---
Mia said nothing until the very end. Then she leaned in, eyes on the ring of chalk dots that marked the dead.
"Write that we will eat and drink before we pick up the next stone," she said. "Put someone in charge of sleep. Make it an order. Men who decide to be heroes at night die as fools in the morning."
"Luna runs sleep," Kai said immediately.
Luna inclined her head, accepting the burden with the same calm she used to lift a sleeping child.
Thea cleared her throat. "I will walk the wall where no one thinks I will," she said. "Sometimes a sister's eyes catch the thing a soldier's eyes love too much to see."
"You will not lecture my men when they bleed," Kai said, almost smiling.
"I will only embarrass them after the danger passes and in private," Thea said. "Usually."
