Foxglove

Signa recalls her mother’s tragic death at a ball where everyone’s drinks were poisoned with the lethal foxglove flower. Signa is at a party at Thorn Grove, where a duke, Lord Julius Wakefield, was just poisoned. Just before the duke died, he was toasting Elijah Hawthorne, his new business partner and Signa’s former guardian. The crowd rushes away, leaving Signa behind with Death, Elijah, and the duke’s son, Everett Wakefield. Signa sees Julius’s spirit and wishes she could console him.

Signa also sees a man she has never seen before, but whom she immediately recognizes as Fate, Death’s brother. Though Death tries to stop him, Fate grabs Signa and asks if she remembers him. She does not. Death tries to threaten his brother, but Fate claims that only he has control of the living. A constable arrives and finds that Julius was poisoned with cyanide. In human form, Fate slips into a crowd of onlookers and announces that he saw Elijah hand Julius the poisoned drink. At Everett’s command, the constable takes Elijah and his brother Byron into custody. Elijah does not seem worried, but Blythe, ignoring all rules of propriety, confronts Fate about lying. Just before Fate vanishes, he tells Death that it is his turn to make the next move.

An hour after the murder, Signa runs into Death in the now still and silent halls of Thorn Grove and asks him about his brother. Death warns that Fate is dangerous and surely does not have good intentions in coming to Thorn Grove. He adds that Fate hates him more than any human does, and they have not spoken in hundreds of years. Signa wants to know more about Death’s past, but the two have not seen each other in weeks, and they rekindle their physical relationship.

However, Signa is haunted by the memory of her cousin Percy, whom she let Death take so that Blythe could live. She and Death discuss Signa’s powers, choices, and becoming a reaper like Death. Julius’s spirit interrupts them, hesitant to approach Death because he is worried about his son. Signa tells Julius that she will help Everett find his murderer before Death takes Julius to the afterlife.

Though touching Death would kill an ordinary person, Signa’s powers usually allow her to recover after she has spent time with him. However, this time, being intimate with Death causes Signa to cough up blood.

The narrator switches focus to Signa’s cousin and close friend, Blythe Hawthorne, who has not heard from her father or uncle by the morning after the murder. Due to all the recent misfortunes at Thorn Grove, Blythe begins to believe the rumors that something supernatural is happening at the manor. When her lady’s maid, Elaine, brings her tea, Blythe sees that she is sick, and Elaine briefly appears as a skeleton. Blythe recalls her recent hallucinations after being poisoned and fears she is becoming ill again.

Signa wonders why she was coughing up blood the previous night, though she does not worry, as she knows she cannot die. At breakfast, Blythe asks if Signa notices anything strange about Elaine or if she recognized the man who accused Elijah of murdering Julius. Signa wants to tell Blythe about her powers and relationship with Death and worries about Blythe’s lack of propriety when she mentions confronting Fate. Suddenly, Byron enters and informs the women that Elijah is being detained for Julius’s murder.

Byron tells the women that the constable suspects that Grey’s—the gentleman’s club that Elijah owns, in which Julius recently invested money to become Elijah’s partner—was in financial ruin. The police believe that Elijah killed Julius to get his money but maintain control of the club. Signa suspects that Elijah was the poisoning’s intended target, but he recently gave up drinking and handed his glass to Julius.

Byron, who has the most conservative views of all the Hawthornes, says that Signa should not concern herself with matters of the law and should instead return to Foxglove Manor, her family’s home, which she recently inherited. For months, she has been putting off returning there, staying instead at Thorn Grove, where she feels more at home and is not reminded of her mother’s murder. When Blythe rejects Byron’s suggestion that Signa should leave, Byron tells the women to act normal and go out into society to avoid arousing more suspicion of the Hawthornes. A maid enters with a letter, which Signa immediately knows must come from Fate. In the letter, Fate, posing as Prince Aris Dryden of Verena, invites Signa to a ball celebrating his recent occupancy of a nearby palace at Wisteria Gardens. Though Signa wants nothing to do with Fate, Blythe and Byron agree that she should go and try to impress the prince in the hopes that he will help to clear Elijah’s name.

Back in her room, Signa eats poisonous belladonna berries so she can get more information about Fate from Death. She goes to the realm of the dead with her hellhound, Gundry, and attempts to use her powers to find Elijah’s cell. Death helps her into the prison and warns her not to touch Elijah. She is currently in the form of a reaper and could kill him with a touch. In the prison cell, Gundry transforms into a regular dog and delivers a note, which Signa tucked in his collar, asking Elijah if there is a suspect. Suddenly, a guard enters the cell. When Elijah tells him that Byron said nothing in his defense, Signa begins to suspect Byron of the murder.

Signa is filled with rage as she, Death, and Gundry return to Thorn Grove. She thinks about going back to kill the guard, whom she witnessed beating Elijah, but Death stops her, assuring her that no one will lay another finger on her uncle. Signa returns to the realm of the living, she becomes ill again. She tells Death about coughing up blood the previous night, and Death warns her against taking the belladonna berries, assuming they are making her sick. He also believes Fate has something to do with her illness and tells her not to go to his ball, but Signa knows she must defend the Hawthornes. Death reveals that until the duke’s murder, he had not seen Fate since 1346, when he killed the only woman Fate ever loved. After this admission, Signa can no longer hear Death’s voice in her head, which is how he communicates with her when she is in the realm of the living.

Though Death’s voice is no longer in her head, Signa looks for him everywhere, continuing to talk to him in case he is near. Signa trails Byron for several days, trying to prove his guilt, but she finds nothing. She continues to feel guilty for not sharing all of her information with Blythe. As Elaine dresses Signa for Fate’s ball, Signa notices that she is more cheerful than usual. Elaine encourages Signa to flirt with the “prince.” Signa is surprised to find Blythe in the carriage to the ball, but she knows she will be unable to convince her to stay home.