Ista dy Baocia, the Dowager Royina of Chalion, struggles with painful memories and undertakes a pilgrimage to make a personal atonement to the gods, a quest that is threatened by an evil force.

In this sequel to the novella Penric's Mission, the injured Penric, a Temple sorcerer and learned divine, tries to guide the betrayed General Arisaydia and his widowed sister Nikys across the last hundred miles of hostile Cedonia to safety in the Duchy of Orbas. In the town of Sosie the fugitive party encounters unexpected delays, and even more unexpected opportunities and hazards, as the courtesan Mira of Adria, one of the ten dead women whose imprints...

"Follow Penric on his journey from noble young lord to sorcerer and scholar in the Bastard's Order. Three fantasy novellas by multiple award winning author Lois McMaster Bujold, together for the first time! Penric's Demon: On the way to his betrothal young Lord Penric happens upon a riding accident and stops to help. But the victim is no ordinary woman. She is is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard,...

When a corpse is found floating face-down in Vilnoc harbor that is not quite as dead as it seems, Temple sorcerer Penric and his chaos demon Desdemona are drawn into the uncanny investigation. Pen's keen questions will take him across the city of Vilnoc, and into far more profound mysteries, as his search for truths interlaces with tragedy.