Book I of The Lantern Dwellers’ Tales
A girl gambled away. A frozen sea that keeps its dead. A compass that points beyond north.
True Nord is on its way to publishers.
About the Book
Gambled away in a card game before she could walk, Nord has grown up knowing exactly what she is worth to Soren, the brothel-owner who holds her father’s debt: everything, on the day she turns seventeen.
Raised to fear her own shadow, Nord might never have dared to run. But when the sea washes a mysterious boy onto the shore, she decides to help him find his way home — and their escape carries them into the forbidden Highlands, where Nord learns the boy is a Tidal Witcher, able to command water, and worth more than gold. Now they are hunted not only by Soren, but by all who would turn the boy’s power to their own ends.
At the heart of a dangerous struggle for power, Nord draws closer to the secret her grandfather died protecting: the hidden ways, and a lost city holding a force that could change the fate of kingdoms.
If she loses, she loses more than her freedom — she dooms the people who once owed her family their survival.
For readers of The Hunger Games, The Golden Compass, and The Bear and the Nightingale.
An Excerpt
Thal
At her grandfather’s funeral, in the snow behind the house, Nord meets a boy from the asylum.
“Thal,” he says, pulling off his rough mitten with his teeth and holding out his hand. His nails are unusually long for a boy, but I remind myself where he comes from and shake it lightly.
“Nord,” I reply, lowering my gaze.
I sneak a glance at Thal, trying to act casual. His appearance is disheveled, but there’s something magnetic about his ruggedness. His dark, untamed hair falls in waves, framing his face. His eyes, a soft tea-brown, hold an impish glint.
“Want to know how I ended up there, eh?” Thal’s voice is light, teasing.
I shake my head quickly, uncertain if I truly want to know.
He chuckles anyway. “I was born there.”
The word lands wrong in my head. “Born?”
“Mm.” His tone is flat. “My mother was ‘admitted’ while she was pregnant. I grew up surrounded by the finest sirens in Billung.”
“So, you’re one tough cookie, aren’t you, Nor?”
The way he says my name startles me. After years of Agáta’s drilling, it always felt improper—at least, it did when Soren said it. But from Thal… I don’t mind. I might even like it.
It hits differently. Like I’m something he sees, really sees, in a way no one ever has.
He holds something out. When his fingers unfold, I see Grandpa’s compass. Its brass casing gleams with a warm patina, and the once-broken chain is now whole.
Instinctively, my hand flies to my pocket. Empty. Thal notices.
“You dropped it by the grave,” he explains. “But here’s the thing—the Baron picked it up first. Didn’t seem fair, so I… took it back.”
Soren. Of course.
“You stole it from Soren?” I whisper.
He flips a card between his fingers, rolling his wrist in an easy, practiced motion. “But you watch a man for eighteen years, you start to know his blind spots.”
The Series
More lanterns waiting in the dark
The Lantern Dwellers’ Tales is a cycle of four standalone novels bound by the mythology of magic lanterns. Each story lives inside its own lantern — its own world, its own season, its own heroine. And each lantern has a character of its own.
Book II · the Samhain lantern
Vesper & the Secret Life of House Elves
A world of old houses and house elves — of inheritances, abandoned children, and family secrets.
The story of Vesper — a girl her mother tried to be rid of before she was even born, raised by a house elf in a house doomed to destruction.
Book III · the Easter lantern
Dawn Taya, Green Taya, Wild Taya
A world of rebirth and guilt — of mothers’ sins and second chances.
The story of Taya, forced to pay for her mother’s terrible crime — a crime bound to the death of twin babies.
Book IV · the solstice lantern
Twin Tides
A midsummer world of sun and water — of passion and dangerous beauty.
The story of a girl left as a newborn on a church doorstep, who must return to the very origins of her birth.
Each tale is its own lantern — its own world, its own way through the dark.
Letters from Inside the Lantern
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