The Ranger of Marzanna (The Goddess War #1) - Jon Skovron Page 0,35

attention. Instead, the majority of her thoughts were focused on what had most certainly been a threat from Commander Vittorio: Ensure Sebastian’s continued cooperation, or things would get unpleasant.

This was comforting knowledge, inasmuch as all knowledge was to some degree an assurance. She now knew Vittorio to be a snake, and that the commander could in no way be counted upon for any kindness that did not in some way further his own purposes. For her son’s sake, as well as her own, she would need to form other alliances to fall back upon should the need arise. Alliances that could not easily be broken.

“What a dear thing Galina is,” she said, cutting short Inessa’s moment-by-moment account of a recent event at the Grand Northern Ballroom.

“Sorry?” Inessa blinked in confusion for a moment at the sudden change in topic. Then she looked at her daughter, who sat scrunched into the corner of the carriage with her face in a book as if the rest of the world didn’t exist, and her expression became even more confused. “My Galina?”

“Yes of course, silly.” Irina smiled. “A precious flower among weeds.”

“She’s a clumsy, galumphing beanpole, too long of limb and narrow of chest. I keep telling her that if she only smiled now and then, she might catch someone’s attention. She does have a pleasing face, after all. But as you can see, it’s always buried in her precious books.”

Irina affected surprise. “You mean to tell me that she has no suitors?”

“Not a one!” Inessa began wringing her hands, a forlorn look marring her painted beauty. “Oh, Irinushka, it’s such an embarrassment. You would not believe how often it comes up in conversation. At every party!” Her eyes narrowed resentfully. “Lady Volkov, Lady Gusin, even Lady Ovstrovsky! You’d think they’d stop inquiring by this point, but they never fail to mention it, the scurrilous harpies! It’s enough to make a mother weep.”

Indeed, Inessa’s eyes did seem to be tearing up. Irina supposed that to someone like her, it might truly seem like a profound burden.

“I apologize for bringing up such a tender subject, Ina,” she said. “I suppose I am only surprised because I am certain Sebastian would adore her.”

“Truly?”

Conflict washed across Inessa’s face, as if she was trying to decide if Irina was only saying it to be polite, or if the statement could be taken in earnest. Poor Inessa. Even after a lifetime among the nobility, she didn’t understand that nothing could ever be taken at face value.

“My goodness, yes!” Irina let out a wistful sigh. “I love my son more than life itself, of course, and it’s true that his abilities make him a tremendous asset to the empire.” She gave Inessa a plaintive look. “But you’ve met the poor boy. So thoughtful and shy, without any experience in courtly graces. And I can never decide which is more delicate, his health or his heart. He has far too many qualities of the dreamy poet, and not nearly enough of the gallant gentleman.”

Inessa’s expression took on what passed for a shrewd look on her part. “Those society girls would eat him alive. You remember how they can be.”

“Precisely!” said Irina. “No, I can’t allow that. He’d be simply miserable. But I fear that unless he finds another gentle soul with whom he can entrust his tender emotions, he will live and die a lonely bachelor, and I will never be a grandmother.”

“There, there.” Inessa leaned across the carriage and patted Irina’s hand comfortingly, although the shrewd look had not left her eyes. “You still have Sonya to provide grandchildren.”

Irina’s bitter laugh was genuine. “I’d have more luck hoping for a midwinter thaw.”

Inessa made a show as if an idea had just occurred to her. “Wait a minute, my dearest Irinushka! What if we were to put our two unconventional young people together? Do you think it might lead to something… romantic, thereby solving both our woes?”

Irina pretended to consider that a moment. She glanced over at Galina, who seemed so engrossed in her book that she appeared oblivious to the fact that they were discussing her future. But for a moment, her eyes flickered to Irina’s, and a rosy blush crept onto the girl’s cheeks. In extolling Sebastian’s “flaws” within earshot of Galina, Irina hoped she had in fact listed the young woman’s most valued attributes. She was pleased to know she still had a good eye for character.

This might just work. Sebastian, like all young men, could use a