The release date for the English version of 'The Curse of Chalion' by
Lois McMaster Bujold is Feb 2003. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Broken in body and mind, Cazaril has returned to the aristocratic home where he was a page. To his astonishment, he is designated secretary-tutor to the elegant, independent sister of the impulsive lad who is the next in line for the throne.
Cazaril hates this mission because it will finally take him to the place he fears most—the Cardegoss royal court, where his formidable adversaries who once put him in captivity now hold high positions. Apart from the deceitful schemes of antagonists, Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle must contend with a menacing omen that looms large over the whole ruinous House of Chalion and everyone around them. Cazaril's only chance of saving his royal charge is to use the darkest, most outlawed magics available. If he does this, the devoted, broken servant will be identified as a tool of the miraculous and will be trapped, body and spirit alike, in a labyrinth of demonic contradiction, damnation, and death.