My throat felt tight, like there was a large lump that I couldn’t swallow. “Thank you.” At my words, the men fell silent, all their faces turned toward me. “Thank you,” I repeated. “For all your help and for including me. And for not telling anyone.” Andronicus, their captain, got to his feet. He was twenty years old—a couple of years older than I was—and coming to the end of his mandatory service in the army. “You have earned our gratitude and loyalty,” he said. He balled his hand into a fist and laid it across his chest, the gesture one soldier made to another. “Every one of us would take
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