Nightshade -

It would widen his pupils until his eyes were as black as obsidian. He would see the world through a terrifying, beautiful haze.

Within minutes, the world began to warp. The wooden beams of Isolde’s cottage stretched toward the sky like giant, skeletal fingers. He looked at Isolde, and her face melted into the face of the commander he had betrayed. The screams of the battlefield, which he had tried so hard to suppress, filled the silent cabin like thunder.

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

He had survived the nightshade. He was free, but his eyes would forever remain slightly too wide, and his skin slightly too pale—a permanent reminder that to buy a new life, one must always walk hand-in-hand with death.

For hours, Julian did not move. But as the dawn broke through the Blackwood canopy, his hand twitched. He let out a long, agonizing gasp, his lungs burning as they took in air for the first time in a day. He looked at Isolde, his eyes slowly returning to their normal, clear hazel. It would widen his pupils until his eyes

She knew the exact weight of a leaf required to make a panicked nobleman sleep without dreams, and the precise fraction of a crushed berry that would ensure he never woke at all. 🎭 The Mask of the Monks Hood

Julian pulled back his collar. On his neck was the brand of the High Inquisitor—a mark reserved for those who had committed treason. He had seen the corruption in the capital, tried to expose it, and was now a hunted man. He didn't want to forget his life; he wanted to fake his death. 🧪 The Three Drops of Belladonna The wooden beams of Isolde’s cottage stretched toward

"They say you can make a person forget," Julian whispered, his hands trembling against the iron latch. "They say you can give a man a new face."