft’s program is effective and can be replicated and sustained, I need to have a backup plan in place. I want you to know that I am rooting for your friend’s method to work. I don’t like the idea of exposing the boys to another experimental drug if I don’t have to.”

I found it interesting that she shared similar concerns about the Benuxupane as Viggo did.

I turned my gaze back to the boys. “So… uh, how goes the war effort?” I asked, only half-joking.

Desmond gave me a look from the corner of her eye and then leaned back with a contemplative expression. “I know you think we can’t do this, Violet,” she said.

I saw no point in denying it—it was what I thought. “Of course I don’t. We’re so few, and Matrus is too massive. Not to mention, if you start something in Matrus, it won’t be too long before Patrus finds a way to join the fight—probably with the goal of claiming Matrus as its own. I know things are bad now… but could you imagine if Patrus was in charge of everything?”

Desmond laughed. “Violet,” she said. “First of all, I appreciate that you are now saying ‘we’ as opposed to ‘you.’ That’s a very positive step, in my mind, that you consider yourself a part of us. But also… that is such a harsh approach to starting a war, and haphazard. You need to look at the bigger picture.”

I stared at her—that was the big picture, as far as I was concerned. “What do you mean?” I asked.

Desmond leaned closer to me, sliding her hands into her pockets. “Imagine you are a mouse. You’re walking around, doing mouse things, when you freeze. You realize that in your wanderings, you’ve stumbled into a clearing, where a massive snake is looking at you like you’re lunch. And then you hear a noise behind you, and you realize another massive snake is looking at you like it wants to eat you, too. What do you do?”

I tilted my gaze up to the roof, trying to puzzle through Desmond’s scenario. She liked it when people figured things out for themselves, but this time, I didn’t have any idea what she was getting at. After a minute, I gave up.

“I don’t know—what do you do?”

Desmond stood to her full height. “You get the two snakes to fight each other,” she announced. “And once they are embroiled in a war, you find your other mouse friends to watch and wait. It doesn’t matter who wins, because once one is gone and the other one is wounded, you and your mice friends can swoop in and kill the last snake.”

With that, she smiled and walked away.

I was frozen, watching her back, her words playing havoc on my mind. It didn’t take much to understand what she was getting at—she was planning on forcing a conflict between Matrus and Patrus, and then moving in afterward to claim what was left.

I felt conflicted. On the one hand, it was a cruel move, one that would leave innocent people caught in the middle. On the other hand… Desmond had demonstrated to me several times the tough calls a leader had to make for the good of her people. As I stared out at the boys, her words weighed heavily on me—which people were the right people to back? Those that lived blindly in the system, accepting it as divine scripture, or the people who had suffered at the hands of the very same system?

I spent a long time watching Viggo with the boys without paying much attention. My mind was alive with circular logic, trying to decide if I agreed with Desmond or not.

27

Viggo

I was just coming out of the shower in the locker room to the side of the playground when Violet came in. I was wearing nothing but a towel, but for once, Violet didn’t pay any notice, which only indicated her current state of mind. She was upset.

She had stayed with me all day, watching me with the boys. I had also noticed Desmond and her chatting a few minutes after my icebreaker lesson, their heads bent in a private conversation. Afterward, Violet had seemed… preoccupied. I had to repeat orders several times, seeing as I still hadn’t gotten the chance to ask Ms. Dale to help me. Desmond wouldn’t allow her to come to me—if I wanted Ms. Dale’s help, I had to go to her.

Violet would call me paranoid, but I still had my suspicions about Desmond, and her