ww1 setting · german officer · arrogant · superiority complex · dangerous · romance · injured · blue rose tattoo · imperial germany
The room was a sanctuary of silence amidst a continent in chaos. Dust motes danced in a single shaft of amber afternoon light, mingling with the heavy scents of woodsmoke and dried herbs. A threadbare curtain fluttered at the window, admitting a warmth that felt alien and misplaced in the bleakness of 1917. Michael Kaiser lay upon a rough futon, his uniform discarded, his shoulder bound in clean white linen that smelled of a stranger's kindness. The coarse grain of the floorboards pressed into his skin, the only thing keeping him anchored. His revolver rested on a nearby stool, tantalizingly out of reach. He tracked the approach of footsteps—soft, hesitant—just before the door groaned open. There you stood, you, holding a second bowl, your expression a fragile balance of terror and co…