Vengeance in the Veins | ONC2026

Declared dead and stripped of her name, Katrina Mormont survives a decade of brutal servitude under her stepmother's cruelty. When she learns she is to be sold for profit, Katrina escapes into the night, carrying nothing but rage, wit, and the memory of her father's stolen legacy.

Her flight leads her to Edgemond, a struggling silver mining town ruled by Lord Callum Blackburn-a war-forged general elevated to nobility by a grateful king and tasked with resurrecting failing mines that may decide the kingdom's future. Katrina secures refuge in his household as a servant, hiding her lineage and her hunger for justice.

Katrina secretly tracks the mines' progress and feeds information to her father's banker, who has saved a sliver of her inheritance - a stake in the mines. She walks a razor's edge between survival and discovery. Callum, honorable yet dangerously curious, finds himself drawn to the sharp-eyed servant who smiles like someone who has known both grace and ruin.

With silver veins dwindling and the king demanding results, Katrina must decide whether to risk her growing feelings for the lord who could unknowingly restore her fortune or destroy her carefully laid revenge.

ONC Prompts:
#24: Staying as friends feels safe, but that doesn't mean it's the path you're meant to take.
#45: Kings have honor, soldiers are brave, poets have heart, and all I have is rage! (Sound by Naethan Apollo)