I shook my head. I probably should have looked it up, but it hadn’t seemed as important to me when Viggo was in his coma and Tim was struggling to fit in.
Leaning forward, she rested her chin on her hand and sighed. “I really expected more from her, Desi,” she said, and Desmond shrugged.
“I never said she was bright—that distinction belongs to her better half.”
“What is going on?” I demanded, coming to my feet.
Elena sighed and waved her hand, and Tabitha’s hand came down on my shoulder, forcing me down with a strong squeeze. Drumming her fingers on the table, Elena eyed me. I glowered back.
She laughed then, a chiming sound that was almost child-like, and leaned forward. “You have been the fly in my ointment, Violet, so I think it’s only right that I share with you a few things… Before I have you executed as an agent of Patrus, who attempted to kill me and several women in an unprovoked attack.”
“What? Why?”
“Honestly, I rarely get the opportunity to be honest with anyone. When Mr. Jenks made me, he made me to be smart. Very smart. By five, I could read as if I were ten or eleven. I was solving algebraic formulas at six. Everyone was so proud. Until they realized the downside of the treatment. Each one of us got our own slew of problems. Tabitha has a short temper and a thirst for violence that I don’t think will ever be sated. Lena can’t be touched. Ever. And I? I’m what you would call a sociopath. Do you know what that is?”
I shook my head and she leaned closer, as if she were telling me some deep dark secret. “It means that I don’t feel things the way you do. Love, happiness, guilt?” She laughed then, that same delighted laugh as before, only it sent shivers down my spine, warning me of impending danger. “I feel none of those. I am… unburdened by them. It gives me clarity of focus.
“When I was twelve, I realized that I was going to be queen. And it made me curious about the queens of the past. So, I studied and read every bit of history and news that I could find about them. And do you know what I found?” She nodded encouragingly at me, her smile bright. I met her gaze and shook my head again. “Nothing worth reading about,” she said, her voice dropping lower.
She stood up and moved back over to the window. “Our ancestors didn’t come here to survive, Violet. They came here to thrive. Every queen, including my mother, was a stopgap. A way of maintaining the status quo. The only interesting thing my mother ever did was make me and those like me. And that was enough for me to formulate the beginnings of a plan.”
Turning back toward me, she leaned against the window sill. “Desmond has always been working for me,” she announced.
Although the truth had begun to dawn on me the moment Desmond had appeared here, as Elena spoke, it felt like all the oxygen had been drained from the room and I was in free fall, about to impact with the ground. My mind rattled with all the implications, sweeping through my memories to find any clue that I had somehow missed in my time around Desmond. I kept returning to one memory – the delayed timer hooked to enough explosive to bury the entire facility. Thomas had mentioned a code... did that mean Desmond had it? Would she have entered it if we’d failed? Then there was the propaganda that Desmond had been feeding the boys. That had been against Matrus as well as Patrus. Why?
The queen chuckled, kicking her feet against her skirts in a childish way. “Worth all the headaches you caused me, to see that expression on your face.”
As I stared back at her in horror, she blew out. “My mother had done a great, yet terrible thing. I knew she would feel guilty eventually, so I started… putting things into motion. First, I had the egg stolen—by Desmond. She handed it over to a Patrian operative, and threw my mother’s operation in jeopardy. My mother tapped you to go get it, but then things went sideways… Clearly, Lee was not as loyal as his mother. Desmond hadn’t believed my doubts about him, but who could blame her—he was her precious son. Still, it was easy enough for me to see, which was why I predicted he would go against orders and kill the queen while leaving King Maxen alive… Of course, he believed that Mother was the queen that Desmond was always talking about. The fool.”
Desmond’s face was stony as Elena moved away from the window and over to the bookcase, where she ran her hand over the books’ spines. “No plan ever survives first contact,” the queen continued, “so a lot of what happened afterward was a bit of a race to get what you possessed, and bring you in for a nice grand public execution. Desmond let me know that you had popped up, and I ordered her to do just that. However, she saw something more in you, a tool that could be used to help us. And you helped us, Violet… You got us the Benuxupane.
“To be honest, I didn’t realize what Maxen intended it for… He is clearly smarter than I’ve given him credit for. But after learning about what it could do for the boys, I knew we needed it. You see… your involvement in the whole affair has forced us to adapt and change our plans. I was hoping to have more time to force the relationship with Patrus to deteriorate, while giving Desmond and her merry band of fools a chance to tame the boys—my thanks to your Mr. Croft for assisting us there.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter though—even though you stopped the bombing today, it still counts as a threat to the queen at one of the most sacred rituals of our people. With the Benuxupane, we have control over the boys and most importantly… we have you and Mr. Croft. The two malicious agents who confessed to being Patrian agents all along, trying to undermine the Matrian way of life.”
Elena stepped close to me and reached out to stroke a lock of my hair. I flinched back, my skin crawling, and she smiled.
“So, thank you, Violet,” she whispered. “Without you, none of this would have been possible.”
I looked away from the queen and stared at Desmond for several moments. My brain now felt paralyzed, my mind stunned by all the revelations that had just been dropped on me.
But then, surprising myself and the women before me, my lips slowly curved upward in a smile.
I wasn’t sure why I was smiling. I just felt such a cold rage begin to consume me—over everything Elena had said, every lie I had believed—that I suddenly felt unpredictable. Dangerous. Manic, even.
Concern flickered in Desmond’s eyes, which only caused my smile to grow.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Elena’s head start to turn away, and before I could think twice, I jolted to my feet in one powerful, fluid motion. Elena jerked her focus back to me, and I felt a rush of pleasure at the alarm on her face as I lunged for her, my fist making contact with her nose.
She flailed back with a shriek and her foot caught on the train of her dress. There was a sound of fabric ripping as she tumbled to the floor. I whipped around and saw Tabitha coming toward me, her eyes flat and hard. I leapt onto the table and, before she could defend herself, smashed my boot into her face.
Her howl came like music to my ears. My kick wasn’t enough to bring Tabitha down, but she staggered back, blinded with pain and gripping her nose as trails of blood flowed between her fingers.
I jumped to the floor and raced over to Desmond, who had been distracted with helping Elena.
“I hope you’re listening up, bitch,” I hissed, glaring down at the older woman. “I’m going to get out of here, and when I do, I am going to tear down everything you have built piece by piece. I’m going to stop your war, free those boys from you, and then I’m going to grant your greatest wish.”
Desmond sneered and I heard the doors fly open behind me.
“And what would that be?” she asked.
I moved closer, feeling immense satisfaction as she faltered slightly, and I bared my teeth at her. “I’m going to reunite you with your oldest son,” I said, as I snapped a hand around the back of her neck and slammed her face into a table leg.
Desmond groaning at my feet, I raised my hands and took a step back. Turning, I found myself face to face with six wardens—each pointing a gun at me.
But I wasn’t finished here just yet.
; I glanced over to where Elena was picking herself up from the floor. “And you. You, Elena, I’ll hand over to your younger brothers.”
I watched the queen give me a confused, yet vicious look, and then smiled when I saw the blood drain from her face as my meaning dawned on her.
I returned my attention to the six wardens eyeing me and gestured to the door behind them. “That way back to my cell?” I asked.
The wardens glanced at Elena, who was looking daggers at me, her face cold and hard. “Take her away,” she said as they slapped a pair of cuffs around my wrists.
“I’ll see you later,” I promised the queen, but in my heart I meant soon.
As the wardens led me out of the room and into the hallway, I knew my surge of rage-ignited confidence wouldn’t last and I didn’t know how I was going to escape this place or the execution.
All I knew was that I had to.
For the sake of Viggo, my brother, my family in Patrus, and every single citizen of our God-forsaken nations, I had to stop the war.
Ready for the next part of Violet and Viggo’s story?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for continuing this journey with me - I hope I entertained you with The Gender Lie!
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I’m also happy to say that you don’t have too long to wait for the next book in the series: Book 4, THE GENDER WAR releases February 9th, 2017 .
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It’s going to be a wild ride!
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See you February 9th!
Love,
Bella x
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Also by Bella Forrest
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: The Shade continues with a new hero…
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A Power of Old (Book 38)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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The Gender Lie Page 26