Amongst Embers and Ashes

Set in a queernormative world with 1920's technology, BURNING SCARLET is a YA fantasy complete at 103,000 words. It is a stand-alone novel with series potential, appealing to fans of Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard and those interested in stories following the chosen ones after a war like in So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole. It has a queer cast and will be enjoyed by those interested in found families and a relationship similar to Catradora from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Life on her family farm is all Scarlet Lawson knows. That is, until she accidentally conjures fire that burns her sister's face.

Word of the incident reaches the king, who offers to help Scarlet with her magic at his castle. Once there, she meets others like her: teenagers reincarnated from magical beings known as elementals. The king reveals his motive for wanting to help them with their magic - a ruthless cult terrorises the kingdom that only the elementals are powerful enough to deal with. Once they have better control over their magic, anyway.

But while the other elementals learn to use their magic, whenever Scarlet tries to conjure fire, she thinks about her sister and freezes up. Not even fellow pyro elemental, Zane Marangoz, can coax her magic out. Nevertheless, the two bond, and Scarlet finds Zane's mischievous nature growing less annoying each day. In fact, they make her smile for the first time in ages.

After an assassination attempt on Zane by the cult, the amount of time Scarlet has to master her powers shrinks rapidly. She must confront the blockage in her magic to help protect not only the kingdom, but those she has grown close to. But even with her magic, she might not be ready, especially if the rumours brewing that the cult's leader is secretly alive have any truth to them...