The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

see it that way,” Henrik said gently but soberly, his tone delivering the terrible truth. “All they’ll see is enemy soldiers invading their country. To some of them, even knowing that the boys are being controlled, it will seem justifiable as self-defense.”

Violet looked away, then up at me, the wounds in her heart plain in those storm-gray eyes. I squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her that at least I felt her pain and understood it. Like me, Violet felt a responsibility to keep the boys safe. This was made harder by the fact that as long as they were under Elena’s control through the Benuxupane, they were a threat to us, and to Patrus as well. But Maxen’s way was beyond wrong—it was cowardly. And unlike most of the populace, he didn’t have the excuse of ignorance.

The silence spread out over the table for a second, and then Henrik sighed, the sound telling us he was about to let out another uncomfortable truth. “We can’t waste time trying to hunt him down,” he announced grimly. “The biggest threat to us is Elena, and now, it’s a race to see who gets to her first.”

“Who cares?” Drew spat. “I hope they kill each other.”

Mags gave him a warning look and leaned forward, running a hand through the dark mass of her hair. “Why does it matter who gets to her first?”

It was Morgan who answered, her voice soft as she comprehended the situation. “If we want to get the Matrian government to accept the coup we’ve been planning, then Elena has to be taken alive,” she said. “She has to stand trial for what she did, or else… Well, it would look really convenient if she were assassinated, and then all of this information came out accusing her of being a war criminal. The leaders might not be willing to accept it.”

“That could mean a civil war in Matrus, which is something Patrus cannot afford,” Henrik added. “We’re already destabilized, with little to no supplies to carry us all the way through winter. We need Matrus strong, because frankly, we’re going to have to rely on Matrian aid to rebuild. It’s a hard fact, but it’s true.”

“Also, if he manages to kill Elena, you know Maxen is going to make a play for the throne,” Amber added. “And the people here are scared and want stability. If they found out he actually came through and killed her, they’d rally around him in a heartbeat.”

Mags took that in, and then shook her head. “I’m still for hunting him down here. He’d be mad to try to go after Elena with only a handful of men. The palace is heavily guarded, and even we’ve had a hard time getting anything on it…”

Thomas cleared his throat and shuffled closer to the table. “One of the things they stole from me was a blueprint we recovered from one of the government buildings. It’s a map—likely made by a Patrian spy—that details a series of caves under the Matrian palace. The report theorized they were designed to be some sort of fallout shelter. There are several entrances and exits into the castle, and, most importantly, one exit about a kilometer away from the palace, in a wooded area.”

Mags fell quiet, fiddling with her sling, and then looked at Henrik. “You’re in charge,” she said softly, and Henrik nodded.

“We need to maintain order here, and release a statement of our own to the people. I’ll let Ms. Dale and Thomas brainstorm something up. Viggo, Violet, we’re gonna have to step up your mission. I don’t want to take any chances—we need you out of here in case he is stupid enough to try to come back and claim this place first. We don’t want the mission to fail because you were caught up in a firefight here.”

“We need to question all the guards who were on duty when he escaped,” Ms. Dale added. “I need to find out if anyone who wanted to join us is actually associated with the Porteque gang. I wouldn’t put it past them to try some espionage.”

“How are you going to do that?” asked Logan, and Ms. Dale met his gaze, and forced a smile onto her lips. Logan seemed to need no more information from her. “Right. So what should the ones not going into Matrus do?”

“We need to heighten patrols,” said Mags. “If there’s a Porteque element still around, we’ll need to patrol the streets more, and use two heloships instead of one as support. What happened last night showed us how little it takes to overwhelm our patrols.”

“We’ll also need to increase guards on this compound,” Ms. Dale added. “Even consider moving to another building in another part of town.”

“There’s not really another good place to store and hide eleven heloships,” Henrik pointed out, and Ms. Dale grimaced and then nodded in agreement. “We’ll have to stay here for now, but I think we’ll be fine. Maxen is desperate to win back the support of the people, which means he won’t start with us… He’ll just make us obsolete once we lose their support.”

“If he succeeds,” Mags amended, unnecessarily. “There’s no guarantee of that. I’ll go get started on the patrols.”

She stood up and left, Drew by her side, and Logan a few steps behind—although he lingered for a few moments.

Ms. Dale watched them go, arching an eyebrow. “So I’ve got to start questioning the guards, provided the meeting is over?”

“It apparently is,” Henrik grumbled, and then nodded. “No, it is. That girl knows when it’s time to exit and get to work. Viggo, Violet—Thomas is going to explain to you the plan for how to get into Matrus. Everyone else was briefed last night after you two… disappeared.” To Henrik’s credit, the knowing pause in the sentence was barely noticeable, but I still saw Violet flush, and squeezed her hand again. “Afterward, send me a finalized list of what you’ll need, and I’ll make sure it’s on