The Gender End (The Gender Game #7)

Owen watched, his fork hovering between his plate and his mouth, and then pushed his piece over to me. “Here, you clearly need it more than I do.”

I laughed, but didn’t hesitate, taking another bite and trying not to roll my eyes back in ecstasy. “Honestly,” I said around a mouthful, “I don’t know why everyone was telling me this was just a simple spread. Everything tastes amazing.”

Owen chuckled and reached out and took my mug, taking a sip. “It’s because you’re happy,” he said. “When you’re happy, everything is just… better. The weather, the food, the air. How is the air, by the way?”

I took a deep breath and then laughed, waving a hand across my nose. “Smells like men used to live here,” I said, and he snorted. We shared a laugh for a moment, and then it dropped off awkwardly.

“Owen, I—”

“Violet, I—”

We both stopped as we stepped over each other’s words, and I leaned back. “You go first,” I said.

“Well, I just wanted to say… I’m sorry.” I frowned, confused, but luckily he continued. “I’m sorry I just left you like that. I mean, what if Morgan hadn’t been a good princess? Or one of those berserkers who drank the water at the plant had gotten you?”

I let out a surprised laugh, and then frowned when he looked up at me, his sincerity lying naked on his face. Letting out a breath, I leaned forward. “Owen, you did the best you could under the circumstances. We all did. That place was awful, and nightmarish, and—”

“You shouldn’t have been alone on that bird,” he insisted angrily, and I shushed him, placing a hand over his.

“Owen, can I say something? I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you’re right.” He blinked in surprise, and I continued. “Absolutely right. As my bodyguard, you failed. But, as my friend, who was willing to sacrifice his life so that I could go in pursuit of the woman who had wronged him, you succeeded. And frankly, that’s all I want from you, and all I want to be with you: a friend, a comrade, a soldier at arms. Someone who, in fifty years, I can say ‘remember when’ to, and you’ll say that you do.”

He sighed, and started to pull his hand away from mine. “Violet, I don’t really think I deserve—”

“Oh, pish posh what you deserve,” I said, not letting him escape my gentle grasp. “Sometimes even you can’t see what you deserve, so you need to trust in your friends to tell you. And I’m telling you, I don’t bestow my friendship or love lightly. It might seem like it… given all the people here who care about me… but they all won it. Hell, even Thomas has won it, and I hated him when I met him. I thought he was cruel and weird.”

A hint of a smile grazed Owen’s face for a second. “In your defense, he can be cruel, and he is weird.”

I laughed, but refused to be derailed. “You need to stop being so hard on yourself, and you also need to go over there and talk to Morgan. She likes you. She likes you a lot.”

His shoulders hunched, and he cast his gaze over to where the dark-haired girl stood, chatting with Drew. Or rather, it looked like Drew was interrogating her. “She… She likes me? Likes likes?”

I blinked, surprised at first by the very childish phrase, and then looked over at Tim, whose face shared a look of bewilderment equal to the one I was sure mine wore.

“You honestly didn’t know?”

He shook his head, his eyes wide. “I… I… I just thought she was being nice.”

Lowering my forehead to the table was dramatic, but it made him laugh, even as I banged my head against the wood a few times. Sitting up abruptly, I looked at him, and then reached out to cup his cheeks.

“Owen. Go talk to her.”

He hesitated, and then smiled, slow and steady. “You know what, I think I will!”

Standing up, he took a minute to run his fingers through his hair, and then moved over toward Morgan. I looked over at Tim, who shook his head at me.

“You right. You will be that wife.”

I laughed—I couldn’t deny it—lightly squeezed his cheek, and looked out at the dance floor. Viggo was now dancing with Ms. Dale, swinging her around the floor while she laughed and then smacked him on the shoulder. They chatted as the music played, something slow and filled with harp sounds, and I smiled. Owen was right. I was happy. “Happy” wasn’t even the word for it. I could feel everything around me glowing with joy, like it was radiating from my insides, impossible to contain, impossible to stop.

Tim and I sat alone for a few more minutes, just enjoying the atmosphere and being next to each other, and then the song ended. Viggo instantly let Ms. Dale go and moved toward my table, his eyes finding mine. Ms. Dale trailed behind him and clapped her hands loudly. The music played on for a second and then was cut off, and Ms. Dale raised her mug.

“Well, we have a few more surprises for you. We have some gifts, which you can open later, if you want, but there’s one very important one that we want to give you now.”

I looked around the room, and watched as Amber and Logan stepped up to join Ms. Dale, followed closely by Owen and Morgan.

“What’s going on?” I asked, and Ms. Dale smiled.

“We’re not letting you go to Patrus alone,” she announced as Thomas pushed forward and came to stand next to Owen. “We’re going with you.”

“And me,” whispered Tim.

“And me,” resonated a deep, familiar voice, and I looked back toward the stairs and gaped.

Solomon took a step forward, and another, moving slowly and steadily. I saw Dr. Tierney standing behind him, a smile on her face, and then I was moving, standing up and racing across the room. I pulled up short, suddenly afraid to touch him, and he stared at me, his dark eyes glittering. He’d shaved, and his hair had been cut. He was wearing pants and a sweater, but they seemed a bit snug on him.

After a moment in which we stared at each other, my mind trying to find words as the events of the attack on the plant played through it again, he simply pulled me into a bear hug.

“Hey, Violet,” he breathed. “Congratulations!”

He lifted me off the ground and then sat me back down, but I kept my hands on his shoulders.

“How… How is this…” The words seemed to dissolve in my mouth, and I looked at Dr. Tierney. “Benuxupane?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“I think… I think they did something to him at the tower,” she said. “I can’t explain it, but when he woke up, he was speaking and behaving as normal. His readings are good and—”

“He’s standing right here, and he wants to officially meet your husband.”

I blinked up at Solomon, my smile growing wider and wider until I felt tears beginning to form. “I… Of course… I…”

“I’m Viggo,” Viggo said helpfully from behind me, and I turned to see him standing there, holding out a hand. “And as I understand it, Violet and I both owe you our lives. Her twice over.”

Solomon took Viggo’s hand and pumped it, hard. “It was nothing,” he rumbled, but his eyes clouded over, and I realized he was remembering everything that had happened, just as I had.

“Solomon, you don’t even know why we’re going to Matrus,” I exclaimed, and he nodded solemnly.