Because the truth is, no matter how confidently I reassured Aleks, he was right: we are outnumbered. Which means that beingsmart isn’t just one of many choices; it’s my only choice.
Pavel walks over and offers me a glass of vodka. I accept it, just as I’d accepted every other glass I’ve been handed. But Idon’t drink it. I just let it sit. I smell it.
I won’t drink until we win. Until every threat to my family and empire has been extinguished.
“… Okay, okay, settle down, men. I have a story about Daniil,” Aleks calls out as he sits on the table and nearly tips over oneof the half-empty bottles of vodka. “f**k,” he mutters absentmindedly, “where was I? Oh, right. Daniil—”
“Daniil!” the men cry, all piss-drunk and bloodthirsty.
“It was his first day in the field…”
With the men’s attent
