The Gender Game Read online

  As Lee sped up, I held him tighter. This was the first time I'd been on a motorcycle. He could probably tell from the pressure of my fingertips against his shoulders.

  We joined a highway and to the left of us, more suburbs slipped away. To our right was apparently the beginnings of Patrus City— a halo of orange light overhung a sea of densely-packed buildings. Buildings, tall and short, wide and narrow; shops, arenas, eateries, offices, houses.

  Then Patrus' famed Crescent River came into view. It acted like a moat for the king's residence, a magnificent five-turreted stone palace built against the cliffside of a mountain. The river set the king's home aside from the rest of the city, on its own little island.

  Lee forged onward and began a route that led us into the foothills of the mountains. We wound upward, higher and higher, and began to pass more residences, albeit at longer intervals. These houses were all very different and more extravagant than any I'd seen so far. Spanning four levels, they were stark white and triangular-shaped, their walls more glass than brick. Racing cars and powerful motorcycles filled the driveways.

  Higher and higher we climbed, until we had gained a bird's eye view of the ground: the glittering city to the north, the eastern and southern suburbs… and Veil River, so far away now in the distance.

  Finally, Lee pulled into the empty driveway of a triangular villa identical to all the others that lined this mountainside. The only distinguishing factor about his was a neatly trimmed row of flower bushes lining the ground floor.

  As Lee stalled the motorcycle, he slid off and I stepped off after him, steadying my knees as the gravel crunched beneath my feet.

  His crop of black hair was mussed from his helmet and draping down near his eyes. He slanted a glance at me, then gestured to the front door. "Shall we?"

  We approached the entrance and barking erupted from behind the door, making me jump. As we stepped into a dark hallway, a large shaggy brown dog leapt up at me, front paws against my waist. I patted the dog's head awkwardly. I didn't have much experience with animals. The canine's tongue wagged, swiping at my wrists.

  "Come on, Samuel," Lee muttered, slipping a hand through the dog's collar and pulling him into an open doorway before shutting him inside. "Sorry," he said with a roll of his eyes. "He doesn't get visitors very often."

  He switched on a light, and led me through to a spacious open plan kitchen-dining room. The floors and ceiling were wooden, as was the kitchen table. A beam hung over it, dangling half a dozen pans. A granite counter stretched the length of one wall, immaculately clean and tidy. White blinds were drawn against the wide windows.

  Lee removed his jacket and hung it over a high-backed chair, revealing his true physique. It was slimmer than his bulky coat had made him out to be, but I guessed fairly attractive.

  I wasn't wearing a coat. Just a plain, long-sleeved top and black pants. I sure hoped that he did have clothes sorted for me. I didn't even have a change of underwear.

  "Can I get you something to eat or drink?" he asked, drawing up a chair for me.

  "Uh, a drink, please. Just water."

  He filled up a tall glass from a crystal canister and handed it to me. His lips curved again in another fleeting smile. The thought that he might be as nervous as me about this whole situation brought me a thread of comfort.

  I had to remind myself that he was not like the other men in Patrus, even if he pretended to be to the outside world. He belonged on the other side of the river, my side. He was a Matrian male. He should understand what I was going through in coming over here.

  "So," he said, breathing out. "Welcome, I guess."

  "Thanks," I said, letting out my own stifled breath.

  With both of us sitting opposite one another beneath the bright kitchen spotlights, perhaps he felt as bare as I did. As awkward and exposed.

  "How was the journey?" he asked, pouring a glass of water for himself.

  "It was fine…" I struggled to embellish my answer.

  "Do you have my picture with you?" he asked. "And my letter of recommendation?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay. You may as well hand those back to me. You only needed to carry them in the unlikely event that you were stopped by someone before I met up with you on the dock."

  Lee had placed my suitcase on the floor near my feet. I stooped down and retrieved the gray folder, handing it to him.

  "Thanks." He glanced briefly inside it before stowing it away in one of the kitchen drawers. He resumed his seat and placed his hands on the table, twisting his silver watch. "So, I'm sure you want to know more about me."

  "Um, yes."

  "My full name is Lee Desmond Bertrand. Named Lee by my father, Desmond by my mother. I am twenty-five. On paper, I'm native to neither Matrus nor Patrus. In fact, I was born in the middle of Veil River. Literally. My mother was fleeing from Patrus to Matrus to give birth to me, but timing was not on her side."

  He paused to sip from his water.

  "Why was she fleeing?"

  "Her relationship with my father was a tumultuous one. She had wanted to move back to Matrus even before she fell pregnant with me, but my father forbade it. He wanted me to be born in Patrus. Being a migrant and a woman, there was nothing she could do at the time except go along with her husband's wishes, obviously. But she plotted an escape the night she went into labor, a plot that went horribly wrong… I was lucky to have survived."

  "Did she survive it?" I wondered.

  "Yes. She died a few years back."

  "Oh, I see. So… you have no true nationality?" I posed.

  "I have allied myself officially with Patrus, though my loyalty has always been with Matrus, like my mother's was. My mother was spotted on the river by a Matrian the night she gave birth, and she and I were taken to the city hospital. I managed to spend the first ten years of my life in Matrus—and they were my happiest years—before my father reclaimed me. But in the strict sense of the term, yes, you are correct…I have no true allegiance to any nationality."

  "And how did you become… this?" I asked.

  "Let's just say I was still young when I came here, and my father's position was of great benefit to me… Honestly, the less you know about this particular subject, the safer you and I will both be."

  I pursed my lips. "I see."

  He glanced around the kitchen. "I've been in this residence for the last three years. I live alone with Samuel, with no siblings or family in general to bother us. My father died a year ago… My duties are down in the lab, near the palace. It takes about half an hour to commute by motorcycle, depending on the time of day. I will be out a lot during the week, sometimes also at the weekend."

  "What sort of work does a scientist in Patrus do, exactly?" I asked. "I read about a pharmaceutical King Maxen has commissioned development on…"

  "Yes. Patrus is trying to become as proficient as Matrus in the fields of biology and medicine. King Maxen wants to catch up, become as competent in them as Patrus is in architecture and engineering… But the new king has no intention of playing fair, of building from scratch based on their own research and merits. He wants a head start. Upon his ascendance to the throne, infiltrating Matrus' lab was a logical first step. He wants to reverse-engineer what was taken in the raid and work out how to recreate it… Of course, he knows that there's not much Matrus can do to fight back; he uses Queen Rina's reluctance—and practical inability—to start a war to his advantage."

  I lowered my brows. "In all the years you've been undercover, what sort of missions have you been on for Matrus?" I couldn't help but ask, even though I suspected that he would be reluctant to answer.

  "Never a mission, per se," Lee replied. "So far, the necessity hasn't arisen. I have been Matrus' eyes and ears, reporting back what I see and hear from the higher levels of the patriarchy, so they can plan and take action accordingly on their side. That's why you're here to assist with the task ahead, because I cannot do everything on my own. And I can't be caught. My presence here and the t
rust the authorities have in me are extremely important to Matrus.”

  He lapsed into silence, his blue gaze still on me. I wondered whether he wanted me to talk about myself a bit, though I was sure that he'd already been told everything about my history.

  "I-I understand… Will there be some sort of test by the authorities for how well you know me?" I asked. "Or how well we know each other? Before we're allowed to, uh…"

  "Marry?"

  I was glad that he spared me the word. "Yes," I managed, heat creeping to my cheeks.

  He shook his head. "Sometimes it is required. But it won't be in my case." He swallowed the last of his water, surprisingly cool about the subject. I ought to be like that, too. This wasn't a real marriage. It was just an arrangement. An arrangement that would allow me to stay safely in Patrus, and that would be annulled as soon as our job together was done.

  "I noticed you didn't shake my hand, back on the dock," I said, changing the subject. "Is that something you don't do here?"

  "It's not something that's done between the sexes." He heaved a sigh, pushing his glass aside. "There is a lot that you're going to need to pick up on while you're here… This is going to be a long discussion. Are you sure you don't want something to eat?"

  I was feeling less nervous now than when I'd first come in. I realized that I was hungry. I definitely could stomach something. "I'll eat," I acquiesced.

  He rose to his feet with a smirk. "And that brings us to another 'don't': Don't ever tell anyone that I've cooked for you."

  9

  Lee's dinner was delicious — no doubt the freshness of the produce contributed a lot to the flavor. The food was simple, with basic herbs and spices, and the core ingredients were enough to make it take off.

  I ate more than I had intended to and after I finished, I found myself leaning back in my chair, holding my stomach.

  He eyed me with amusement, setting down his own fork. "Had enough?"

  "Yeah. Thanks."

  He hadn't wanted to talk much over dinner. Maybe because he hadn't wanted to ruin my digestion, but now his mood became more serious.

  "There are a lot of rules you're going to have to absorb. A lot to bombard you with at once. But I plan to keep you under my wing as much as possible. You'll learn the ropes as we go about our activities. You'll never go out alone, and when I'm gone, you'll stay in the house with Samuel and not answer the door to anybody."

  It sounded like what I was used to: a prison life. I wondered how different my days would end up being on this side of the river, after all.

  "Tomorrow we will have a tight schedule," Lee went on. "In the morning, I'll need to take you shopping. In the afternoon, we have an appointment in the marriage hall. We will sign the papers and be wed. Then, in the evening, I'm going to take you into the lab to meet my associates and, most importantly, show you around."

  My head spun. A tight schedule was an understatement. "Your associates… you've told them about me already, I assume?"

  "In brief," he replied. "I told them the same day I found out you were coming over here. It wasn't really a surprise to anyone that I should keep it a secret; I'm not exactly known to be a talkative person when it comes to my personal life… Anyway, don't worry about them. They won't be very interested in talking to you. Men don't talk much to women here — they'll ask a few polite questions, and that will be that."

  "Won't they be suspicious that you're bringing a Matrian girl into the lab?"

  "We won't stay long enough to cause suspicion," he replied. "We'll do a quick walkabout and then head off. But it'll be enough to give you a bearing on the place."

  After another pause, he stood up. "Wait here," he said.

  He headed out of the room while Samuel padded inside. The dog wagged his tail and nuzzled his head against my knees before slipping it onto my lap. He sat down in front of me, and I stroked his ears until Lee returned.

  Lee was carrying a red folder, which he laid on the table. One by one, he pulled out what appeared to be profiles of a dozen men, each sheet containing a headshot along with personal data.

  "These men will be obstacles in retrieving the egg from the lab." He tapped a finger on the photograph in the center of the table in front of us, a photograph of a young man who looked more beast than man compared to the others who, although tough-looking, were fairly well-groomed. His dark brown hair draped down to his shoulders in waves. His forehead was low and wide, his face rough and unkempt. But he struck me as handsome in spite of his roughness. I was instantly attracted to his physical appearance—something I couldn't say in the case of the other men scattered over the table, or Lee for that matter. His deep-set eyes radiated a fierce green even in the photograph. "Viggo Croft" was his name.

  "These are the wardens in charge of security surrounding the labs and the palace," Lee said. "They have received the highest level of training Patrus has to offer. They are the best of the best when it comes to protection around here. You'll often spot them roaming the border of the Crescent. Especially Viggo. He's the chief coordinator and very little gets past him… He resigned from the force about a year back, due to 'irreconcilable differences' with the man who was chief at that time—he clearly has a strong independent streak—but got himself into a spot of trouble with the law while he was on leave. At the time, King Patrick struck a deal with him that if he returned to the force to work for the next four years without pay, the infraction would be expunged."

  "What was the infraction?" I asked, feeling a spike of curiosity.

  "Obstruction of justice,” Lee replied.

  That had been my first infraction.

  "Anyway," Lee continued, "the point is, he's not managing the security by choice at the moment. It's a service that he's forced to perform in order to avoid jail."

  He paused, eyeing the papers. I wasn't sure how Lee's "point" was actually relevant to the task at hand.

  "So… guards are always around? Day and night?" I asked.

  "More or less."

  "Then how exactly do you plan to retrieve the egg if they're constantly stalking the place?"

  Lee sat back in his chair. "With difficulty… But we'll take this one step at a time. Tomorrow in the lab, I'll show you the location of the egg, and then we'll discuss the next step."

  His response didn't sit right with me. I didn't like being fed information in dribs and drabs. "I'm not a Patrian woman," I reminded Lee while keeping my tone polite. "I'd like to know the full extent of my role in this mission."

  Lee breathed out. "I understand that, Violet. But I'm saying this for your own sake. I don't want to overburden you with so much information now. You've just arrived."

  Hm. Maybe he was right that I ought to give myself a bit of landing time. I needed to know more about the mission, more about the risks and the dangers that I was about to be thrust into, but if he told me everything that was on his mind now, I doubted I'd get a wink of sleep, and I needed to be fresh for the day ahead.

  Deciding not to press, I glanced back down at the profiles. "Are you on speaking terms with these men?"

  "Yes," Lee said. "Though I try to stay under their radar as much as possible, in case you haven't gleaned that yourself by now."

  "Have you ever met King Maxen?"

  He nodded darkly. "Yes, a few times. I've been summoned to visit him before along with other members of the board."

  "What's he like?"

  Lee grimaced. "He's everything that you've read about in the papers. Ruthless and fiercely intelligent, with a demeanor personable enough to influence people and get things done. A deadly combination."

  We lapsed into another stretch of silence as I gazed through an open window and down at the mountain.

  Samuel let out a snore. He had fallen asleep with his head still on my lap.

  "Maybe that's our cue." Lee chuckled.

  I slipped myself out from beneath the dog, lowering his head to the carpeted floor against his paws before heading out of the sitting room with Lee.


  So far, Lee had given me no reason to feel uncomfortable around him or think that our relationship would be anything but businesslike and perfunctory, the same as if he'd been a woman. In fact, his personality struck me as rather flat and bland (something that was not uncommon among Matrian males).

  But even in spite of the ease I'd come to feel around him, my heart couldn't help but quicken as we climbed the staircase to the next floor.

  He's going to give me my own bedroom, right?

  Thankfully, as we arrived on a landing, he took a right turn and led me to what was clearly a guest bedroom, containing a single bed. The view from here was prettier than downstairs. I even spied a stream flowing near the road that I hadn't noticed before.

  "There's a single outfit for you to wear tomorrow in the cupboard, along with a night dress and underwear," Lee told me, pointing to a mahogany chest of drawers in one corner of the room. "Hopefully they'll fit. Tomorrow, we'll equip you properly."

  “All right."

  "Well, I'm heading to bed," Lee said, backing out of the room. "See you in a few hours."

  After we bade each other good night, he closed the door behind him. I moved to it instinctively, searching the back of it for a lock. There wasn't one.

  Although I felt almost guilty for it, I found myself dragging a chair to the door and barricading it… taking a page out of Josefine's book.

  10

  I woke up to the sound of drilling drifting up from somewhere beneath me. I was in a daze as my eyes shot open and I took in my strange surroundings. Then I remembered. I'm in Patrus.

  My head ached dully as I headed to the bathroom. I'd eaten too much last night and I felt dehydrated. I drank from the cold water tap before washing and looking at my outfit, which turned out to be a modest blue dress that stopped just below my knees, and a light gray woolen cardigan. I rarely wore dresses even before I was incarcerated, but this one wasn't too bad. The bra was too large, however. I strapped it on anyway before pulling on the dress and buttoning up the cardigan. Lee had also helpfully provided me with a watch, made of silver like his.