Belladonna

Death is Signa’s romantic interest as well as a supernatural figure who stands in for the concept of death as a whole. Signa describes him as someone who is shrouded in shadows and can change his appearance and size when he wants to, something Death later admits to doing in order to help souls transition to the afterlife.

Death follows the rules of fate, always taking a life when he is summoned and making Signa’s invincibility inconvenient for her relatives. Though he represents the concept of death, Grace humanizes the character of Death, giving him emotions and needs just like any other character. Though he abides by certain rules regarding his duties, he cares little for the frivolous rules of humans. Despite this, Signa is an exception to him and he continues to feel drawn toward her throughout her life.

Death recognized something special about Signa when she was an infant and has prevented her from dying ever since. Like Signa, Death often describes himself as lonely, as he is only able to be around people for the final moments of their life and cannot touch them as it would cause their death. However, Signa is the one person whom Death can touch without killing due to her powers. He tells Signa that she is unique, saying, “‘In all my existence, I’ve asked only for one thing—for one person who might understand me, and whom I could let myself touch. When I touch someone, I see the life they’ve lived in flashes of memories as they die. But the first time I touched you, it was your future I saw’” (283). Due to this, Death claims to be selfish regarding Signa and has tried to protect her throughout her life by causing the deaths of her cruel and selfish guardians.

Even so, Death often lectures Signa about the need for balance in reaping and how attempting to play with fate by sparing one person’s life for another can have serious consequences. Death does not change as much as Signa throughout the novel, yet her view of him shifts drastically. Signa recognizes that Death is “not a demon or a monster, but the one who guided wayward spirits” (221), understanding his role as a bridge between life and death rather than a cold and merciless killer.

Knowing Signa won’t believe this about him at first, Death masquerades as a human named Sylas Thorly in order to help Signa. When Signa finally sees Death’s face, she says it looks like that of Sylas, but Sylas’s actions mirror those of Death’s from the beginning. As Sylas, Death tries to teach Signa not to trust anyone and to see both the good and bad in everyone, not unlike how Death speaks about Signa’s guardians. Just as Death can change his appearance to help ferry souls to the afterlife, the form Death takes as Sylas helps Signa to recognize several important truths about herself, enabling her to transition into her role as a reaper.

Blythe Hawthorne is Signa’s distant cousin. A wealthy woman around Signa’s age, Blythe, in many ways, symbolizes the idealized Victorian woman Signa wants to be. However, Blythe’s illness not only keeps her bedridden but also leads her family to often think of her as weak and powerless. Upon meeting Blythe for the first time, Signa is surprised to see how vivacious and sure of herself she is, something that contrasts with her own insecurities. Signa feels drawn to Blythe not only as a friend but also through her supernatural bonds, as Signa is responsible for sparing Blythe’s life early in the novel and feels responsible for saving her once she learns her mother was poisoned.

Blythe becomes a good role model for Signa, teaching her that she has value as she is and doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else. As a young woman, Blythe understands the social pressures Signa is under. However, as Blythe did not grow up as lonely as Signa did, she does not fear a lonely future. This is part of the reason Blythe does not want to marry, going against every expectation for young Victorian women. Her wealth gives her this privilege, but she also understands—as Signa does not yet know—that women have value aside from being wives and mothers. Though Blythe sometimes goes against the rules of etiquette that are expected to govern her life, her full recovery and re-entry into society at the end of the novel acts as a reward for the goodness of her character.

Blythe’s brother Percy also lives something of a double life. Just like Blythe, he initially appears to fit the mold of the first son of a wealthy and honorable family. Percy is heavily influenced by the social expectations associated with this status and is especially interested in following in his father’s footsteps, as he believes it is his birthright. The fact that his father acts distant toward him embarrasses him. Likewise, the fact that his father is ruining the family business Percy expects to inherit also proves to be a threat to Percy’s worldview. When she arrives at Thorn Grove, Signa sees how emotional this makes Percy, who also appears to be grieving the death of his mother and the likely death of his sister.

However, Percy also shows some of the cruelty of his position based on his views of women and people of lower classes. This bigotry foreshadows the revelation that Percy is the one who has been poisoning his family, even going so far as to poison himself to get his father’s attention and use the last dose of antidote that could cure his sister. Like the other characters in the novel, Percy is influenced by the strict and confining social expectations of his time, yet unlike others, he is willing to commit murder to maintain his status and position rather than subverting these expectations. Percy’s indifference toward the deaths of his family members shows how deeply ingrained his beliefs about his position are, and Grace uses this indifference to contrast Signa’s growing understanding of the moral choices she must make as a reaper.