Few authors have achieved such renown as World Fantasy Life Achievement honoree and Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Andre Norton. With the love of readers and the praise of critics, Norton's books have sold millions of copies worldwide.An orphaned child and captive scullery maid, young Willadene possesses an uncanny ability to sense and understand the magical odors that pervade her world. It is this remarkable talent—or curse—that carries her far from the fetid kitchen into an apprenticeship with a revered herbalist and ultimately to the highest circles of the Ducal court. But there is depravity lurking within the castle's walls, inspiring brazen treacheries and usurpations—and foul abduction as unthinkable as it is unexpected. And an innocent girl finds the heightened sense that has been her fortune is now drawing her down into a maelstrom of evil.