Free The Gender Game by Bella Forrest

and seating himself next to the driver. The car moved forward.
    I gazed through the tinted panels at the quiet city as we sped away toward the dock. I lost track of time, and soon, direction. My eyes glazed over as I attempted to mentally steel myself for what was to come. A risk-filled mission whose details were still a mystery to me, and marriage to a man I'd never even met. I'd never felt more unprepared.
    My stomach grew tighter as I lowered my window to let in the air. It was becoming colder, sharper, and moister. My eyes refocused on the streets of modest townhouses. We were almost at the water.
    Soon, we were driving through the steel gates that led directly to the road that lined the misty dockland. There was only one ferry operating at this time, its round lamps gleamed through the fog of the river.
    I climbed out of the car and Alastair led me to the narrow rope bridge connecting the jetty to the ferry. We stood stoic for a moment, holding each other's gaze.
    "How are you feeling?" he asked. He looked tired and anxious.
    I didn’t want to admit that I was afraid. My feelings were none of his business. I just nodded stiffly.
    "All right," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Remember everything we've told you. We are depending on you, Ms. Bates. Don't forget that."
    I doubted I would.
    He gave me a twitch of a smile before walking away.
    I found it a bit disconcerting that there had not been any talk at all about how I would return to Matrus after the mission. That was a bridge they apparently weren't willing to cross until we came to it.
    As Alastair returned to the white vehicle and the driver pulled away, back toward the safety of the city, I crossed the rope bridge and boarded the boat.
    Other than the captain, who sat in the control cabin with her head buried in a newspaper, there was only one other person on board—an elderly woman wrapped in a woolen shawl near the back. I sat a few rows in front of her and gazed out of the window, my eyes scanning the dark, vaporous waters.
    If only my brother could have boarded one of these, I couldn't help but think. If only he could have made it to Patrus and been accepted there… It would have been relatively easy to arrange clandestine visits with him if he’d resided just across the river—compared to not knowing his whereabouts at all.
    I pulled my thoughts back to the present. Reality.
    Focus.
    "What's bringing you to Patrus?" The old lady behind me spoke up.
    I twisted reluctantly to face her. "I'm, uh, moving there."
    Her eyes bulged. "Are you really?"
    "Yup." Really .
    "Who's the man?" she asked.
    "A scientist."
    "What kind of scientist?" she asked, rising from her seat and moving to a row closer to me.
    I wished that she would have stayed where she was. I wanted to sit in silence, mentally prepare for my arrival, not be hit with a barrage of questions. But I supposed that this would be good practice for me. A test run, to see how well I had memorized, and how naturally I could spout off, all the lies.
    "I can't say, to be honest," I replied. "His work is high-level. He's not even allowed to tell me the details."
    "I see," she murmured.
    Then she fell quiet. Though I could practically hear her thoughts. Because the same thoughts ran through every Matrian's head whenever they came across a woman making the move to the other side.
    Poor thing.
    What a waste.
    She'll never last.
    She offered me a weak smile. "You must really love him."
    Yeah…
    I fixed my attention firmly out of the window to make it clear that I was done talking. When the ferry left the dock five minutes later, we were still the only two passengers. I watched the bank grow further and further away, until the mist became too dense for me to see it anymore. I stood up and walked to the opposite end of the boat. Being a warm night—or morning— it was unpleasantly stuffy inside. None of the windows could be opened, to prevent spray entering the boat. I had never touched the river water