The Dragon of Despair

Blurb

The Dragon of Despair is a 2004 fantasy novel, third of six in Jane Lindskold's wolf series.
The third novel in the Firekeeper Saga begins about a year after Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart. It can be read without having read the preceding novels in the series, although doing so will inevitably create spoilers.
The Healed One of New Kelvin has wed, and his new bride is an old enemy of Firekeeper's. Then, on a visit home to her wolf family, Firekeeper makes an ugly discovery. In order to barter for King Tedric's assistance in securing her people's safety, Firekeeper must agree to be his agent on a spying mission into a land now ruled by someone who would gladly see her dead.
Masquerading as part of a trade envoy led by Lady Elise and Lord Edlin, Firekeeper returns to New Kelvin. Their guide is a traitor; they escort a child driven insane by her mother's cruelty—and these are among the least of their problems. Unknown to them, a sorceress called 'Melinda' is seeking to awaken a power that once defeated armies, a power known in legend as the Dragon of Despair.