The Nightshade Crown, #1
The Foxglove King
by Hannah Whitten
Contents
Chapter Twelve
Overview
August separates Lore from Gabriel and takes Lore into the Citadel vaults, revealing that another village has been destroyed and that one dead child has been kept for experimentation. In the vault, August and Anton force Lore to test the limits of Lore’s Mortem power, turning a political investigation into a direct confrontation with death and obedience.
Lore appears to fail at first, and Lore’s decision to ask the corpse her own question defies August’s control. The chapter ends with the dead child awakening and whispering, proving Lore’s power can reach human corpses and opening the possibility of learning what is killing the villages.
Summary
After First Day prayers, King August stops Lore and pointedly dismisses Gabriel, refusing Lore’s request to let Gabriel accompany her. As August leads Lore away, Gabriel watches with concern, while Bastian observes from near the doors among courtiers, including Cecelia. August tells Lore they are going to the vaults because there has been another village attack, and the Presque Mort have brought one body for Lore to try to use.
Inside the Citadel, August briefly drinks from an herbal flask, and Lore recognizes the scent as something poisonous or druglike. When Lore comments on it, August coldly warns Lore to mind her own affairs. August then takes Lore through a hidden corridor lined with statues of Apollius, past a Sacred Guard, and into the vast Citadel vaults, where noble dead are stored in towering stone structures beneath a skylight.
August explains that one body from each attacked village has been preserved while the rest are destroyed. In a lower vault, Anton waits beside the corpse of a young boy laid beneath a looming statue of Apollius. The sight unsettles Lore because the dead child reminds Lore of Cedric and of the cost of trying to bring back the dead. August and Anton expect Lore to attempt reanimation, with August instructing Lore to command the body to obey him.
Lore focuses through her fear and calls on Mortem, using the mental forest Gabriel taught her as a touchstone. The child has been dead long enough that the initial burst of death-energy has faded, so Lore searches deeper for the faint remaining thread of Mortem inside the corpse. Lore pulls the thread into herself, then releases the power into a potted rosebush Anton brought, instantly withering it.
At first, nothing changes in the body, and Lore believes she has failed. Instead of following August’s order to leave the questioning to him, Lore asks the corpse to tell them what happened, prompting August to rebuke Lore for overstepping. Then the dead child suddenly draws breath, sits up, opens wholly black eyes marked by dark veins, and begins to whisper without moving his lips.
Who Appears
- LoreDeathwitch forced to channel Mortem into a dead child despite fear and grief.
- King AugustControls Lore, reveals another village attack, and demands obedience during the reanimation attempt.
- AntonPriest Exalted waits in the vault and assists the grim experiment with the child’s body.
- Dead childVictim from the latest attacked village; reanimated by Lore and begins whispering.
- GabrielDismissed by August; watches Lore being taken away with visible concern.
- BastianObserves solemnly as August leads Lore away after First Day prayers.
- CeceliaCourtier from the masquerade seen near Bastian, apparently recovered from the belladonna incident.