Mirabella, the oldest of the triplet queens, has the strongest gift and the clearest memories of her childhood with her sisters at the Black Cottage. She is an elemental and can control the earth, water, fire, and wind. Mirabella is the most eager to reconnect with her sisters, and she longs to reestablish the closeness they used to share; she recalls that she and Arsinoe were especially close. Mirabella also experiences recurring, gruesome dreams of her sisters’ deaths. These dreams echo her growing discomfort about the idea of harming her sisters, and to escape the necessity of having to do so, she attempts escape multiple times. She chooses to forego her power and position so she can spare her sisters, but the Temple priestesses always find her and force her to return.

During one of her escape attempts, Mirabella rescues Joseph from drowning and from hypothermia, showing her concern not just for her family but for strangers, too. Her concern for others is genuine, and this is why she is horrified when Rho compels her to sacrifice the temple initiate. However, her sheltered upbringing in the temple also leaves her naïve: She is shocked when Elizabeth is punished severely for loaning Mirabella her white cloak when she tries to escape; Mirabella also has no idea what Luca is planning with regard to the Sacrificial Year and does not recognize Luca’s capacity for violence. 

Despite Mirabella’s superior gift, she avoids violence for much of the novel. Ultimately, however, when she believes that Arsinoe sent a bear to attack her during the Quickening, Mirabella decides that she needs to stop being sentimental about her sisters and their past. Believing that Arsinoe tried to kill her, she vows to do the same. She hardens herself and prepares to fulfill the expectations placed on her.

Katharine’s mother, Camille, declared her to be the poisoner of the triplet queens, but Katharine cannot stomach deadly poisons any more than Arsinoe can appeal to animals or make flowers bloom. For years, the Arron family has worked hard to hide Katharine’s weakness from the poisoner community, but it is publicly revealed at the disastrous Gave Noir on her 16th birthday. Katharine has been significantly weakened by her “training,” as the Arrons have plied her with poisons for years in an attempt to increase her immunity to toxins. Even her maid knows that she must brush Katharine’s hair gently because “the years of poisoning have weakened the scalp” (8). When Pietyr Renard begins to train her to appeal to the suitors from the mainland, Katharine gains more confidence. He encourages her to eat, teaches her to flirt, and helps her appear queenly. However, “she still scurries like a rat” because of the way Natalia and Genevieve, especially, have mistreated her for years (146).

Katharine is a dynamic character, shifting from a disempowered and uncertain girl into a self-assured, determined young woman. However, her quickest and most significant transformation comes after Pietyr pushes her into the Breccia Domain in an attempt to kill her. When she returns, mysteriously emerging from the supposedly bottomless chasm, she is ready to take her revenge and the throne of Fennbirn, no matter the cost.

Jules is the strongest naturalist Wolf Spring has seen in 60 years, and she is a member of the family that raises and trains naturalist queens. She is fiercely loyal to Arsinoe, despite Arsinoe’s apparent lack of her gift. Her devotion to Arsinoe drives her and Joseph to help Arsinoe escape when they are just 11, in the hopes of saving her from death at her sisters’ hands. Though impulsive and doomed to failure, this act demonstrates Jules’s loving and generous nature. Jules spends nearly all her time with Arsinoe, trying to help the queen learn naturalist skills. Jules is never arrogant about her own extraordinary abilities, despite having an incredibly powerful familiar in Camden, the mountain cat.

In addition to being a loyal friend and confidant to Arsinoe, Jules is also in love with Joseph Sandrin. When he gives her a ring and proclaims himself to be in love with her, she is very content. However, when he turns from her to Queen Mirabella, Jules inadvertently sends a bear to attack the queen at the Quickening. When Joseph steps in front of Mirabella, however, Jules restrains the bear, though she is deeply pained by his betrayal. 

Jules remains a steadfast friend to Arsinoe, and in the end, she plays a pivotal role in Arsinoe’s discovery of her true gift. When Jules eats one of the poisoned candies Chatworth sends to Arsinoe, Arsinoe realizes she is really a poisoner. Thus, Jules is, directly and indirectly, instrumental to the queen, as she helps Arsinoe to realize her true nature and gifts.

Luca is the High Priestess of the Goddess’s temple, and she is largely responsible for Mirabella’s training as an elemental queen. She is hypocritical, as she chastises Natalia Arron for manipulating Katharine and cheating at the Quickening, accusing Natalia of excessive pride and a failure to trust the Goddess. However, Luca herself manipulates Mirabella and knowingly spreads a false rumor about a legendary precedent for sacrificing the “weak” queens during a Sacrificial Year, all while arming her priestesses to murder Katharine and Arsinoe. 

She keeps this information from Mirabella so Mirabella will not rebel against her and the temple. Luca fears that Mirabella will be unwilling to kill her sisters to take the throne, so she manipulates her. Like Natalia, Luca engages in deception, but unlike Natalia, she hides her ambitions using religious rhetoric. 

A static and flat character, Luca never wavers from her ambitions. She has endeared herself to Mirabella, but she doesn’t actually love or care about the elemental queen. Luca cares only about power and the success of the temple—not because she loves the Goddess but because she loves power. She enjoys a certain amount of power due to her proximity to the gifted Mirabella, and she wants to retain and grow that power.

Natalia is the leader of the Arron family, the powerful poisoners that have raised the last several generations of poisoner—and Fennbirn—queens. Natalia carries a black mamba snake with her to formal events, like Katharine’s birthday, and she is often associated with snakes. She has worked hard to hide Katharine’s lack of gift from the public, even going so far as to arrange a completely poison-free Gave Noir at the Quickening. 

She and her sister, Genevieve, have subjected Katharine to inhumane poisoner training for 10 years, all so they can retain the power conveyed by their familial association to a poisoner queen. Katharine’s earliest memory is of the day she was parted from her sisters at the age of six. This was “[t]he one and only time Natalia ever allowed her to act like a child” (3). Natalia sits on the Black Council and enjoys a great deal of authority as a result of her proximity to the last queen, Camille, and Katharine herself.

Natalia is a static and flat character who does not change throughout the novel. Her motivations are simple and straightforward: She has a lot of power, and she wants to keep it. However, Natalia is not cruel; she takes no pleasure in harming Katharine but only views her as a means to her own ends.