The Nightshade Crown, #1

The Foxglove King

Name: The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown, #1)
Author: Hannah Whitten

by Hannah Whitten

Genre

Fantasy, Romance

Year

2023

Pages

674

Contents

Overview

The Foxglove King follows Lore, a poison-runner spy in Dellaire with a dangerous and forbidden connection to Mortem, the magic of death. When her hidden power is exposed in public, she is seized by the Church and forced into the glittering, ruthless world of the Citadel, where the ruling Arceneaux family claims divine authority through Apollius.

Lore is ordered to investigate mysterious village deaths near the Kirythean border while posing as a noblewoman and spying on Bastian, the Sun Prince. Her reluctant handler, Gabriel Remaut, is a disgraced duke and Presque Mort monk whose loyalty to the Church is complicated by old trauma, while Bastian proves far more perceptive and dangerous than the court assumes.

The story blends court intrigue, religious conspiracy, forbidden magic, and uneasy romance. Its central conflicts revolve around power, faith, exploitation, and whether people marked as monstrous can define themselves before institutions turn them into weapons.

Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers

Lore begins the story as a spy embedded in the household of Michal, a poison runner whose operation she has been investigating for Val. She can sense Mortem, the magic of death, and has long hidden that ability because unsanctioned death magic is heresy. When a routine job goes wrong, bloodcoats catch Jean-Paul with contraband, and Lore draws Mortem from a slaughtered horse to create a distraction. The act exposes her as a deathwitch when the horse rises again, and the Presque Mort capture her.

At the Church, Lore learns that Val identified her in exchange for protection for the poison-running crew. Priest Exalted Anton Arceneaux and King August Arceneaux do not execute Lore; instead, they coerce her into service. Entire border villages have died without wounds or sickness, and Anton wants Lore to raise the dead long enough to ask what killed them. August also orders Lore to enter court under a false identity as Gabriel Remaut's cousin and spy on his son, Bastian, whom he suspects of aiding Kirythea.

Gabriel, a Presque Mort monk, is revealed as Duke Remaut of Balgia, forced back into a noble role after years of disgrace. His father was branded a traitor, and Jax of Kirythea killed him and took Gabriel's eye when Gabriel was a child. At court, Lore witnesses Bastian's strange Consecration, where Anton cuts the prince's palm in an unusual blood ritual. Bastian presents himself as charming and careless, but he notices Lore immediately and begins testing her false identity.

Lore raises the corpse of a dead village child in the Citadel vaults. The child repeats that 'they've awakened,' and later warns that 'the night' killed him and that the other bodies have not been destroyed. Lore discovers that the reanimated horse, now called Claude, is still moving independently in Bastian's stables, proving that her Mortem behaves in impossible ways. Bastian also seems able to block Mortem entirely, preventing both Lore and Gabriel from channeling when he is near.

As Lore, Gabriel, Bastian, and eventually Malcolm investigate, they uncover signs that August and Anton are hiding the bodies of the dead villagers. Research in the Church library suggests that Spiritum, the magic of life associated with Apollius, may belong to one chosen Arceneaux rather than the entire royal line. Bastian reveals that August is dying, making the king's interest in Spiritum, transubstantiation, and Bastian's alleged treason far more dangerous. Lore also learns that Severin Bellegarde is connected to the hidden bodies and that dockworkers are being paid to move heavy cargo into the catacombs beneath the Citadel.

The investigation strains Lore's relationships. Gabriel fears Lore's growing power and remains loyal to Anton even when evidence turns against the Church, while Bastian becomes a dangerous ally who knows Lore's true origins. Lore reveals to Bastian that she was born in the catacombs to a Night Sister of the surviving Buried Watch, an order still guarding Nyxara's tomb. Her crescent scar and Bastian's sun scar suggest a connection between them, and both begin to sense that their powers and fates are linked.

Lore and Bastian enter the catacombs through the Presque Mort's stone garden and find a hidden chamber full of preserved corpses, all marked with eclipse symbols and bound together by Mortem. When Lore channels from one body, all of them awaken and chant about new vessels. Bastian manifests golden life-magic and pulls Mortem away from Lore, proving that he can wield something like Spiritum. When they emerge, Gabriel has betrayed them to Anton, Malcolm, Bellegarde, and the Presque Mort.

Anton reveals that he manipulated events to make Lore raise the bound army before August could control it. He claims August plans to use the dead as an unstoppable army against Kirythea, while August intends to kill Lore and Bastian during the solar eclipse and seize Mortem and Spiritum for himself. Anton believes Apollius has chosen Bastian as a divine vessel and that Lore, a child of the catacombs, is essential to the god's return. Lore is confined under Gabriel's guard until the eclipse ball.

At the ball, August dismisses most guests and begins his ritual. He forces Lore's and Bastian's bloodied palms together during totality, binding Mortem and Spiritum through their opposite scars. Anton then betrays August, refusing to make the dying king Apollius's vessel, and stabs him. August wounds Lore in a final attempt to ruin Anton's plan before Anton crushes and kills him.

Lore is carried to the stone garden, where Anton reveals that he used dreamwalking and Lore's power to help create the undead army. A pale-haired Night Priestess appears and claims to be Lore's mother. She says Lore is one of Nyxara's chosen and should die before becoming an avatar of catastrophe. Anton tries to use Lore's Mortem to kill again, but Lore realizes August's ritual bound Spiritum into her as well. She heals herself, reclaims Mortem as part of her own body, and refuses sacrifice.

Bastian arrives and takes command. Gabriel disarms Anton and pleads for mercy, but Bastian uses Spiritum to grow thorned roses around Anton, entombing him alive in the stone garden. The Night Priestess withdraws after warning that Lore is the seed of apocalypse. Bastian takes August's bloody crown and declares himself Sainted King.

In the aftermath, Lore sits beside Bastian on the throne room dais, publicly protected but exposed as a deathwitch. Bastian punishes courtiers tied to the old regime, renews Mari and Val's pardons, and begins reforms around poison runners and poison use for the terminally ill. Gabriel, imprisoned for two weeks, is brought before the court; instead of condemning him, Bastian makes him the new Priest Exalted. The story ends with Lore, Bastian, and Gabriel bound into a new and unstable order of crown, Church, life, and death.

Characters

Lore

A former poison-runner spy and innate Mortem wielder whose exposed death magic brings her under Church and royal control. Her search for the truth behind the dead villages reveals her origins in the Buried Watch and forces her to choose survival over becoming anyone's weapon or sacrifice.
Bastian Leander Arceneaux

The Sun Prince of Auverraine, suspected by August of treason but revealed to be a target of competing royal and Church schemes. His charm masks political intelligence, and his connection to Spiritum binds him to Lore and the struggle for the throne.
Gabriel Remaut

A Presque Mort monk and disgraced Duke of Balgia forced back into court to support Lore's false identity. His loyalty to Anton, trauma over his family, and attraction to Lore make him both protector and betrayer before he is named Priest Exalted.
Anton Arceneaux

The Priest Exalted and August's brother, who captures Lore and manipulates her power through prophecy, dreamwalking, and Mortem bindings. He claims to oppose August's war plans but pursues his own fanatical design for Apollius's return.
King August Arceneaux

The dying Sainted King whose fear of succession and desire for Spiritum drive the eclipse ritual. He suspects and hates Bastian, hides the village bodies, and tries to seize united life and death magic for himself.
Malcolm

A Presque Mort librarian whose knowledge of forbidden texts helps Lore, Gabriel, and Bastian uncover clues about Spiritum, translation changes, and transubstantiation. He later aids Anton after Gabriel reports the catacomb plan.
Val

Lore's surrogate mother and poison-runner handler, who turns Lore over to the Church only after Anton threatens her crew. She later reconciles with Lore and receives renewed royal protection under Bastian.
Mari

Val's wife and Lore's other surrogate mother, who shelters Lore's group when they return to the poison-runner warehouse. Her information about mysterious cargo entering the catacombs becomes a crucial lead.
Michal

A poison runner and Lore's lover at the beginning of the story, whose household she has infiltrated. His recognition of Lore at Bastian's fighting ring helps expose her hidden identity to the prince.
Alienor Bellegarde

A courtier, Gabriel's former betrothed, and one of Lore's first possible friends at court. Her lingering concern for Gabriel and her father's role in the conspiracy place her close to the court's emotional and political fractures.
Severin Bellegarde

Alienor's father and a noble conspirator involved with August, Anton, and the hidden village bodies. His hostility toward Gabriel and the Presque Mort reflects wider tensions between crown, Church, and nobility.
The Night Priestess

Lore's mother and a leader among the surviving Buried Watch beneath Dellaire. She once helped Lore escape the catacombs but later urges Lore's death because she believes Lore is Nyxara's chosen avatar.
Claude

The dead horse Lore accidentally raises in public, first called Horse and later renamed Claude by Bastian. His continued independent animation proves Lore's Mortem does not obey known rules and helps trigger the investigation's deeper revelations.
Cedric

Lore's childhood friend whose accidental resurrection after his death first revealed Lore's forbidden power. His memory shapes Lore's fear of raising human corpses and her guilt around Mortem.
Cecelia

A courtier who openly uses belladonna because she is ill, exposing the Citadel's privileged access to confiscated poison. Her presence at games and court gatherings helps show the decadence and hypocrisy Lore observes.
Danielle

Alienor's friend at court, also called Dani, whose gossip about Luc's nighttime cargo work helps Lore connect the docks to the missing bodies. After the coup, she and most of her family are sentenced to the Burnt Isles.
Brigitte

One of Alienor's friends who helps bring Lore into courtly tea gatherings. Her conversations with Danielle and Alienor provide social cover and useful gossip.
Olivier

Cecelia's brother, who joins the croquet game with Bastian, Lore, Gabriel, Alienor, and Cecelia. His role helps frame the courtly world Lore must navigate while investigating.
Milo

A scarred enforcer from the dockside fighting ring who attacks Lore, Gabriel, and Bastian. Lore turns him to stone with Mortem and later reverses the petrification, proving her power can be unwound.
Jean-Paul

One of Val's runners whose capture by bloodcoats triggers Lore's public use of Mortem. Lore's choice to save him begins the chain of events that brings her to the Church and Citadel.
Jax

The Kirythean ruler connected to Gabriel's childhood trauma, having killed Gabriel's father and taken Gabriel's eye. His empire remains the political enemy used to justify fear of war.
The Presque Mort

The Church's sanctioned Mortem channelers, trained to manage death magic and catacomb leaks. They serve as guards, investigators, conspirators, and instruments of both Anton's and August's plans.
The Buried Watch

The hidden remnant of the Night Sisters who guard Nyxara's tomb beneath Dellaire. Lore's birth among them and their belief in her connection to Nyxara reshape the meaning of her Mortem power.
The preserved corpses

The bodies taken from the destroyed villages and hidden in a sealed catacomb chamber. Their shared Mortem binding turns them into the army August and Anton each hope to exploit.

Themes

Hannah Whitten’s The Foxglove King is driven by the collision of sacred myth, political power, and bodily autonomy. Its central question is not simply who controls Auverraine, but who has the right to interpret divinity—and whose body must pay for that interpretation.

Power disguised as faith. The Church and crown repeatedly use holy language to justify coercion. Anton frames Lore’s forced service as divine necessity, manipulates Gabe through guilt and “atonement,” and later reveals that his visions guided the creation of an undead army. August likewise invokes Apollius and succession to legitimize his hatred of Bastian and his attempt to seize Spiritum and Mortem during the eclipse. The book exposes how prophecy becomes dangerous when it excuses violence.
Life and death as intertwined opposites. Mortem is feared as corruption, while Spiritum is treated as holy, yet the novel steadily dismantles that binary. Lore’s power can raise corpses, freeze living bodies, and eventually heal when joined with Spiritum. Bastian’s golden life-magic both repels and sharpens Lore’s death-magic. The Law of Opposites becomes less a moral rule than a pattern of balance: day and night, Apollius and Nyxara, creation and decay are interdependent rather than purely good or evil.
The trauma of being used. Lore, Gabe, and Bastian are all shaped by institutions that treat them as instruments. Lore is watched, betrayed, imprisoned, and prepared as a vessel; Gabe’s childhood maiming is converted into religious obedience; Bastian is suspected, threatened, and finally crowned as a supposedly chosen king. Their shifting alliances and betrayals—especially Gabe’s appeal to Anton and Bastian’s protective manipulation—show how difficult trust becomes when care and control look alike.
Class hypocrisy and courtly decay. From Lore’s resentment of Citadel luxury to nobles casually drinking confiscated belladonna while common poison runners face the Burnt Isles, the novel contrasts elite indulgence with common suffering. The dead villages matter to August only as political tools, and the hidden corpses beneath the Citadel literalize the way the powerful build their security on buried lives.
Selfhood against destiny. Lore is repeatedly told she is a monster, weapon, death’s heir, or seed of apocalypse. Her refusal to die for Anton, August, or the Night Priestess becomes the book’s strongest act of resistance. By the epilogue, her power remains dangerous and unresolved, but it is finally hers to define.