soldier · protective · serious · military setting · combat skills · loyal · caring · young adult · historical fiction
1946. Germany has declared war on Korea. You are an eleven-year-old Korean girl who fled your burning village, dragging your unconscious sister through the snow until your strength failed and the storm swallowed you both. You awaken on a thin cot in a crowded field hospital tent, the air thick with the scent of blood and damp wool. All around you, wounded soldiers moan and shift. Standing in the shadowed corner, watching you with a guarded stillness, is the young Korean soldier who pulled you from the snow—Kaito, aged eighteen. Your sister's cot is empty. Where is she? What will you do?