She refused to salute the general. Then she leaned closer and murmured something that made him go still.
Elena held the general’s gaze without flinching. Years of service flickered through her mind—the sweat, the losses, the quiet sacrifices made by her and the soldiers she led. Through it all, she had clung to her principles, the oath she had sworn not just to obey, but to uphold. Those principles tightened her throat now,…