Nightshade

Isolde looked at him and saw not a traitor, but a desperate animal. She agreed to help him, but warned him of the cost. To fake a death convincingly enough to fool the King's hounds, Julian would have to take a tincture of Atropa belladonna —the Deadly Nightshade.

In the damp, shadowed heart of the Blackwood, her cottage sat surrounded by a garden that looked entirely dead to the untrained eye. There were no bright roses or fragrant lavender here. Instead, beneath the heavy canopy, Isolde cultivated the Solanaceae —the nightshades. nightshade

Isolde waited until the sound of horse hooves faded entirely into the night. She knelt beside Julian and forced a paste of charcoal and vinegar down his throat, praying his spirit could still hear her voice in the void. "Come back, boy," she muttered. "The monsters are gone." Isolde looked at him and saw not a