Belladonna

Signa rides Lillian’s horse to the woods where the garden is. When she arrives at the locked garden gate ahead of Sylas, she meets Lillian’s spirit, who is looking at a patch of belladonna berries. Signa takes this as a signal to eat the belladonna and gain Death’s powers so she can pass through the locked gate.

When Signa eats the belladonna, Death arrives. She asks him if she can use more of his powers. Death confirms that, though he does not know the extent of her powers, Signa does have powers like him when she exists in the space between life and death. Death tells Signa that life and death are a balance, and when one life is taken, another must be spared. On the night Signa killed Magda, the life of Blythe was spared. Signa asks if she can walk through walls like she knows Death can, and he tells her that his powers are based on intention, so if she believes she can walk through the gate, then she can.

Signa and Death enter the garden and he takes her to where Lillian is buried. Death warns Signa about speaking with Lillian, telling her that angry spirits can possess the living. When the spirit of Lillian arrives again, she tells Signa that she thinks she was poisoned by someone at Thorn Grove, and whoever killed her is trying to kill Blythe. Signa realizes that to save Blythe, she must discover who murdered Lillian.

When she leaves the garden, Signa is exhausted from the experience of meeting with a spirit and Sylas has to escort her back to Thorn Grove on his horse. Sylas tells her about the rumors that the residents of Thorn Grove hear the sound of a crying woman at night, and how it affects Elijah the most. Signa feels she can trust Sylas, so she tells him that she believes the two of them need to find Lillian’s murderer. Sylas is reluctant towards helping her but agrees when Signa promises that she can pay him when she gets her inheritance in a few months.

Sylas tells Signa more about the Hawthornes, and how Lillian was kind but was hated by society for her vast wealth. Signa questions whether she can trust Sylas, but he shows her a secret passage into the tunnels of Thorn Grove. He continues to tell Signa that Elijah had many mistresses and Lillian had many admirers, including Byron. Elijah runs his gentleman’s club with Byron, and though he has been unfit to run a business since Lillian’s death, Elijah won’t give the club over to Byron or Percy.

At the end of the secret tunnel, Signa arrives at the kitchen pantry in the middle of the night. As she makes her way back to her room, Elijah catches her and asks her to play a game of chess with him. Elijah warns her about wandering alone in Thorn Grove at night, and he mentions hearing Lillian’s ghost. Signa sees that Elijah is not as cruel or confused as he seemed when they first met, but is merely a man reeling from the loss of his wife.

When she leaves Elijah, Signa runs into Percy, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation and who tells her about his distant relationship with his father. She tries to reassure Percy that grief is different for everyone and that Elijah will return to his old self.

Marjorie arranges for Signa to have tea with other young ladies her age, but Signa just wants to see Blythe, who has only been with Elijah and the doctor. To prepare to meet the other ladies, Signa tries to sneak a copy of A Lady’s Guide to Beauty and Etiquette with her. Three women wait in the parlor, and Signa is surprised she recognizes one of them as her childhood friend, Charlotte Killinger. She and Charlotte haven’t spoken since discovering an affair between Charlotte’s mother and Signa’s uncle, which led to the deaths of both of their relatives and their families’ embarrassment. One of the ladies, Eliza, attempts to gossip about the Hawthornes, and another woman, Diana, tells her about rumors of Lillian dying by suicide after Elijah’s numerous affairs. Signa is polite and compliments the Hawthornes, but wants to hear any rumors she can.

Suddenly, the women feel a chill as Death enters the room. He taunts Signa by speaking to her telepathically. Signa feels torn between Death’s taunting and that of the ladies, who prove to her that she knows little about the proper etiquette of society. When the women leave, Signa confronts Death, who says he is at Thorn Grove because Blythe is still teetering between life and death. Death criticizes Signa for her choice of friends, who only asked about her fortune, and for pretending to be someone who she is not just to be polite. Signa claims she does not want to wield Death’s powers, but he says that he will give her lessons on how to do so starting at midnight.

Signa visits Blythe with Percy, and Signa feels spiritually linked to the girl, with whom she becomes more friendly. Signa sees a cup of tea that contains Blythe’s medicine, and when she takes a sip she tastes belladonna and dumps the tea out of the window. Signa tells Blythe and Percy that the tea is poisoned and she asks Blythe not to drink the tea the next time her lady’s maid Elaine brings it to her. Signa is determined to save Blythe, feeling their fates are linked, and she promises they will discover who has poisoned her.