Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2)

by Lois McMaster Bujold

“The gods may forgive Ista all day long. But if Ista does not forgive Ista, the gods may go hang themselves.”

His smile vanished altogether as he looked her up and down. “There is a deal of blood on your skirts.” She followed his glance. The folds of her split skirt were mottled with patches of blood, dried and fresh, at the knees. That last gallop had flayed her raw skin to shreds. “Saddle sores. Trivial hurts, for all that they are mine.” His brows rose. “What do you call severe, then?” She staggered away past the beheaded commander. “That.” His head tilted, conceding the point.

She could curse a god. She could not curse a groom.

“I think the gods may give us children to teach us what true love really is, that we may be fitted for Their company at the last. A lesson for those of us whose hearts are too dull and inert to learn any other way.”