Iron & Ice #ONC2024

"I will become as monstrous as I must."

Five hundred years after the Great Freeze, the empire of Britannia stands, untouchable, as the greatest power in the world. The Britannia that emerged from the Freeze is an empire built of iron and ice, of blood and ash and bone. Its rulers govern a strictly-organized society, with each class serving a purpose and kept strictly separated.

Daphne Corvus has been raised from a frozen hell to the heights of wealth and power for one purpose alone: to become that which she hates the most in order to bring a cruel empire to its knees. If she succeeds, she will see the sister she's lost again; if she fails, she will die, and her sister will be left to suffer

In order to succeed, she must first infiltrate the school where Britannia turns the children of its most powerful families into its greatest commanders. But the Academy is notoriously competitive, and Daphne is far from the only student who needs to triumph.

*This story is my entry for the 2024 Open Novella Contest*