The Ancient’s Game

Kellan DuCuivre is sixteen and descended from traitors. She never knew her family, and she does not know which of her relatives betrayed the isle of Nanseau. Orphaned after the war, she belongs to a class barred from makecraft, the trade of carving magic into metal.

Kellan works at it anyway, in secret. After a tragic miscarve, she has been helping her adoptive father, Edgar, keep his celebrated makeshop running. His condition is worsening and the shop is close to ruin.

To save the shop and Edgar, Kellan makes a dangerous bargain. She will enter a contest against the nation's elite for a place as a maker's apprentice. Danger follows her through the competition. She grows close to the illegitimate son of one of Nanseau's most revered families, while something sinister starts to target the other competitors.

This is young adult fantasy set in a city that is crumbling around its people, with a deadline pressing on every round. The tone is tense and the stakes are personal. Winning means staying alive, and it also means uncovering the buried history of Nanseau and the families who shaped it.