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

She gave a long sigh, and then turned around, resting a hip against the rail and folding her arms across her chest. “I’m going to tell you Violet, but you have to promise not to react until after I say what I have to say.”

I nodded in wordless agreement and she sighed again, looking out over her shoulder before replying: “My name is Desmond Bertrand.”

I stared, dumbstruck, as she pulled a familiar piece of paper from her pocket and held it up. “I believe you knew my son,” she said.

“D-Desmond? Lee’s mother?” I blurted, shock rolling over me. “But, that’s a male name—and Lee said that his mother was dead!”

“A lot of people think I’m dead. I went to great lengths to make it look like I died. As for my name—all the women in my family have been given male names. It’s a silly tradition, but one I probably would have followed if I had ever had a daughter.” She gave a smirk, her eyes meeting mine. “Just something to break the gender lines for women and proclaim our equality, I suppose.”

“But—”

She held up a hand, and my protest died on my lips. “Let me finish, Violet.”

I closed my mouth and waited.

“When I escaped Patrus and gave birth to Lee on the river, I knew there was an advantage to be claimed there. I ensured that Lee was given the freedom to choose which nation he wanted, and advocated that he become a spy of Matrus.

“He began training at a young age. He wasn’t very good at the physical aspect of spy craft, but mentally, my son was quite adept. He excelled at lying and convincing others to do what he wanted. A few years later, I wanted another child—without the hassle of marrying or finding a male to help—so I signed up for artificial insemination.

“Around the same time, the testing of Matrian males changed. More boys started being flagged for violent and aggressive tendencies. Before, it had been maybe one in twenty that were taken. Now, it was closer to one in ten. Like so many others, I believed it was a good thing. Lee passed the test with flying colors, which didn’t surprise me. But my second son, Jay, did not, and he was carted off.

“I was beside myself with grief. My son, my sweet baby boy, had been taken by his own country and shipped off to the mines, and I was never going to get to hold him again. Suffice it to say, I was not pleased.

“Neither was Lee. We faked my death together and I headed north, hoping to find and rescue him. I spent one year looking for these mines, and you know what I found? Nothing. It was then that I realized that our government was lying to us.

“I contacted Lee, and he managed to intercept some information about a facility where the boys were sent to. I found sympathizers who had been affected by the changed policy, and I organized them. Together, we broke into the facility. It was an exact replica of this place, but somehow, someone had tipped them off that we were coming.

“At the time, I had no idea what their goal was. I spent years trying to find out. It wasn’t until Lee received orders to retrieve this egg that we got a break. Lee managed to use one of the phone calls between you and Mr. Jenks to infiltrate his system. He couldn’t get much, but what he did get indicated the egg was the final stage of Mr. Jenks’ research.

“Which is why I told my son to steal it. And to leave no witnesses.”

I stared at her, my body tensing. “I see.”

“Violet. Did you kill my son?”

I hesitated under her point blank question. I thought about lying for a second, but then Marina’s grief stricken face crossed my mind. Her words rolled through me like thunder. I couldn’t hide from the things I had done, and I couldn’t lie about them either. Lies were increasingly common, I had learned, which made the truth worth more. I wanted to be worth more too, regardless of how she reacted. I figured it was better knowing than not. “Yes,” I said softly.

Desmond sucked in a deep breath of air and turned around, clutching the handrails tightly. I took a half step back, expecting an attack from her at any moment.

She stayed in that position for a long time, and then slowly turned back around. “Thank you for your honesty,” she said hoarsely.

I froze, unprepared for her response. My brows furrowed in confusion. “Don’t you want revenge? To punish me somehow?”

She gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. “When society believes that an eye for an eye is acceptable, eventually everyone will go blind.” At my expression, she sighed. “It’s not your fault. Not really. I gave Lee the order to terminate everyone involved with the mission.”

“But I—”

“You defended yourself, Violet,” she said. “You had no idea what the big picture was. If I had known how resourceful you were, I would’ve had Lee bring you to me. But to me, you were just another pawn, and I was ready to sacrifice you. It’s not your fault my son is dead—it’s mine.” She held up the letter. “I never knew he felt like a pawn as well, though,” she said wistfully, her fingers stroking over the letter. “I thought he wanted to help me. But it seemed he had other plans.”

It took me a second to understand her cryptic statement. Then I remembered the letter, and how it had described his plan to continue northward.

“He wrote the letter to leave to you,” I said softly, and she nodded, a tear escaping the corner of her eye.

I bit my lip, taking a step back. I couldn’t begin to process everything that was happening. A part of me wanted to retreat back to my room, pull the covers over my head, and forget everything that had happened.

Yet curiosity