The Penitent — D. Alexander Neill

Trinka Walker is new-come to the isle of Windhaven, a penitent seeking silence and solace - a chance to live in peace, to ply her trade as a herbalist and healer, and to atone for grim and grievous sins in hopes of one day finding redemption. Windhaven, however, is not the placid, rustic backwater that she sought, but rather a den of intrigue; the beating, poisoned heart of a conspiracy that threatens to shatter a centuries-old peace, and unleash a power that could sunder the very foundations of the earth. Tormented by her past, and drawn to trouble like a moth to a flame, Trinka, shorn by the decree of stern and wary gods of the powers that once were hers to wield, must plumb the depths of a mysterious colloquy of ancient families: to ferret out the secrets they are willing to kill to protect, and to secure the prize they seek before it can be used to feed their dark and damnable desires.