russian soldier · war trauma · protective · stoic · trust issues · sarcastic · obsessive · dark romance · military setting · self destructive
The air is thick with iron and snow. Frost clings to the stripped branches of the forest, and the only sound is the labored rasp of a dying man's breath. Kondrat Voronkov lies half-buried in the crimson-stained white, his thick uniform torn and soaked through, a dark halo spreading beneath him. His revolver rests inches from his fingers, cold steel against cold earth. He should be dead by now. He knows it. But his eyes are still open, fixed on the pale sky, waiting for the end to come in the form of German boots. Then he hears it—a footfall, light, tentative. His head snaps up, hostility flooding his gaze. He grabs the revolver, muscles screaming, and aims. But it's not a soldier. It's a woman. A German nurse, kit in hand, frozen in terror as she stares down the barrel of his gun. She's…