The battle is over. The war is won. The prophecy complete. But life can't just pick up where it left off for Ethan. Struggling to cope with the death of his soul-mate, at odds with his friends in the Guard, he finds himself adrift, jumping at shadows and sensing someone who can't possibly be there.

Blaming herself for Lathenia’s death, Jesilla swears to avenge her mother and fulfil her final plans. But she hadn’t planned to fall in love. And that leaves her with an impossible choice – should she follow her heart or the parental strings of a Goddess, short on praise but high on expectation that continues to pull on her from the grave?

The Guard and the Order battle through the past and into an impossible future where darkness lurks at every step.

Two years in the planning and twelve in the making, Marianne Curley intended to write the fourth book to The Guardians of Time Series immediately after the release of The Key in 2004, but that was the same year Marianne was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis, bone marrow cancer, and had to take time off to have a stem-cell, bone marrow transplant. It was eight years before Marianne returned to the publishing world with a new trilogy, inspired by her health experience called The Avena Series. Today, fourteen years cancer free, Marianne’s new book, The Shadow, fulfils a long-awaited promise to both herself and her readers.