My Name Was Crossed Out, So I Wrote the List Myself

"Your Highness, your military register lists 1,101 people." "But there are only 628 standing at the city gate."

Lillian Moratius, a baroness of a collateral branch of the vampire royal family, spent twelve years building the Seventh Border Legion into a force of five thousand. Then an order arrived: the legion was reassigned, her name erased, and only one instruction left behind: "Remain on site. Do not leave without permission."

She did not protest.

With the 628 people who actually showed up, two battered cannons, and a forged ledger, she crossed the frozen Dnieper River to defend a fortress half in ruins. Others relied on cavalry and magic. She relied on roll calls and bookkeeping. Rations, pay, matchcord, and how many people could still survive another day, all entered into the register one line at a time.

Before spring, she would write herself back onto that list.