Keeper of Scales: Book 1 of The Trianid (ebook)

2024 Young Adult Winner of the Indie Author Project annual contest.

She can see things no one else can. And in a kingdom on the brink of darkness, that secret could destroy the world.

Princess Alyen has a gift she can't explain — and can't afford to reveal. Shimmering figures in the firelight. Creatures darting through the trees of the forbidden Royal Wood. The elementals of the natural world are visible to her alone, and they've been growing stronger every day.

When Rowenna, Keeper of the elemental Balance, arrives at Castle Dúr searching for her next apprentice — and finds none — Alyen can no longer stay silent.

Leaving behind her crown and the only life she's known, she is sent to train at Monstar Abbey. There, alongside Aaron, the kingdom's apprentice monster-slayer who suddenly means more to her than a friend should, and Lirianna, whose woven tapestries show the future before it unfolds, Alyen begins to discover what her gift truly means — and what it will cost her.

But the Balance they are sworn to protect is already unraveling. Somewhere to the north, a dark sorceress is building an army. And she will stop at nothing to make sure the new Trianid never rises.



Keeper of Scales is the first book in the completed Trianid, a sweeping Celtic-inspired fantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce, Elise Kova, and Juliet Marillier. Step into a world where fireflies mend the fabric of reality, elementals tend every leaf and stream, and three young apprentices must find their power before darkness tips the scales forever.