Chapter Fifteen

Gabriel brings Lore to a secluded courtyard garden beside the Church wall. Most of the plants are stone, but Lore senses that they are not truly dead: life remains muted beneath a thin layer of Mortem. The place feels peaceful, though the covered well at its center unsettles Lore.

Gabriel explains that the Presque Mort channel Mortem into the surface of living plants, placing them in a reversible stasis between life and death rather than killing them. When Lore asks whether the same process has ever been tried on a person, Gabriel is horrified. Gabriel says the Church believes such an act would pull a soul back from the afterlife with knowledge mortals should not possess, which leads Lore to think about necromancers who once tried to interrogate corpses about death.

As they pass the well, Gabriel reveals that it is an entrance to the catacombs. Every eclipse, the Presque Mort open it and release Mortem into the garden; the next eclipse will be at midsummer, near Lore's twenty-fourth birthday and Consecration, making Lore uneasy. Lore also asks about Gabriel's closeness to Anton, and Gabriel says Anton was almost a father to him, helping him into the Presque Mort because of a vision and because of personal kindness.

Lore and Gabriel then discuss belief, the Shining Realm, the myriad hells, and the difference between Mortem and death itself. Lore challenges the Church's language about Nyxara's magic being twisted, arguing that Nyxara and Apollius were equals. Gabriel admits he does not fully accept the Law of Opposites, says day and night are equals rather than simple good and evil, and even expresses hope that Nyxara's afterlife is not terrible.

After leaving the garden, Gabriel and Lore find the Citadel hall laid with food. Alie greets them, and Lore and Gabriel accidentally give different explanations for where they have been: Gabriel says they walked, while Lore says Bastian took them to the stables. Alie jokes that Bastian often uses the stables for illicit propositions, invites Lore and Gabriel to a croquet game, and leaves Gabriel visibly irritated; when Lore jokes that Bastian did not take her there for his usual reasons, Gabriel mutters that Lore should not be so sure.