A Thousand Perfumes of War

Across the desert kingdom of Qasir, walled cities, caravan roads and rival courts are sliding toward war. Soldiers swear they remember massacres that never happened. Amirs prepare revenge. Somewhere behind it all, someone has learned how to turn perfume into a weapon. Nahla Serrin knows nothing of this when her newest fragrance becomes the obsession of the capital. Her perfumes are worn by wealthy merchants, noblewomen and palace courtiers, and her latest creation lets people relive their most precious memories. Then a customer remembers a place she has never seen. The strange trace inside the bottle leads Nahla to Idris Renn, a disgraced palace alchemist who recognizes it as star amber, a forbidden resin capable of carrying one person's memories into another mind. Soon a prince remembers an assassination that never happened, soldiers march over imagined atrocities, and Nahla discovers the poison is travelling through her own caravans. If she cannot find who is rewriting Qasir's memories, the next false memory may be enough to send two kingdoms to war.