Months after Ærenden's civil war has ended, Meaghan and Nick still struggle to rebuild their kingdom from the ruins Garon left behind. Peace is tenuous and its balance is challenged when a mysterious Zeiihbuan kidnaps Meaghan, cloaked beneath the shroud of a rare eclipse. Desperate to save her, Nick is drawn into a lifeless desert known as the Barren, and into a battle no one is prepared to fight. At the center of that wasteland, the Shadow Guard awaits, poised to fulfill its centuries-old directive: Kill Meaghan, lest her power destroy the kingdom.