Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

This is her second epic fantasy and the sequel to Curse of Chalion. Lois McMaster Bujold has won the Hugo award four times, and the Nebula award twice. With the death of her mother, the Provincara, and with her surviving child Iselle now ruling Chalion from the Capital Cardegross, she is left without. However, life for Ista, the Dowager Royina has not improved. The Golden General's curse has been lifted from the royal family and Cazaril can now rest easy and enjoy his new life with his bride Betriz.

And again, for good or for ill, she must comply.Lois McMaster Bujold has won the Hugo award four times, and the Nebula award twice. Now, once again, they have chosen Ista as their instrument.

What the inscrutable gods commanded of her in the past brought her land to the brink of devastation. In her dreams the threads are already drawing her to unforeseen chances, fateful meetings, fearsome choices. The temporary safety of her enigmatic champion's castle cannot ease Ista's mounting dread, however, when she finds his dark secrets are entangled with hers in a net of the gods' own weaving. But whose? When Ista's retinue is unexpectedly set upon not long into its travels, a mysterious ally appears - a warrior nobleman who fights like a berserker. Ista thinks her little party of pilgrims wanders at will. And someone, something, watches from across that border - humans, demons, gods. Memories linger there as well, of wars and invasions and the mighty Golden General of Jokona. To the north lies the vital border fortress of Porifors. Yet something else is free, too - something beyond deadly. Quite fitting for the Dowager Royina of all Chalion. Her newfound freedom is costly, bittersweet with memories, regrets, and guilty secrets - for she knows the truth of what brought her land to the brink of destruction. Three years have passed since the widowed Dowager Royina Ista found release from the curse of madness that kept her imprisoned in her family's castle of Valenda. One of the most honored authors in the field of fantasy and science fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold transports us once more to a dark and troubled land and embroils us in a desperate struggle to preserve the endangered souls of a realm.

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold