"We have come to a moment when what we know as goodness and mercy will not be enough to guide us any longer. Your loved ones may not ever understand what you did here today, but they need you to stand for all that is good in humanity." With these words, war hero Benito Sandoval launched one of the most brutal massacres in human history, attacking the undefended colony of Guan-Yu and slaughtering forty thousand of the civilians he had sworn his life to protect. When humanity's fleet arrives, too late to stop the attack, all that is left is ruins--and the cryptic words of a lone alien survivor, warning humanity of the Henth, a race that has devoured everything in its path. Hunted to the brink of extinction, the Aireni were fleeing across the galaxy when they stumbled onto a living weapon with speed, strength, and brutal cleverness: a fragment of humanity on a long-forgotten planet. In desperation, the Aireni set about honing humanity, breeding and modifying the colonists into a weapon that might be the last hope for life in the galaxy. As the human fleet searches the stars for the Henth, they leave the ruined colony behind them. But the colonists have not been destroyed. They have hidden. They have survived. And they know who their enemies are. It is only a matter of time before they return from their exodus to the destroyed city, to find the technology the Aireni left behind. It is only a matter of time before that technology carries them into the galaxy. And then, as the last remnants of the surviving races face down the final advance of the Henth, it is up to humanity to convince a long-lost weapon to come to its aid...

At last, Catwin and Miriel have chosen their own path, escaping the Court and its machinations, and fleeing to the Norstrung Provinces, to aid the rebellion. As they shed the masks and deceptions of their former life, however, both must face the fact that the same dark forces they fled are at work even in the furthest reaches of Heddred. But it is not only avarice and hatred that endanger them-the prophecy made at Catwin's birth is slowly but surely coming true, and betrayal has followed her in her escape from the court. As the shadows of war and rebellion mass, Catwin must face the fact that if she wishes to be true to herself and her alliance with Miriel, it may be she who bears the cost of saving her kingdom...

With Catwin's help, Miriel has captured the heart of the King, but their victory has come at a cost: the suspicion and enmity of the Duke, and the unrelenting hatred of the Court. As they recover from the attempt on their lives, the two form a fragile alliance, promising that their first loyalty is to each other, and that their one goal is to survive. But to survive, Catwin and Miriel need power, and the search for power of their own draws them ever further into the Court and inexorably closer to the throne. Enemies surround them, ruthless and vengeful, and the only way forward is a dark path that threatens to sever them from themselves. For it is not only enemies that are a danger Light and Shadow now, but the weakness of their own hearts. As she protects them both, Catwin struggles against her love for Temar, the Duke's assassin; to capture the King's heart, Miriel must forget both her love for Wilhelm, and her passion belief in the populist uprising. A reckoning is coming, a betrayal that has been in the making for decades, and if they are to survive, both Catwin and Miriel must be prepared to give up everything they hold dear.

It has been only two generations since Arthur Warden seized the throne of Heddred from the Conradines, and now the crown rests on the head of Garad, sickly and weak. Shadows gather: legacies of the centuries-long rivalries for power, old betrayals, the endless plots of the courtiers, and the murmur of rebellion in the southern provinces... Catwin, plucked from her life at the edge of the Kingdom, is thrust abruptly into the world of the Court when she is chosen by the Duke of Voltur to be a Shadow-spy, shield, and blade-to his niece, the Lady Miriel DeVere. The Duke's ruthlessness is legendary, and he will stop at nothing to become the power behind the throne, using Miriel as a pawn to catch Garad's heart. But the Duke's carefully-laid plans are only a piece of the intrigue of the court, and greater forces than Catwin can imagine are massed against her, determined to eliminate Miriel and impose a new order of their own. If Catwin and Miriel are to survive, they must learn quickly who to trust, and when to turn their skills against the very people who have trained them...

It has been only two generations since Arthur Warden seized the throne of Heddred from the Conradines, and now the crown rests on the head of Garad, sickly and weak. Shadows gather: legacies of the centuries-long rivalries for power, old betrayals, the endless plots of the courtiers, and the murmur of rebellion in the southern provinces... Catwin, plucked from her life at the edge of the Kingdom, is thrust abruptly into the world of the Court when she is chosen by the Duke of Voltur to be a Shadow-spy, shield, and blade-to his niece, the Lady Miriel DeVere. The Duke's ruthlessness is legendary, and he will stop at nothing to become the power behind the throne, using Miriel as a pawn to catch Garad's heart. But the Duke's carefully-laid plans are only a piece of the intrigue of the court, and greater forces than Catwin can imagine are massed against her, determined to eliminate Miriel and impose a new order of their own. If Catwin and Miriel are to survive, they must learn quickly who to trust, and when to turn their skills against the very people who have trained them...