In the highest tower of Sul Adair, Jean-François questions Gabriel about his certainty that Dior Lachance survived capture by Voss and Dyvok. Gabriel admits he could no longer sense the blood he had given Dior, but says his decision was not based on hope. Gabriel insists he believed Dior was alive because Gabriel knew Dior’s strength.

The conversation turns into an argument about mortality, faith, and the value of risking one’s life. Jean-François finds mortals strange for spending their brief lives so recklessly, while Gabriel answers that a life without risk or purpose is no life at all. Drunk and reflective, Gabriel says dying for something that matters is better than living for nothing.

Jean-François prepares to leave before Gabriel’s account catches up with Celene’s. Their exchange becomes intimate and uneasy as Jean-François admits he envies Gabriel’s ability to love as a man while also knowing the vampire’s hunger. Gabriel laughs bitterly at the idea of being envied, citing his ruined country, dead family, imprisonment, and captivity among monsters.

When Jean-François leaves, Gabriel struggles and admits he is thirsty. Jean-François tells Meline to bring Gabriel another bottle, then descends through Sul Adair with thralled guards and servants toward the keep’s lower prison. Near dawn, he unlocks a silver-secured cell built beside running water and sends Jasminne away after she leaves him blood and light.

Inside the lower cell, Jean-François meets Celene, who warns that he is brave to leave Gabriel alone with one of his own. The two trade threats across the running water, and Jean-François explains he must resume Celene’s tale before her account and Gabriel’s begin to overlap. Celene asks for blood, drinks from the bottle he throws across, then reflects on the fragile collection of people carrying the world’s fate before declaring, “Let us end.”