The Nightshade Crown, #1
The Foxglove King
by Hannah Whitten
Contents
Chapter Twenty-Four
Overview
A rare Mortem leak erupts in Dellaire, forcing Lore to join Gabe, Anton, Malcolm, and the Presque Mort despite Gabe’s fear for her safety. The Presque Mort prove too weak to contain the leak, and Anton’s strange manipulation of the Mortem causes Lore to absorb a dangerous, altered surge of power.
Lore stops the leak by channeling Mortem into the garden and farmland, but the uncontrolled force petrifies living things and maims one of the Presque Mort. The chapter deepens the mystery of Lore’s power, introduces an ominous inner voice calling her death’s heir, and leaves her feared even by allies.
Summary
After Malcolm announces a major Mortem leak, the palace shifts into emergency action. August orders the Citadel locked down while Anton and Malcolm head for the Church. Gabe tries to stop Lore from following, fearing she will die, but Lore argues that the Presque Mort may not be strong enough to contain a true leak and insists she can help protect Gabe and the city.
At the Church, Anton reluctantly accepts Lore’s presence because another Mortem channeler is useful. Lore enters a preparation room where the Presque Mort are changing into dark working clothes and leather harnesses. The group rides to the Southeast Ward, where civilians have fled and Lore senses the leak before she sees it, feeling a sour wrongness in the air and noticing Gabe momentarily seems blurred or unstable to her.
The leak pours from an abandoned storefront like dark smoke and water, with tiny bones at its edges. Malcolm instructs the Presque Mort to channel the Mortem first into stone, then the garden, then farmland, and only use the horses as a last resort. The Presque Mort try, but their efforts barely affect the mass of death magic. Anton, instead of immediately channeling it away, forms the Mortem into a complicated knot and watches Lore.
When Gabe tells Lore to help, Lore begins channeling. Lore cannot avoid Anton’s knot; as she draws in Mortem, the knot unravels and its altered power enters her body. The Mortem will not flow back out, and Lore hears a voice that calls her death’s heir, warns that others want to use her power, and tells her she is still wholly her own.
Lore finally forces the Mortem out of her body. Unable to direct it delicately, Lore funnels it into the garden and surrounding farmland, turning plants, roots, insects, worms, and crops into stone-like stasis while barely sparing the livestock. The leak disappears, but an unnamed Presque Mort has his foot eaten down to bone. The others stare at Lore with horror, Gabe flinches from her touch, and Lore asks whether she caused the injury before collapsing.
Who Appears
- LoreInsists on helping contain the leak; absorbs altered Mortem, hears a voice, and collapses afterward.
- GabeTries to protect Lore, brings her to the leak, then flinches after her uncontrolled channeling.
- AntonLeads the Presque Mort response and shapes Mortem into a strange knot that Lore disrupts.
- MalcolmReports the leak, accompanies the response, and explains how to direct the Mortem safely.
- AugustOrders the Citadel sealed and guarded once the Mortem leak is reported.
- Unnamed Presque MortA channeler caught in the leak whose foot is reduced to bone.
- The Presque MortChurch death-channelers who attempt to contain the leak but cannot manage its volume.