Legend says long ago Yomnian gave to each country its own Spirit Sword, entrusted to a Sword Bearer to lead in the defense of each country, and also to provide spiritual guidance. If necessary, the Sword Bearer could overrule the word and authority of the king, but those to whom the most power and authority have been entrusted have the highest standards and the most expected of them. As the centuries passed, Sword Bearers fell and the Spirit Sword for each country was lost. Now only the country of Reshor possesses a Spirit Sword. Its bearer, Rakleer, has vanished into mist and memory, waiting until need and danger awaken the sword to choose a new Bearer and lead in the defense of Reshor. When Andrixine falls ill and spends the winter recovering at Snowy Mount--a community of holy folk, scholars and healers--she never dreams it will be the first step of an adventure destined to change her life... When she seeks a weapon to rescue her kidnapped mother, she's chosen by the mystical Spirit Sword to lead in the defense of Reshor against its ancient enemy. First, she must rescue her mother and uproot treachery from within her own castle and family. The friends she gathers along the way become her closest allies and supporters. When friendship with a young warrior turns into something more, she's the most surprised.

Beth considers herself a geek, one of the invisible and awkward in her school, too smart for her own good as part of the Gifted and Talented program. During a summer internship at a government weather station, she notices strange weather patterns. The storms remind her of the ones when she was brought to Earth by the Hounds of Hamin. Remembering she's a member of the Hunt, Beth sets out to remake herself, to be ready when the gathering of the Hunt occurs. After she returns to school in the fall, she's a new person, physically and mentally, and she attracts the attention of another member of the Gifted and Talented program. Tommy DiCorsi is supposedly one of the "bad boys" in town. As their friendship grows, Tommy protects her from trouble and learns about the Hounds and the Hunt. Beth learns he isn't at all what he appears either. Another member of the Hunt shows up, changing both their lives forever.

The colony world of Rensler remains under occupation by enemy forces. Erion Rensler, governor, and his father, Elbarto, the former governor, are still prisoners, their location unknown. All that stands between the invaders and success are the Rensler brothers, Eryk and Edrian. Eryk leads the resistance fighters in the forests of Rensler. Edrian stays under the watchful eye of the enemy, playing a dangerous game of deception. At night, he sheds his pretense of being a sickly book-head and becomes the Talon, defender of the colony, riding on a deadly Nightskimmer...

The hive-minded insectoid Talroqi have been at war with Humans for generations. Memories of Mallachrom, the colony world where Rover captain Rhianni Day, was born and the boy who was her best friend, are a burden of guilt on her soul. Far from the battle lines, Mallachrom should have been safe...yet after the Rovers left the colony world, the aliens invaded. Rhianni is ordered to return to Mallachrom and investigate what really happened in the Talroqi invasion, especially the strange stories about the children who survived--carried away to safety by the sentient canines called Shadows. Rhianni has only good memories of the Shadows. Even more important: Petroc Ash, her childhood friend, is a Taken. Petroc leads the Taken. His responsibilities to the Taken and their secrets are too great to risk, even for Rhianni. Their childhood bond has grown even stronger, despite her long absence. Loving her will bind her to Mallachrom forever--and could kill her.

As civilization crumbles, Kiryn realizes the only way to protect her planet from pirates is to become one herself. She takes up the mantle of her father, a reformed pirate who saved his homeworld. As captain of the legendary pirate ship, Nova Vendetta, she makes her homeworld a haven for the downtrodden. The scholarly representative of a neglected colony comes as a peace envoy and makes her think of more than just surviving. When the two of them are shot down in the badlands of her planet, they become partners to survive, then friends...and finally maybe something more.

The legend of the Talon continues to grow. When Edrian Rensler regains contact with a hidden village that provides a plant vital to his family's protective elixir, he gains new allies in the battle to defend Rensler. In coming years, the colony world deals with invaders trying to change Rensler's society and soul for their own profit and power. He and the Nightskimmer, Aeza, grow even closer as adulthood brings new challenges. Edrian thinks about the future in new ways, when Aeza takes a mate and urges him to finalize his soul-bond with Aura. Then a series of crises and losses strike the planet, the colony, and the Rensler family, and Edrian risks death to protect and avenge those who hold his heart and soul.

Lord Edrix Faxinor regrets his brilliant diplomatic insight it lands him in the role of ambassador to Sendorland, the hereditary enemy of his country, Reshor. Still aching from the death of his betrothed, he sets sail in hopes of bringing peace between the two warring nations. Arriena of Traxslan is the lowest of the low--a poor relation, living on the charity of her domineering, cruel cousin, Lord Mordon Traxslan. She has dreams of being a scholar despite the "sin" of being born a woman, with supposedly limited intelligence. Her cousin offers Arriena choices in her own future. Both could cost her life. Because she resembles Edrix's dead betrothed, she's ordered to enchant and ensnare him, to give Sendorland power over him and force him to betray Reshor. Arriena has grown up unable to trust anyone. Could she trust Edrix with the truth...and possibly her heart? To save Arriena, can Edrix risk becoming a traitor?