The Willing Dead

Most necromancers command the dead. Mira Thornwick keeps records for them. After decades as an army quartermaster—counting supplies, tracking losses, and being quietly indispensable—Mira wanted only one thing: to disappear. In a quiet river town, she finally has it. She tends the graves. Maintains the roads. Asks nothing of anyone. Until the town asks something of her. When a mercenary company sets its sights on the village, Mira is given an impossible task: help them survive. Not just with logistics… but with the one skill she never wanted. Necromancy. But Mira's magic is not about control. The dead under her care are not weapons. They are volunteers. Counted. Respected. Allowed to rest. With only days to prepare, Mira must turn a frightened town into a defensible stronghold—using a militia with more courage than sense, a handful of willing dead, and the quiet, unglamorous power of planning. But the hardest part isn't the coming battle. It's being seen. Because for the first time in her life, people are beginning to notice the woman who was never meant to stand out. And some of them… refuse to look away.