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 circle of the Ducal court. But there is depravity lurking within the castle's walls, inspiring brazen treacheries and usurpations--and a foul abduction as unthinkable as it is unexpected. Something horribly strange and forbidden has struck at the dawn of a new day of corruption and terror. And an innocent girl finds the heightened sense that has been her fortune is now drawing her down into a maelstrom of evil.