The Ranger of Marzanna (The Goddess War #1) - Jon Skovron Page 0,92

the stunned miners aside and took hold of his arm. “I’m one of the wealthiest men in Gogoleth! You can’t do this to me!”

Sebastian’s gaze was piercing, and a strange, terrible eagerness once again welled up within him. “Please say that again. Tell me what I can and cannot do.”

Vysotskaya was clearly more perceptive than the miners had been because he immediately fell silent.

Once they were back outside the mine, Sebastian realized they should have brought a jail wagon to transport all their prisoners back to Gogoleth. Vysotskaya’s carriage was nearby, so they stuffed him and as many miners as they could fit into the carriage, then put the rest on horses with his soldiers.

During the long ride back, Sebastian finally had the opportunity to consider his own actions more carefully. He had lost his temper with the miners. There was no doubt of that. And a leader should never lose their temper. Had it blinded him to other potential solutions? Could there have been a way for him to retain the respect of his men without killing those two miners? And why had he felt that strange eagerness after their deaths, as if he wanted to kill more? The second miner had called him a monster. Was he?

Loaded down as they were, the return trip took longer. It was after sunrise by the time Sebastian trudged wearily through headquarters to make his report to Commander Vittorio. He found the commander in his quarters, stripped down to his undershirt as he meticulously shaved his cheeks and chin with a razor.

“Ah, Captain. Come in,” Vittorio said cheerfully. “I trust your first mission went well?”

“I… I’m not sure, sir,” Sebastian admitted.

“Oh?” asked the commander. “Why don’t you tell me what happened and then I can be the judge.”

So as Vittorio continued to shave, Sebastian told him everything. He spared no details, not even his anger at the miners, because he felt he needed an honest perspective on his actions.

“So you see, sir. I fear I made a mess of things,” he said finally.

The commander had finished shaving by then and was in the middle of buttoning up his jacket. He paused in mid button and looked incredulously at Sebastian. “A mess? Nonsense, my boy. Quite the opposite!”

“R-really, sir?”

“It was a very tricky situation I sent you into, but I knew you could handle it, and you did even better than I imagined. You put down a violent revolt with only two casualties, arrested a man who was grossly abusing his power, and obtained direct ownership of the largest mine in Izmoroz for the empire!” He stepped over to Sebastian and grasped both his shoulders. “Captain Portinari, I couldn’t be more pleased. Job well done!”

Sebastian hadn’t expected such praise, and he was muddle-headed from hunger and lack of sleep, so it was difficult to determine if it was warranted. The commander was not the sort to placate his men or try to spare their feelings. He was a strong man who expected his men to be strong as well. And yet…

“Captain, you still seem distressed.” There was a glint of warning in the commander’s eyes.

Sebastian shook his head and forced a smile. “No, sir. I’m merely tired. It’s been a trying night. I’m pleased that you consider my first mission a success. It means a great deal to me, sir.”

Vittorio nodded in satisfaction. “Excellent. You are dismissed. Go get some well-deserved rest.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Sebastian as he tried to quiet the unease in his heart.

36

The thing that had surprised Galina most since her engagement to Sebastian was the improvement in her relationship with her mother. She and her mother had never been particularly close. Their temperaments and values were strikingly different, and had been even when Galina was young. Her mother had always acted as if this disparity was somehow a failing on Galina’s part, and Galina, not wishing to cause a scene that would inevitably make her father’s life more difficult, had never argued the point.

Fortunately, all of that conflict appeared to be in the past. In fact, it was now a common occurrence for the entire Prozorova family to spend time together in the vast library that was her father’s pride and joy. Little Vanya would sit on the rug by the fire and play with the toy imperial soldiers that Commander Vittorio had given him on his last birthday. Galina’s mother would stretch out on the sofa with her knitting and talk in a gentle and bubbly stream about