The Nightshade Crown, #1
The Foxglove King
by Hannah Whitten
Contents
Chapter Ten
Overview
Lore’s dance with Bastian deepens the intrigue without proving whether Bastian is the Kirythean informant. Bastian appears charming, perceptive, and deliberately provocative, but the most useful revelations concern Gabriel’s past, Anton’s control, and Bastian’s desire to free Gabriel from the Presque Mort.
After the masquerade, Lore and Gabriel reassess August’s suspicions and discuss the religious foundations of Arceneaux rule, Spiritum, Mortem, and the Night Witch. The conversation widens the stakes from court espionage to contested holy history, while Gabriel’s decision to guard the door underscores that the Citadel remains dangerous.
Summary
Lore dances with Prince Bastian while maintaining her disguise as Eldelore Remaut. Lore tries to steer the conversation toward Kirythean sympathies, but Bastian deflects, replaces the Kirythean dance with a slower one, and admits the music was simply because Bastian likes it, not because Bastian meant to mock Gabriel.
As Lore probes Bastian, Bastian reveals more about Gabriel than about himself. Bastian says Bastian brought Gabriel visibly into court hoping Gabriel might be tempted away from the Presque Mort and from Anton’s control. Bastian calls Anton half mad after Anton’s accident and implies Gabriel has been controlled for fourteen years, though Lore knows Gabriel is still at court because of Anton’s orders.
Bastian also tests Lore’s cover, noting that a disgraced duke’s third cousin would not normally be invited to court unless Gabriel’s position opened the way. Lore plays the role of an ambitious country cousin and claims Lore would have found a way in. Bastian recognizes Lore from the gardens and alludes to Lore’s Church connections, then ends the dance by giving Lore a pressed foxglove, calling Lore beautiful and poisonous.
Back in the apartments, Lore and Gabriel assess the encounter. Lore concludes that winning Bastian’s attention may be easy, but extracting useful information will not be, because Bastian is more intelligent than August and Anton assume. Gabriel explains that August suspects Bastian because Bastian does not want to be king, and Gabriel suggests Bastian might see war as an escape from the sacred burden of the Arceneaux line.
Lore and Gabriel discuss the Arceneaux claim to Spiritum and the Citadel’s role in containing Mortem from Nyxara’s tomb. Gabriel does not fully confirm belief in Spiritum but believes the Arceneaux presence restrains Mortem. Gabriel then explains the Night Witch story as a warning about misread holy texts: a Buried Watch priestess and channeler went mad, claimed to be the goddess reborn, and tried to open the tomb. Lore reacts inwardly, disturbed because the story is part of Lore’s own history.
Gabriel makes a bed in front of the apartment door because Gabriel distrusts everyone in the Citadel. Lore remembers that First Day prayers and August’s formal court introduction await at sunrise, then goes to bed after exchanging a weary good night with Gabriel.
Who Appears
- LoreMaintains her false identity, probes Bastian, and reacts uneasily to the Night Witch story.
- BastianDances with Lore, tests her cover, and reveals sharp insight into Gabriel and Anton.
- Gabriel RemautDiscusses Bastian, Arceneaux power, and Church history; distrustfully guards the apartment door.
- AntonAbsent but central to discussion as Gabriel’s controlling uncle and interpreter of holy law.
- AlienorWatches Lore and Bastian during the ball while remaining near Gabriel.
- King AugustAbsent but motivates the investigation through his suspicion that Bastian is a traitor.
- The Night WitchDiscussed as a mad Buried Watch priestess whose story deeply unsettles Lore.