Jules Milone comes from a prosperous family that trains the naturalist queens. She and her familiar, Camden, a mountain cat, keep Queen Arsinoe company as she tries to make a rosebud bloom. She should be able to make entire bushes bloom, but her gift has not arrived, though she calls for her familiar every day. Luke—the owner of a bookshop—calls the group inside for tea. Hank, a rooster, is Luke’s familiar. When Arsinoe conveys exasperation with Hank’s molting feathers, Jules reminds her that she used to want a bird familiar, just like Jules’s grandmother, Cait, and mother, Madrigal, who have crows. Arsinoe thinks her familiar hasn’t come because it knows she won’t survive. Jules, on the other hand, is the strongest naturalist in 60 years.

Only one Black Council member, Renata Hargrove, comes for Arsinoe’s birthday. Arsinoe doesn’t look like a queen, except for her coloring. Hargrove announces that Joseph Sandrin’s banishment ended, and he returns home in two days. Five years ago, Joseph, Jules, and Arsinoe tried to escape the island on a boat Joseph stole from his father; they were caught when the mist would not let Arsinoe through.

Queen Mirabella stands at the Goddess’s altar in the Rolanth Temple. A crowd gathers to watch as she works with lightning, wind, and earth, and they cheer and gasp. That night, Mirabella dreams that she cuts off her sister Arsinoe’s ear while trimming her hair. As the blood drains from the hole, Mirabella calmly cuts off her other ear. Her dreams have gotten worse lately, which the high priestess, Luca, says will continue until Arsinoe and Katharine are dead. 

The next morning, Sara Westwood, Mirabella’s foster-matron, and Bree, Sara’s only daughter, compliment Mirabella on her display. Bree experiences a freedom that is denied Mirabella, who has tried to escape before; the queen is constantly surrounded by priestesses who guard her.

Luca is confident that this elemental queen will finally unseat the poisoners’ long reign. Luca says that there is work to be done, and Mirabella agrees to do whatever is required. When Priestess Rho arrives, Mirabella assumes they are going to hunt. Instead, she is led to a dark canyon where a novice waits to be sacrificed. Mirabella does not want to kill the young woman, but Rho tells her the priestesses’ methods will be slower than hers.

A maid named Giselle tends to Katharine’s welts after the tincture of nettles Natalia applied that morning. Genevieve made it too strong, and now it will scar. Sweetheart has been missing ever since Katharine got sick at the Gave Noir, and Katharine fears her pet is dead. 

Pietyr offers his services to Natalia, saying he can mold Katharine into a desirable woman for the suitors; then, when she is crowned, he wants a seat on the Black Council. Natalia agrees, and Pietyr goes immediately to Katharine. He says she’s not ready for her suitors, and he is here to prepare her.

Jules and Madrigal discuss Joseph’s return. Madrigal says Joseph will be as devoted to Jules as his older brother, Matthew, was to Madrigal’s sister, Caragh. After their attempted escape five years ago, Joseph was banished while Jules was sentenced to live in the Black Cottage and be the solitary midwife and nurse to the queens; her aunt Caragh volunteered to take her place. She goes to meet Joseph’s ship, and he rushes to hug her. He is amazed to see Camden, and he introduces his foster brother, William Chatworth Jr., who will court the queens.

Meanwhile, Madrigal leads Arsinoe into the woods. She pulls several objects from her bag, and Arsinoe realizes they are for “low magic.” Arsinoe believes low magic is for “the simple or the desperate” (81). Madrigal wants to teach her to do this magic by working a love spell on Jules and Joseph. She binds a braid of Jules’s hair with a strip of cloth from one of Joseph’s shirts, then she cuts Arsinoe’s arm and drenches the charm in the queen’s blood. Madrigal claims the two will never be parted, but as Arsinoe holds the charm, it feels wrong. Jules wouldn’t want this, so she casts it into the fire. This makes Madrigal sad, and she asks why Arsinoe has done this to “poor Jules.”

Elizabeth, an initiate, finds Mirabella crying in the gardens at Westwood House for the girl she sacrificed. Mirabella is surprised that Elizabeth, a naturalist, has been permitted to keep her familiar, a woodpecker. Elizabeth tells Mirabella that the girl died believing she did a great service. Elizabeth tells the queen everything has a dual nature. Luca is pleased that Mirabella completed the sacrifice, but Rho is not satisfied with the way it was done. Luca says they will not ask the queen to do that again because she will rebel if pushed too far, and Luca does not want her to “remember” how to rebel. Luca is confident in Mirabella and believes that the Temple can again control the Black Council: They need to fill it with Westwoods and empty it of Arrons.

Mirabella wakes from another dream with the taste of blood in her mouth. She remembers her sisters as children, reminding herself they are children no more. She has no appetite, as is common after such dreams. Bree brings news from Wolf Spring: One suitor’s delegation arrived early and is being given special treatment for fostering Joseph Sandrin on the mainland. Mirabella hasn’t heard of Joseph in years, and she remembers that he spat at Natalia Arron’s feet when they were caught trying to escape.

Katharine loves the manor library. She tells Pietyr that Camille liked the old books and read often about mainland queens. When Arsinoe was born weak, Camille named her after another mainland queen who was born weak. Pietyr kisses Katharine, who is getting better and bolder. He reassures her that she will win the hearts of her suitors and the people. 

Later, Natalie takes Katharine to Volroy to poison a prisoner. The prisoner says he killed another boy because that boy killed his sister. Katharine mixes a potion that will kill him, adding ingredients to numb his pain and fear, and she mixes it into wine. She and Natalia sit together while he drinks. Natalia drinks with him until his heart stops. She thinks that though Katharine may be weak, she is skilled at poisoning.

Joseph gives Jules a ring for her birthday. He says that, on the mainland, her acceptance of it would mean that she will marry him. He vows that he wants things to be just as they might have been if he’d not been exiled for five years. 

Arsinoe has told no one about Madrigal’s low magic. She goes to meet Joseph and Jules, and she finds Billy Chatworth there, too. She is displeased by the ambush, but she leads Billy away to show him the island so Jules and Joseph can be alone. Billy likes Arsinoe, but she tells him not to waste his time on her. Joseph tells Jules that Billy may be half in love with the queen already, from all the stories Joseph told about her. Joseph tells Jules that he loves her, and she is happy.

Mirabella dreams of being a child again with her sisters. They know they will be separated from each other soon. Mirabella promises to save them both, calling thunder to scare away those who will divide them, but Arsinoe doesn’t think it will work. When she wakes, Mirabella tells Luca it was a memory and not a dream. Luca tells her that queens don’t remember things like this, and Mirabella retorts that this isn’t true.

Luca understands why Mirabella doesn’t like Rho, who is severe with Mirabella. Nonetheless, she feels Rho is an asset. However, Rho fears Mirabella will be unwilling to kill her sisters. She suggests that they make Mirabella a White-Handed Queen—one who takes the throne without killing. It could be considered a Sacrificial Year, in which two of the queens are weak and giftless. According to legend, Rho says, the people sacrifice the weak queens so the third can reign. Luca knows that this is not true, but Rho claims that “[e]nough whispering will make it true” (142). Luca realizes Rho wants to sacrifice Arsinoe and Katharine at Beltane, which would spare Mirabella’s feelings and ensure her reign. She agrees to consider it.