Foxglove by Adalyn Grace
Fate is weaving a tapestry as if he were making music. He can hear the song of the threads and his needle piercing the canvas as he sews the person's life, the color of the thread changing until eventually it goes black. When he has finished weaving this tale, Fate hears something coming from another canvas. Walking through the rows and rows of masterpieces, Fate finds not one but two canvases whose threads are changing. One is the ugliest Fate has ever woven, filled with gray and purple, the canvas of a woman he intended for his brother Death, a woman Death could love but never have. The gray threads are now turning red and yellow and silver and black. The second, once covered in blues and pinks, is covered in black and white. Fate tries to stop the change with his needle but it does not work, he tries to burn the canvases but they won’t. Fate decides he needs to see the girl with silver woven in her canvas, Signa Farrow. Time to crash a party.
At a party at Thorn Grove, in the middle of announcing his new partnership with Elijah Hawthorne, Lord Wakefield, the Duke of Berness, drops down dead. He has been poisoned. Only Signa Farrow and Death can see his spirit, everyone else can only see his corpse. It’s at this moment Fate decides to crash the party. Signa is stunned at first that Fate addresses Death as brother. Fate tells them he is here to see the lady who has stolen Death’s heart. Fate grabs Signa by the throat and whispers in her ear, asking if she has any idea who he is. She doesn’t but later something seems familiar. Once Fate stops his threatening behavior toward Signa, he starts mocking Death for being all grown up. Fate then turns his attention to the party, accusing Elijah Hawthorne of handing the duke a poisoned drink. Everett, Lord Wakefield’s son, also accuses Byron Hawthorne. Both men are taken away for questioning as Blythe Hawthorne berates Fate for his lies.
Thorn Grove is dark and empty, the party goers have finally all departed and Blythe and the servants have gone to bed. Only Lord Wakefield’s spirit remains in the ballroom while Signa wanders the halls, Death close by her. Death catches Signa in his shadows, they share touches. She tries to find out more about his brother and who Death is, both good and bad, but Death is good at distracting her and the touches become skin contact which stops Signa’s heart and breath, releasing her reaper form. In a parlor they start to make good use of the chessboard and the chaise until the Duke interrupts them. He is ready to move on. Death swears he will come back to Signa soon before taking the Duke to his afterlife. As life returns to Signa’s body, she chokes on her breath and is overcome by a coughing fit. Once it passes Signa sees her white gloves are stained with blood.
Blythe can’t sleep. She’s pacing her room, angry at that man for accusing her father of murder. She wouldn’t be surprised if it were really he who killed the Duke. She’s also worried about her father and uncle, but no one knocks on her door to tell her her father is home after a huge misunderstanding. When the sun comes up, Elaine, her lady’s maid, brings tea and pastries. As she is being helped out of the ballgown and into a nightie, Elaine’s face and voice changes. She looks like she is near death, suffering from a blight, and her voice sounds ancient. Just as quickly the hallucination? vision? is gone but Blythe is uncomfortable and dismisses Elaine until breakfast. Perhaps she is fatigued from her long illness and the party. Hopefully she isn’t being poisoned again, or the spirits of Thorn Grove are haunting her.
Signa is the first down for breakfast, coming fully dressed for the day. Blythe soon joins her in her nightgown, hair disheveled and face powder smudged from the night before. Blythe is determined to find that man who accused her father of murder the night before. Signa wants to tell Blythe who that man is, Fate, the dangerous brother of Death who she is intimate with. Oh, and she can see dead people too because she has the powers of a reaper. Yeah, no. Blythe asks Signa if Elaine seems okay to her, who was unusually humming whilst dishing out their breakfast, but Signa sees no signs of fever. As they are talking, Byron comes stomping in with news that Elijah is being detained for the murder of Lord Wakefield.
While Byron suggests that Signa leave to her estate, Foxglove, Blythe insists her cousin stay because family should stick together, and besides how would it look for Signa to suddenly leave after Elijah is accused of murder? Byron, who understands the importance of image and reputation, agrees but tells Signa she must help them. Coincidentally an invitation arrives for Signa in a golden envelope. The “ineffable Miss Signa Farrow” is being invited by “His majesty Prince Aris Dryden of Verena at Wisteria Gardens” for his grand ball. Of course this is no real Prince, it is Fate, but Signa can hardly tell Blythe and Byron that. They see it as a prime opportunity to gather allies and for Signa to demonstrate confidence in the family.
Signa locks her suite door, scribbles a note before sticking it in the collar of Gundry, her masquerading hellhound who was a gift from Death, and removes five dried Belladonna berries from a drawer. Belladonna doesn’t kill Signa, nothing can, but it does stop her from living long enough to complete certain tasks, and today she is going to walk through the shadows to Elijah and give him that note. Unfortunately, Signa isn’t very skilled with her powers and instead of stepping through the shadows she bangs her nose on the wall much to Death’s amusement who has been watching her from her bed. Though Death does not want Signa to use the Belladonna berries because her body is getting too accustomed to them, he does help her get to Elijah’s cell. The cell is filthy and Elijah looks terrible and has been beaten. Elijah thinks Gundry is a hallucination though he takes the note from his collar. By the weak light from the cell door Elijah is able to read, is there a suspect? When an asshole guard comes into the cell and throws a hood for Elijah to put on, Elijah is able to mumble that Byron did not speak up for him. Byron has become the number one suspect.
Back in Signa’s suite, Death helps Signa calm her rage against the guard and Byron and promises to protect Elijah. But why would Byron do this, for Gray’s, the gentleman's club? Changing the subject, Signa asks more about Fate but Death does not want to talk to her about his brother who he has not seen since 1346 when he killed the only woman Fate has ever loved. He is his problem to deal with though the golden invitation on her bedside Death notices would suggest otherwise. Suddenly, as Death stops touching Signa, life floods back into her body and she is wracked by a coughing fit and vomits three times. Signa has to admit what happened the previous night. This is not good. Death tells Signa to stop using the Belladonna berries and she stops seeing him and hearing him completely.
For the next week, Signa tries to find Death as she goes about her investigation of Byron, but it’s no use. Byron, as well, has given no clue he spends his days locked in Elijah's study with ledgers and paperwork. On the day of Prince Aris’s ball, Elaine helps Signa dress. When she climbs into the carriage it isn’t Byron who greets her as her escort but Blythe. Byron, she says, will follow them in another carriage. Blythe is determined to enlist the Prince’s alliance and Signa has very little argument against it, just reservations of exposing Blythe to Fate.
Wisteria Gardens is beautiful, and grande and filled with erotic art, flowers and the odd hateful aristocrat you pretend to be friends with (looking at you Diana Blackwater). With warnings from Byron to be responsible and respectable, Signa and Blythe are left alone; however, they decide to cover more ground by splitting up. This gives Signa the opportunity to put Diana Blackwater in her place for her hateful, ignorant comments, greet her old friend Charlotte Killinger, and also spot Byron writing his name on Eliza Wakefield’s dance card, who it must be noted, isn’t dressed in the mourning attire one would expect a week after her uncle's murder.
Blythe has left the ballroom and gone snooping around Wisteria to admire the art everywhere. A massive portrait of a gorgeous woman with silver eyes has pride of place and as Blythe is admiring it, Fate in his Prince Aris disguise approaches her. They talk, Blythe complimenting Prince Aris on most of his collection, and Aris telling her he can’t abide poetry. Blythe also apologizes for her outburst earlier and Aris all but accuses her of crashing his party. Signa appears then and tries to politely separate Blythe and Aris, but Blythe is desperate to enlist Aris as an ally for her father. She tells him she needs a partner for the first dance which Aris would be delighted in being. Signa is not too happy about this interaction, or is it flirtation?
Back in the ballroom, Signa carefully watches Blythe and Fate dance while the gossip mongers whisper around her. She also spies Byron watching Eliza Wakefield dancing. When Signa is asked to dance, the man who greets her on the dance floor is Fate and he gives her the opportunity to ask any questions for the duration of the music. Signa asks why he is here (to meet her), what about his brother (he is of no consequence). Signa tells him to leave Blythe alone, but he says her fate was toyed with and there is a ripple effect that very much demands his attention. As they dance, Fate lets Signa see the facade he has created with Wisteria Gardens and how he can control the other dancers. Eventually the music comes to an end and Fate somewhat desperately asks Signa if the music was familiar to her and if she can remember who he is. It does not and she does not know him, but then cryptically Fate says “we met in another lifetime.”
That is… ludicrous but then he goes on to insist Signa was his wife and that she is not a reaper but in fact Life. Signa’s tapestry threads are unique, they are silver, Fate’s are gold and Death’s are black. Signa can’t stifle her laugh, but Fate isn’t amused. Signa manages to pull herself together and offers Fate a bargain: if he reinstates her communication with Death, she will entertain his ridiculous idea that she was his wife in another life. He agrees and allows her communication with Death to be restored in the evening after they have met. He has one month to convince Signa and after that, communication will be restored in full. Fate, however, believes after a month she will no longer want to speak to Death ever again.
Blythe is waiting in the carriage and has little recollection of the evening. Once her cousin is asleep, Signa calls out to Death with her mind, and thankfully he responds. Not knowing how long they will have to talk, Signa asks who Life was. Death speaks reverently about his brother’s wife and says he loves her, too, but not romantically. She would make new souls and Fate would weave their life and it was a joyous time, but Life was not immortal like Fate and Death and she asked Death to help her. Fate begged Death not to help but Death did not want Life to go so he didn’t, until it was too late and she experienced the worst death of all: she became the first victim of The Black Death and twenty-five million other people died because Death didn’t do his job and help Life move on. Life promised they would be reunited and that she would be reincarnated, but Death has never met Life again. As the conversation changes and becomes flirtatious, Blythe interrupts Signa. She demands to know who Signa is thinking about, she’s pretty flushed after all, and Signa tells her Everett Wakefield because she can hardly admit that she's swoony over Death. Blythe wasn’t expecting that answer and seems disappointed with it.
The next morning as Signa is reading a very detailed letter Death left for her about all the things they would do together, Blythe comes bustling into Signa’s suite carrying a massive bouquet of flowers from Aris. Blythe is put out that none of the many, many bouquets he has sent are for her. The note included simply says, “Give me a chance, and I shall show you that I am not the villain here.” Blythe tries to see the note but Signa will not let her; it’s a good thing that Elaine interrupts then. Everett Wakefield has come to visit Signa and they need to get her ready! Once dressed and with instructions from Blythe to speak loudly and enunciate so she can listen in, Signa meets Everett who is sitting with Byron. Everett apologizes for rashly accusing Elijah and has spoken in his favor for what it is worth. He’s also come to invite Signa and the Hawthornes to his investiture as Duke later that week.
Later, Signa has decided she needs to investigate Elijah’s office and find out what Byron is doing there all day. Eating five of her dried Belladonna berries, Death greets her in the shadows. He will help her, which is good because Signa doesn’t know how long the berries will work for. In the study, Signa riffles through the papers and finds Byron is investigating Percy’s disappearance as a murder and her name is underlined. Her friend Catherine Killinger is also noted. As she’s carefully looking, Blythe comes in to do just the same except she has a key and is less careful to cover her tracks. Blythe finds an emerald and gold ring deep in one drawer, but is it Elijah’s or Byron’s? and the notes about Percy’s murder. Panic fills Signa and suddenly vines and plants sprout everywhere like in the garden the night of Percy’s death. Death whisks Signa back to her suite where she calms down. He tells her that her powers have not been seen since Life, but that Signa Farrow is her own person and he will stand by her side as she discovers her abilities because he is not so selfless that he is willing to give her up. Signa, however, doesn't tell Death everything. When the powers burned through her, she heard the song she and Fate danced to, the one he had asked her to remember.
Blythe feels like she is mad, or poisoned again. She fled to her rooms when the plants started to grow in the study and when she went back to see, nothing was out of place and there was no sign of any plants. Needing to escape Thorn Grove, Blythe heads to the stables and recruits a new stable boy as her escort to Charlotte Killinger's house. When she gets there, she spies Charlotte and Everett Wakefield in a compromising situation, but being a friend, loudly announces her arrival to allow Everett to escape. Her concerns with Charlotte turn from friendly to somewhat confrontational when Charlotte recounts what she saw the night Percy disappeared: Percy in the woods heading to his mother's garden, then smoke. She also saw Signa heading toward the smoke. Blythe leaves dissatisfied because surely Signa had nothing to do with Percy’s disappearance. Unfortunately the seed of doubt has been sown.
Despite the extreme unlikelihood they will have any visitors, Byron insists Signa and Blythe be ready to receive guests. The only person who comes to call is Fate who brings another huge bouquet and suggests he and Signa take a walk outside together. Fate is working on a lot of assumptions based on seeing Signa as his late wife, such as loving spring and summer, nope Signa likes the colder months. He brings a delicious picnic and Signa enjoys it, but surely eating only the best foods must get old and boring? Eventually, and sadly before she can get her hands on the strawberry tart Fate made, Signa extracts a promise that Fate will do no harm to Blythe, but he refuses to extend this promise to Death.
That evening, Death is waiting for Signa in her room. He’s worried about the bargains she has made with Fate. Signa thinks she is in control but doesn’t fully understand Fate’s powers. Signa reaches for where Death is standing, using Gundry to signal where he is, and grabs on to Death’s skin and painfully enters her reaper state. Together they go to Wisteria Gardens which is in ruins except for the portrait of Life which is massive and still in full color. Wisteria Gardens was built for Life and left to rot after her death, a reflection of Fate. Behind Life’s portrait, Death shows Signa Fate’s secret tapestry room. Threads and tapestries are everywhere, it looks like a factory the way the canvases unravel and the threads separate into baskets. It showcases Fate’s powers and Death implores Signa to keep this in mind and make no more bargains and she agrees. As they start kissing and things start to get more intimate, they hear Fate return to Wisteria Gardens. It would not be a good idea to be caught with her skirts hiked up, legs around Death's hips and his hand between her thighs… so Death uses his shadows to whisk them away to Thorn Grove as Fate enters the tapestry room.
It’s time for Everett’s investiture as Duke. Everyone is in attendance as the Queen performs the ceremony and Everett Wakefield takes on his father’s mantle. As they leave the ceremony hall, Signa and Blythe walk out with Charlotte. Charlotte and Everett clearly have something going on between them as they’re doing a terrible job of hiding their looks toward each other. Signa also picks up on tension between Blythe and herself. Outside, as Diana Blackwater spouts stupid lies about knowing Prince Aris and insinuates he has come to town to court her, Fate walks up and, to Signa’s bored questions of “oh you’re still here,” tells the crowd he will be until Signa accepts his proposal. Signa makes him change it to “someone.” Fate then suggests everyone plays croquet.
Fate announces they shall play on teams and shall play for a prize and the prize will be whatever is in his power to grant such as a kiss (obviously looking at Signa). Fine, Signa and Blythe will play together while Fate and Everett team up, and their prize will be a recommendation for her father and Blythe will be given the chance to see him. Death joins the game, and though Signa can not see or hear him, she feels his coolness. Blythe needs no assistance to win, she’s clearly very good. Signa is terrible and needs Death’s help. Death also has fun interfering with Everett and his brother, at one point making a “breeze” catch Blythe’s mallet and causing it to land squarely on Fate’s junk causing him to fall like a sack of shit, but he manages to pull himself back together. Death is unable to stay much longer but that doesn’t matter as Blythe kicks Fate’s butt. He tells the cousins they shall see Elijah before dawn the next day.
In the carriage, Blythe is wary of Signa. She saw shadows helping her during the croquet game. Shadows that Signa talked to. The same shadows she saw when she was ill. Blythe confronts her cousin, but instead of being told she’s mad or paranoid, Signa takes Blythe’s hand and instead tells her she has something to show her and takes her to the stable and to a newborn foal who hasn’t got long left to live.
Signa takes the remaining Belladonna berries and eats them, willing that Blythe can still see her in her reaper form. Signa then reaches down and touches the foal, taking its life. On seeing this, Blythe demands that Signa bring him back. Signa protests, but something inside changes and she grows warm, Death’s voice fades, and the foal begins to breathe again. Blythe says she didn’t mean the horse, she meant her brother, and then she asks Signa if Percy is alive. When Signa confirms her suspicions, Blythe tells her cousin to leave Thorn Grove and rushes from the stables, leaving Signa devastated, but luckily Death is still with her and offers her comfort. Signa needs to feel wanted and not alone, and though they can’t physically touch, Death finds a way to give Signa the closeness, and orgasm, she needs.
By morning, Signa is gone to Foxglove. Blythe and Byron go to visit Elijah who looks terrible. The brothers snipe at each other, Byron not concerned with Elijah’s guilt or innocence with only a week to go until the trial, he thinks other matters, such as Grey's, are more important. Elijah seems disappointed that Signa has not visited and left Thorn Grove, which puts Blythe out; she can solve the mystery as well as her cousin regardless of her supernatural abilities. Blythe stops her father and uncle from continuing their bickering and turns the conversation to suspects.
Foxglove Manor is not the welcoming seaside estate they had hoped for when Signa, Elaine and Gundry arrive. It has suffered from twenty years of neglect, and now a storm is rolling in. Great. Signa tries to be cheerful, she’ll advertise for a full staff and make it a home, but it’s a bit of a stretch. Elaine goes to pick out a room in the servants’ quarters while Signa and Gundry look for a suite themselves. As Signa is inspecting the manor she can sense a spirit, but Gundry doesn’t seem concerned. In a bedroom, Signa curls around Gundry as the storm hits, falling asleep with her hellhound.
Signa is woken to pressure at her neck as the spirit of an old woman tries to choke her. As Signa nears death, she is able to enter her reaper state and fights off the old woman spirit just as Death appears to help her. Signa leaves the spirit to Death’s judgment as she goes to check on Elaine who is comfortably in the kitchen drinking coffee. As Elaine tries to assuage Signa’s worries, she looks frightened and then they hear piano music. Elaine offers to investigate with Signa but she declines. In the parlor, Signa finds a family of ghosts, a mother, father and young girl. They talk about her as if Signa can’t see and hear them, and they’re really rather rude. Well, Signa can hear them and can see them and she tells them to stop playing the piano and doing ghostly things at Foxglove, and to leave Elaine alone. The spirit family are quite put out at this and say none of them will go near Elaine, because her skin is strange and she has a weird glow. They also tell Signa there are about twenty ghosts in the manor, most likely to haunt the ballroom which makes sense given the mass death that happened when Signa was a baby.
Blythe is hosting her first afternoon tea since her mother’s death. Charlotte, Eliza and Diana are in attendance. Blythe’s primary goal is to gather information that will help her father, and though little seems to be revealed, she does receive confirmation that Byron is courting Eliza though Eliza doesn’t seem serious about the match. Diana is her usual callous self, while Blythe and Charlotte begin mending their friendship. When Eliza announces that her cousin Everett is hosting a fox hunting party the following day to help her meet eligible men, Blythe asks to come. With reluctance and Charlotte warning it is a terrible “sport,” Eliza agrees.
Signa ventures to the ballroom and is greeted by a beautiful spirit, one who she saw in a portrait with her mother when she arrived. The spirit introduces herself as Amity, her mother’s best friend and Signa’s godmother. Amity is delighted to finally meet Signa, she’s been waiting so long for her to return home. There are other ghosts in the ballroom, too, including Briar, her face half caved in from a fall, and many other ghosts dancing, gossiping, and taking tea. All of them, Amity says, are stuck in a loop and likely don’t realize they are dead. Amity also has something to show Signa and takes her outside and to an overgrown garden. It was designed by her father, Rima, for her mother and was just seeded before they died. Signa is happy she has the garden, somewhere she can freely practice and play with her powers without being seen. Foxglove is starting to feel like home.
Blythe, dressed uncomfortably and sitting side saddle, is ready for the hunt though she hangs to the back of the group with Eliza and Fate in his Aris disguise. Aris asks if Signa will be joining them and Eliza, eager to spread gossip, tells him Signa has suddenly returned to Foxglove, Blythe gives no further information, only confirming it is true. Clearly Aris is annoyed by this turn of events. Bluntly she asks Eliza about Everett’s prospects for a wife and Eliza tells her he asked his father to marry a girl but he deemed it an unsuitable match so the affair ended, but she suspects he has rekindled or found someone else. It seems only Blythe knows of Everett’s relationship with Charlotte, so could that be a reason to kill his father? Suddenly Eliza takes ill and rushes back to the manor leaving Blythe and Aris alone. Aris, hearing something, silences Blythe. Off his horse he follows the sound, Blythe coming along a few moments later, and they find a black fox kit cowering in a burrow surrounded by blood. Aris and Blythe return to the manor with the kit intending to put it in Blythe’s carriage. Blythe suddenly realizes she didn’t see the Prince’s carriage, and has never heard of the Prince or the country of Verena where he claims to be from, and also that she has little recollection of the night of the ball. Blythe saves those thoughts for later, especially since it seems Eliza might have taken seriously ill as they see her horse being returned to the stable.
Blythe enters the manor and runs into Eliza’s lady’s maid, Sorcha, carrying a tray of tea. Sorcha tells Blythe Eliza is suffering from headaches and they’ve gotten worse since her uncle's death. Blythe offers to take the tea to Eliza and sit with her for a while, but really she wants to test the tea to make sure Eliza isn’t being poisoned, and Sorcha agrees. Once alone with the tea, Blythe struggles to take a sip since it hasn't been long that she recovered from her own poisoning. Aris comes along then, and she tells him her hesitation so Aris offers to help. He takes a swig of the tea and not-kisses Blythe, tongue and all. Blythe tastes ginger but also sighs into the not-kiss. When they part, Aris is quick to remind Blythe it was definitely a NOT-kiss. Taking the tea to Eliza, Blythe finds her asleep having had laudanum, but notices a vile in her hand similar to something from an apothecary. It is then that Eliza seems to change as Elaine did, turning corpse-like and skeletal, but Aris interrupts this hallucination? vision? Quickly, Blythe memorizes the apothecary vile and leaves.
Signa has gone into town to put an advertisement into the paper for staff for Foxglove. The newspaper man gives her an unwarranted warning about it being filled with ghosts just as Signa spots a ghost boy who sees her at the same time. The boy, Henry, was lost to sea and his mother sits on the pier every day in her grief. Like Signa did for Lillian and Elijah in order to help them both move on, Signa shares a message with Henry’s mother. Signa feels Death come to collect Henry as she holds his weeping mother.
Meanwhile, on the morning of Elijah Hawthorne's sentence, Blythe goes to Wisteria Gardens to make a deal with Aris: if he will help save her father she will marry him. Aris rejects the offer, despite Blythe’s long list of qualities, but instead offers to help if she can assist him in marrying Signa. Aris then uses his powers to make Blythe tell the truth as to why Signa has gone to Foxglove and she tells him everything about the foal. The use of Life’s powers is the confirmation Fate needed, though he doesn’t realize Blythe could tell he was manipulating her until she confronts him. It seems her three near-death experiences have allowed her to see through the veil which is why she can sense Death when he is with Signa. Fate gives Blythe a small tapestry with instructions that Signa must willingly put a drop of her blood on it, making it a binding marriage contract. Blythe pockets the tapestry, ready to do what it takes. She’s lost her brother and refuses to lose her father, too.
Signa is in the wildflower garden trying to use her Life powers but absolutely nothing is happening, and her frustration is clearly evident when she snaps at Amity who is watching on. At Amity’s suggestion to look for a common thread each time she used her Life powers, Signa thinks of heat, and inside Foxglove, she almost sits inside the hearth. Alas, nothing. A cold wind blows signifying Death’s arrival, but this one is reminiscent of when he came for Blythe not when he’s come for dances or embraces. Death brings news that Elijah has been found guilty and will be hanged in two weeks. In Gundry’s collar, Death has placed a note with other news: Blythe suspects the Wakefields, Charlotte and Everett, have been courting for months, Eliza has taken ill but her illness doesn’t appear to caused by anyone, Byron has locked himself in his study since the verdict, and Death loves her and assures her they will save Elijah. Signa tells Death aloud to find Fate and bring him to Foxglove.
Fate arrives at Foxglove and Signa has made no special preparation for him, not even calling for tea. Signa asks Fate to teach her how to use Life’s power, so he tells her to clearly visualize what she wants and will it to happen; however, nothing happens when she tries to bring a dead rose back to life. They start sniping at each other and Signa calls Fate selfish and admits she doesn’t want to use Life’s power but she will to bring Elijah back if he is hanged. This concerns both Fate and Death. Fate refuses to teach her if that is her intention and tells her if she cannot go to Thorn Grove then she must bring the people to her and host a party. Fate leaves and Death becomes visible to Signa. They can’t trust Fate, he’s always playing some strategy, but they will play to the end.
Blythe has received Signa’s invitation to the ball. She believes her cousin is under Death’s influence and believes everything Fate has told her. Despite all her sleuthing, she has no evidence and can’t openly accuse Everett. Blythe sends a note to Aris telling him of Signa’s ball and that she, with the tapestry, will be in attendance, but she wants Aris to accompany her. He replies quickly saying he would not miss it for the world.
It’s the day of the ball. Foxglove has been scrubbed, dusted and cleaned from top to bottom, and the family of ghosts, Tilly, Victoria and Oliver, have been told to be on their best behavior. Signa is wearing a burnished gold gown as her armor against Fate. Before going to greet her guests, Signa asks Amity to take her to her parents’ room. Signa takes her time to investigate, realizing she has her mother's tastes and her father's curiosity. Death appears in his human form, and as Signa is holding him, she realizes he has come for someone and he admits it’s Eliza Wakefield.
Blythe has arrived at Foxglove with Byron but they soon separate, and Aris, who seems a little tipsy, greets her and checks she has the tapestry. She does, but isn’t going to admit it is tucked in her corset. Blythe is constantly vigilant for Death, sure he is controlling Signa and behind the Hawthornes’ misfortunes. An extremely sickly looking Eliza Wakefield enters with Everett and Charlotte who is wearing a large smile and an equally large engagement ring. Signa makes her entrance then and everyone goes up to the ballroom.
Around her, Signa can see the spirits of Foxglove coming out of their loops but not yet realizing they are dead. As she scans the ballroom for Fate, Henry’s mother approaches and thanks Signa for helping, she is glad Signa has come to help the spirits of Foxglove. Signa goes up to Fate, who is dancing with another man, and he takes her hand and they begin to waltz. While Fate is determined that Signa remember, any recollection she may have means nothing as the spirits of Foxglove wake up and could cause chaos and harm. Signa asks Fate for his help to pause the living people in attendance so that she may calm the spirits, and with reluctance he does, but only for twenty minutes. Signa goes to Briar who is starting to remember her death on the banister with Amity trying to calm her and make her see her. Eventually Signa is able to calm the spirits, most leaving with Death including Amity and Briar when she explains they are dead, but this is only the beginning of their story. When Death returns to the ballroom, he follows Eliza who is fleeing. Signa sees this, catches Blythe’s eye, and they follow after.
Eliza is on her knees throwing up in the garden, holding her stomach and clutching the herbs. Signa and Blythe have followed her out and grab the herbs from her and see that they’re the ones you give to a pregnant woman. Lifting Eliza’s skirts, Signa’s guess is confirmed, Eliza’s undergarments are soaked with blood. Eliza won’t say who the father is but Signa and Blythe work it out: Percy. Which is why Byron has been so intent on finding him, and the pregnancy is the reason Eliza has been so desperate to marry. Death has arrived and tells Signa if she doesn’t do something soon, both mother and child will be lost. Signa tries to use Life’s power, it burns her as it has before and she has flashes of memories of Life and Fate together. When the pain and heat recede, Eliza and her baby are better though Eliza may still be in danger.
Eliza admits that her uncle had matched her with Sir Bennet, a horrible wrinkly old man, and she couldn’t stand the thought of having to bed him. She tried to give Sir Bennet the cyanide in the champagne but Elijah picked up the flute and handed it to her uncle. She meant to incapacitate Sir Bennet not kill her uncle, so Signa offers Eliza a place at Foxglove for her and her baby. Byron comes outside then and collects Eliza, taking her into the house. Once Signa and Blythe are together, both realize the truth won’t save Elijah, Blythe pulls out the tapestry and insists that Signa fix her mess and marry Aris.
Signa confronts Blythe about Aris. It’s clear he has not told her everything, like who he really is, and has twisted the stories he's told her to his own ends. She tells her cousin she doesn’t know it but Death helped save her time and again. Unfortunately Blythe is unmoved and won’t relent, so Signa must take the tapestry and agree to Aris’s terms. When she takes the tapestry from Blythe it burns her, and the pain is excruciating.
Inside Foxglove, Fate is enjoying the evening when Death comes for him and wraps his shadows around his brother's throat, summoning his scythe. Signa and Blythe come into the ballroom, noticing the guests have stopped like Fate’s marionette puppets. Signa tells Fate he will have himself a bride but Fate must agree that she can see and touch Death without harm and that Elijah will be free the moment the oath is made. In the meantime, she also wants one more night with Death. Fate isn’t happy about her terms but they agree with a blood oath. Signa takes Death to her bedroom then, leaving the party to Blythe and Fate, while she and Death enjoy each other for one more night.
Blythe’s conscience is screaming at her. She remembers something she overheard Death say, he would have killed her. She saw the look on Signa’s face and knows she is truly in love with Death, and she is ripping her cousin from that. Blythe is feeling hotter and wants everyone in the ball to go home when she spots Aris being all smug at the side. Confronting him, Aris gives her non-answers before sweeping her up into a dance. It’s then Blythe realizes Aris is Fate and he’s playing them all. She also realizes that her brother Percy killed their mother and was trying to kill her and she’s made a huge mistake. She needs the party to stop, shouting at Fate to get everyone out as heat lances through her and she flees the ballroom.
Morning comes too quickly. Signa dresses in a black mourning dress as Death suggests they kill his brother or frame someone else for Elijah’s freedom, both ideas she rejects because, for her, Blythe and Elijah are worth the sacrifice. Downstairs Fate has the tapestry laid out next to a switchblade. Death and Fate go at each other straight away as Blythe enters, still dressed in her ballgown. Blythe asks Signa why she killed her brother, and Signa is honest in her response, that it was for her. Signa takes hold of the switchblade, Death and Fate finally noticing that she’s next to the tapestry, and cuts her finger. Before Signa can drop her blood on it, Blythe grabs the tapestry and holds it over the open fire in the hearth. Fate shouts at her to stop, but he’s powerless. Blythe tells him he agreed to allow Death and Signa to have one more night, to free her father and he would have his bride, but she expected more from him. When he asks why, Blythe cuts her hand on the iron poker and spills her blood on the tapestry. She expected him to specify the bride.
This makes the fourth time Blythe has bested Fate. Golden bands encircle their ring fingers and golden threads connect them. She’s not really concerned when Fate snarls and snaps at her, and is in fact rather smug in her victory and tells Fate her father is to be released that afternoon. Even when Fate tells her she will regret this, Blythe kisses his cheek and tells him not to worry, he has the rest of his life to make it up to her. Fate storms off and Blythe approaches her cousin. All is forgiven and everything is better now there are no lies or hidden truths. Blythe knows Aris is Fate and she is confident she will beat him again and break their oath, but in the meantime, she has the freedom of a married woman and is a princess at that. Blythe is going to ready herself to leave for home and extends an invitation to Signa to return to Thorn Grove to visit.
After Blythe leaves, Death and Signa embrace. As they’re rolling around the floor, Tilly and Victoria pop their heads into the room and ask Signa to keep better company, the man was far too bright for their eyes. There is another who glows too, just like the lady’s maid, the lady upstairs asleep. That can only be Eliza. Could it be the healing magic of Life causing Elaine and Eliza to glow? But Signa has never healed Elaine. Suddenly, the common denominator strikes Signa: Blythe. Considering the slash Blythe made on the poker, none of her blood is anywhere, and when Death holds the poker, it burns him. Gasp! Blythe is the reincarnation of Life. They agree not to tell Blythe for now, Blythe and Fate need to figure out their story themselves, but in the meantime, Signa needs to show Death around their new home.
Two months later, Everett and Charlotte have a wedding. Blythe has been distracted in the months since Foxglove with memories that are not hers where she is very much in love and having many very passionate embraces with a faceless man, and of a song she can not get out of her head but knows all the dance steps to. Eliza and Byron are married and the child is due soon. The official story is that they were married months ago and the baby is his but with her uncle's death and Elijah’s imprisonment, it was deemed inappropriate to announce it. Their marriage is one of convenience, Byron loved Percy and wants Percy’s child raised as a Hawthorne. In truth, Eliza’s uncle either wanted rid of the baby or for Eliza to be married to Sir Bennet. Signa and Blythe realize that Byron was the one to dose Lord Wakefield’s drink with cyanide, but Lord Wakefield’s death was deemed accidental with his rank and status causing the over cautious determination as murder. Prince Aris is also attending the wedding and raises a toast to the happy couple and announces his own engagement to Miss Blythe Hawthorne. This makes Elijah make a beeline straight for the Prince, as it’s the first he’s heard of an engagement, and Blythe offers Fate her condolences with a sweet wave. Death’s laughter rings out from the shadows, and he whispers to Signa, and now the show begins.