Shadowdance

The Underworld rules the city of Veldaren. Thieves, smugglers, assassins...they fear only one man. Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. All the thieves' guilds of the city are under his unflinching control. If he has his way, death will soon spill out from the shadows and into the streets. Aaron is Thren's son, trained to be heir to his father's criminal empire. He's cold, ruthless - everything an assassin should be.

It's been five long years since the city learned to fear...The war between the thief guilds and the powerful allegiance known as the Trifect has slowly dwindled. Now only the mysterious Haern is left to wage his private battle against the guilds in the guise of the Watcher - a vicious killer who knows no limits. But when the son of Alyssa Gemcroft, one of the three leaders of the Trifect, is believed murdered, the slaughter begins anew. Mercenaries flood the streets with one goal in mind: find and kill the Watcher.

One has conquered a city. The other covets an entire nation. Haern is the King's Watcher, protector against thieves and nobles who would fill the night with blood. Yet hundreds of miles away, an assassin known as the Wraith has begun slaughtering those in power, leaving the symbol of the Watcher in mockery. When Haern travels south to confront this copycat, he finds a city ruled by the corrupt, the greedy and the dangerous. Rioters fill the streets and the threat of war hangs over everything.

Haern is the King's Watcher, born an assassin only to become the city of Veldaren's protector against the thief guilds. When Lord Victor Kane attacks the city, determined to stamp out all corruption, foreign gangs pour in amidst the chaos in an attempt to overthrow the current lords of the underworld. And when a mysterious killer known as the Widow begins mutilating thieves, paranoia engulfs the city. Haern knows someone is behind the turmoil, pulling strings.

In a city known for darkness, the underworld trembles at the rise of the Sun... He is known as the Muzien the Darkhand, and a night of fire and blood heralds his arrival to the beleaguered city of Veldaren. With him comes the might of the Sun Guild, its thieves and smugglers eager to spread their criminal empire to the east. Left blind and vulnerable after her attack by the Widow, Alyssa Gemcroft struggles to hold together the remnants of the Trifect as the Sun Guild's arrival threatens to shatter whatever future her son might have left.

Fear comes in the hands of prophets....Upon returning to his beloved city of Veldaren, Haern the Watcher finds nothing but chaos. The Sun Guild has conquered all but a few stubborn remnants of the former thief guilds, destroying the peace Haern fought so hard to obtain. The Trifect is their next target, and Alyssa Gemcroft must reach out in desperation to whatever allies she can obtain, even if it means casting aside longtime friends.