The Nightshade Crown, #1
The Foxglove King
by Hannah Whitten
Contents
Chapter Six
Overview
August forces Gabriel back into court life by revealing and exploiting Gabriel's status as Duke Remaut, making Gabriel essential to Lore's disguise. The chapter exposes Gabriel's painful past: his father was branded a traitor, and Jax killed him and took Gabriel's eye when Gabriel was a child.
Anton presents Gabriel's humiliation as divine atonement, deepening the sense that Church and crown are manipulating both Gabriel and Lore. With Bastian's Consecration imminent, Lore and Gabriel are installed together in isolated apartments and ordered to begin their surveillance immediately.
Summary
King August reveals that Gabriel is Duke Remaut and intends to use Gabriel's lineage to make Lore's false identity plausible at court. Gabriel is visibly shaken, furious, and afraid, but Anton insists that returning to court is Apollius's will and frames the assignment as another form of atonement.
August pressures Gabriel by invoking Gabriel's family shame. Gabriel's father is named a traitor, and Gabriel reveals that when Gabriel was ten, Jax killed Gabriel's father and carved out Gabriel's eye. Lore understands that Anton once used Gabriel's maiming to draw Gabriel into the Presque Mort, while August now uses the same wound to control him.
August orders Gabriel to escort Lore and help her get close to Prince Bastian. August threatens Lore with prison if she fails, then announces that Bastian's Consecration will begin soon and that official introductions will happen the next morning during prayers in the North Sanctuary.
Anton, Gabriel, Malcolm, and Lore leave the throne room under bloodcoat escort. They are taken through the Citadel to the southeast turret, an unfashionable and isolated area. Gabriel explains the court's geography despite his distress, and Lore feels an unwelcome impulse to comfort him.
The bloodcoats show them to apartments once occupied by the dead Lord and Lady Grosjean. Gabriel is alarmed to learn that he and Lore are expected to share the suite as supposed cousins. Anton claims he arranged distant quarters to make Gabriel more comfortable, but Lore sees that Gabriel has been betrayed into a dangerous role by the person he trusts.
Anton orders both Lore and Gabriel to attend the Consecration in less than an hour. Lore argues that overtly attaching herself to Bastian is poor spying strategy, but Anton demands obedience and sends them to change into appropriate clothing.
Who Appears
- LoreCaptured deathwitch ordered to pose as Gabriel's cousin and spy on Prince Bastian.
- Gabriel RemautPresque Mort revealed as Duke Remaut, forced back into court despite deep trauma.
- King AugustSainted King who manipulates Gabriel's shame and threatens Lore into obedience.
- Anton ArceneauxPriest Exalted who frames Gabriel's return to court as divine atonement.
- MalcolmPresque Mort present during Gabriel and Lore's reassignment and lodging arrangements.
- BloodcoatsRoyal guards who escort the group to isolated apartments in the southeast turret.