Learned Penric sails on a journey to Cedonia not as a sorcerer in the white robes of the Bastard’s Order, but disguised as a young lawyer on business. His real mission is one of clandestine diplomacy on behalf of the Duke of Adria. His usual traveling companion, the slyly clever chaos demon Desdemona who inhabits his body, is the only one in on the secret… Or so it’s supposed to be. Instead, upon arrival in Cedonia, Penric finds himself gravely injured and imprisoned in the darkest of dungeons. Escape will not be easy, as Penric meets an intriguing young widow and has more than one brush with disaster in his immediate future.

With Penric’s Mission, multiple-award-winner and bestselling author Lois McMaster Bujold returns to her World of the Five Gods, the setting of her acclaimed novels The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. Continuing the tale begun in the Hugo finalists for Best Novella Penric’s Demon and Penric and the Shaman, Bujold’s newest installment of Penric and Desdemona’s tale is another must-read novella for her legion of fans.