The Gender Game 2 by Bella Forrest (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

been a successful test, more would be created and implanted into the women of Matrus.

He had even managed to prevent the embryo from dropping a chromosome and becoming male, ensuring that every implantation would result in an enhanced female.

No wonder King Maxen had wanted it. It represented a very real threat to the continued existence of Patrus.

Of course, the selfish king had then tried to duplicate the technology, probably planning on having his best scientists reverse engineer the process. He had to have had a spy on the inside, someone close to the project, feeding him data. It didn’t matter, though, Violet and Lee had stolen it back.

I could now understand why Lee wanted to keep it out of both nation’s hands. It was too dangerous for any one nation to control exclusively. Of course, why he had determined to steal it as opposed to destroying it was still a mystery to me.

Looking over at Ms. Dale, I felt a wave of rage wash through me.

“So. Selina and Marina. How were they enhanced?”

She gave me that blank face again, and I resisted the urge to shout at her. I took a deep breath and shook my head, pulling myself up to a standing position. A rush of dizziness came over me, and I swayed back and forth for a moment before it passed.

“You are going to collapse soon,” she replied dryly.

I shook my head, holding up a hand to her. “That may be true,” I grunted. “And then you’ll be able to kill me. But until I do, you are going to answer my questions.”

“No. I won’t. I’ve told you more than I intended to. You’ve just learned a great deal of information, much of it I don’t want, or need, to know. Take that, and run.”

I shook my head. “Not until you tell me about Lee’s contact.”

Her face tightened again, the mask coming down like a massive gate.

Frustrated, I slammed my hand against the desk, satisfied when she jumped in surprise.

“You are, by far, the most infuriating Patrian male I have ever met,” she said icily.

I opened my arms. “And you, Melissa, are the most irritating Matrian woman I have ever met. You play these games like somehow you can play both sides at once, never seeing that you are toying with human lives. What you did… I don’t know how you live with yourself. I don’t even know why you told me what you told me. All I know is that you are going to get Violet killed.”

She stared at me disdainfully, and gave a little sniff. “I’ve helped you more than I should,” she hissed, standing up. “I’ve put everything I believe in aside to help Violet. But you can’t ask me to turn my back on my own civilization. I already feel sick enough revealing what I have to you, Patrian.”

I gaped at her for a moment. “I really don’t understand you. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if I’m Patrian and you’re Matrian. Not when both sides are wrong.”

“What do you suggest we do? Flee to The Outlands? No one has ever returned, and I don’t know about you, but I like being alive. I like what I do. If Patrus gets its hands on the egg—”

“It would be just as bad if Matrus did. We need to destroy it.”

“You can’t!”

“Try to stop me,” I replied.

We stood glaring at each other for a moment, neither of us backing off, or willing to admit that the other had some points.

I had to imagine that this was how it had been at the birth of our two civilizations. One man and one woman in a room, arguing about who was right, both too proud to admit that the other did have a point.

Of course, Ms. Dale was deep into propaganda territory, as far as I was concerned. She truly believed that women would have a better handle on enhanced abilities than men did. I, on the other hand, knew enough about the nature of people to know that if they had any type of power, they would inevitably abuse it, regardless of their gender.

Just then, a loud clang sounded from the staircase upstairs. Ms. Dale and I exchanged looks for a split second.

I rushed out of the office, looking for something to jam the door mechanism. Ms. Dale was hot on my heels.

“The cuffs,” she cried, holding her wrists out to me. I fumbled in my pocket, pulling the key out. I unlocked them quickly, and she rushed over to the door, using the cuffs to stop the mechanism mid-turn. I heard a screech of outrage on the other side.

“So sorry, Marina,” I said through the door. “We aren’t ready to have guests yet. Come back in a few days, and we’ll have dinner.”

The door thudded from Marina’s reply, shuddering in the frame.

“Why must you always antagonize others?” Ms. Dale muttered.

I shrugged, and then grabbed on to the counter as another wave of dizziness struck me.

Ms. Dale studied me for a few seconds, her mouth pinched, and her brown eyes flitting over me. “You can’t stand against them,” she stated. “We need to run. I’ll help you reunite with Violet. You take her out of here.”

“No,” I replied with a cough.

“No? What is your plan, Patrian? Stand here and distract them with your corpse?”

I shook my head, and hobbled over to the first-aid kit, opening it up. Spotting what I wanted, I peeled the adrenaline patch off my neck. Pulling out three more, I began opening the foil packets with my teeth. Ms. Dale’s brown eyes widened.

“That much adrenaline will kill you,” she said.

“Doesn’t matter. I won’t be able to keep up anyway.” I rested my hands on the table, and glared at Ms. Dale. “You need to get Violet out of here.”

She scoffed. The thudding had increased, and I could hear the groaning of the bolts in the door. Time was running out. “You would trust me with that?”

I shook my head. “Not even remotely. But