Jean-François walks through the Empress’s fortress, Sul Adair, noting that the historic frescoes have been replaced by dozens of flattering portraits of the Empress that he himself painted. He enters the throne room of Empress Margot Chastain, an ancient and physically unassuming vampire who wields immense power. Unable to see her own reflection, she relies on Jean-François’s art to maintain her self-image.

Margot notes his lingering injury from Gabriel de León and subtly threatens him. She reveals that the leaders—or Priori—of three rival bloodlines are coming for the Convocation. To force them to submit to her rule, she needs an advantage, which she believes can be gained from Gabriel. She orders Jean-François to resume his interrogation, instructing him to use his relative youth and understanding of humanity to exploit Gabriel’s pride and extract the location of the Holy Grail. She gives him a key and a phial of red dust, commanding him to secure her an empire.

Gabriel de León, the last member of a holy order of vampire hunters called silversaints, is brought from a well where he has been starved and tortured for six days as punishment for attacking Jean-François. He’s bathed by two of the vampire’s servants, Jasminne and Dario, whose offers of sex and comfort he gently refused. When Jean-François arrives to see Gabriel, he proposes a truce, offering to shave him. Gabriel recognizes this as a power play meant to force him to bare his throat but turns the tables by feigning nonchalance and demanding a drink first, demonstrating he is not intimidated.

After the shave, Jean-François uses a grooming water scented with silverbell—the favorite flower of Gabriel’s murdered wife and daughter—as a calculated cruelty. He explains that the Empress wants to hear the rest of Gabriel’s story, specifically what became of the Holy Grail after the massacre at San Michon monastery. Facing the threat of additional torture if he refuses, Gabriel agrees to continue his tale.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle at San Michon monastery, Gabriel and a young woman named Dior Lachance, whose blood is believed to be the key to restoring sunlight to the world, stand in the blood-soaked cathedral surrounded by the bodies of the silversaints Gabriel killed to save her. He retrieves his broken sentient sword, Ashdrinker, and watches as the monastery’s remaining inhabitants flee from him in terror.

In Dior’s former room, she changes out of her ritual robes and breaks down, questioning if they were wrong to stop the rite that might have saved the world from the eternal twilight known as daysdeath. Gabriel comforts her, taking full responsibility for the decision and vowing to protect her. He tells her his estranged sister, the vampire Liathe, can guide them. Bolstered by his promise, Dior agrees to meet her.

As they descend from San Michon, Gabriel explains to Dior his fear of “thralldom,” the magical enslavement that occurs from drinking the same vampire’s blood three times. He tells her a cautionary tale of a thralled woman who entombed her vampire lover to “protect” him, illustrating the bond’s “madness.” He then reveals that his sister, Celene Castia, whom he had thought died 17 years prior, is now the vampire, Liathe.

In the valley below, they meet Celene, who wears a porcelain mask. She reveals she is part of a fifth vampire bloodline, the Esani, and serves “The Faith”—the primary religion of the mortal realm that worships a divine creator and the divine offspring, the holy Redeemer. She demonstrates sanguimancy, a form of blood magic that Gabriel also possesses. Celene confirms that Dior is the key to ending daysdeath but admits she does not yet know the method, as her master was killed before revealing it. She insists they must travel to find another Esani master named Jènoah in the Nightstone Mountains. When Gabriel refuses, Celene prepares to fight him for Dior.

Celene attacks Gabriel, and they engage in a deadly sword fight. When Dior tries to intervene, she is accidentally knocked down, and the sight of her bleeding nose sends Gabriel into a protective rage. He wounds Celene, but she uses blood magic to reform behind him and stab him through the chest. As Gabriel unleashes the power of his holy silver tattoos, or aegis, Celene counters by using her sanguimancy to take control of her blood inside him, boiling it and causing him excruciating pain.

Dior ends the fight by pressing a dagger smeared with her own holy blood—which is lethal to vampires—to Celene’s throat. She brokers a truce, declaring that she and Gabriel will accompany Celene to find Jènoah together. Celene releases Gabriel, whose grave wound immediately begins to heal due to the potency of the vampire blood she had previously forced him to drink.

Nine days later, the group travels along a frozen river. Gabriel trains Dior in swordplay and teaches her about the four major vampire bloodlines: Voss, Dyvok, Chastain, and Ilon. Celene, who has been scouting, returns and informs them that Dior’s scent is so potent she smells overwhelmingly appealing to the undead, making attempts to hide her useless. Gabriel suggests a detour to the town of Aveléne to see his friends, but Celene argues against any delay. Feeling the weight of her purpose, Dior agrees with Celene that they must press on toward the Nightstone Mountains. As they travel, Gabriel grows increasingly wary of Celene’s mysterious power and the fact that he has never seen her feed. Their journey is interrupted when they spot a lone silversaint being pursued by a pack of wretched vampires.

Dior insists they help the besieged silversaint, despite the Silver Order’s recent attempt on her life. Gabriel confronts the attackers and recognizes the man as Lachlan à Craeg, his first and only apprentice. After they fight off the wretched vampires together, the two men share a joyous reunion.

Lachlan explains he was returning to San Michon when he saw smoke from Aveléne, a nearby town run by Gabriel’s friends Aaron de Coste and Baptiste Sa-Ismael. Before he could investigate, he was attacked by two powerful vampires and lost his horse and sword. Distraught, Gabriel and Dior decide they must go to Aveléne to learn the fate of their friends. Though Gabriel is wary of Lachlan’s loyalty to the Order, he recognizes the need for another skilled fighter and accepts his help. Dior lends Lachlan her sword for the journey.

As the party nears Aveléne, the strong scent of blood in the air triggers Gabriel’s thirst, now dangerously amplified by the vampire blood Celene forced him to drink. They find the town’s keep destroyed, but its outer walls are mysteriously untouched. On the frozen river below, they discover a caged wagon—which Gabriel calls a “meatwagon”—filled with captive children and guarded by thrallswords and wretched.

The wind shifts, and the vampires immediately detect Dior’s scent. Three highblood Dyvok vampires—vampires with immense strength and brutality also called The Untamed—emerge from the fortress: two brutish males named Kane and Rykard, and their leader, Kiara, known as the Wolfmother. Gabriel recognizes Kiara from a past battle where she oversaw “slaughterfarms” that kept captive humans as livestock. As the vampire’s charge, the horses pulling the meatwagon panic and bolt across the ice, dragging the children with them.

Gabriel and Lachlan fight the Dyvok vampires. Kane attacks with a powerful spinning technique, the “Tempest,” but they manage to sever his arm. Dior chases the runaway meatwagon onto the ice to save the children inside, forcing Gabriel to fight his way toward her. He is gravely wounded by Kiara and Rykard, but just as they are about to kill him, Celene arrives.

Unveiling her horribly mutilated face, Celene attacks with incredible speed and power, using her blood to form weapons. In a shocking display, she bites into Rykard’s neck and drinks his blood until he disintegrates into dust, a process which appears to partially heal her own wounds. Stunned by this unknown form of power, Kiara smashes her war maul into the river, shattering the ice and plunging the battlefield into chaos.

The river collapses into a torrent of ice and freezing water. The others escape to the bank, but Dior is trapped on the sinking meatwagon. Gabriel rushes back to save the children, tearing the cage door from its hinges. After freeing the last child, he falls into the water and is pulled out by a massive lioness that bites his arm. On the shore, the lioness transforms into a naked woman with feline features.

She is Phoebe, the animal companion of a fallen comrade. Gabriel had believed her to be dead, but she had only been wounded. Dior’s shout prevents Celene and a shocked Lachlan from attacking. Phoebe reveals she is a duskdancer, a type of shapeshifter that can only be killed by silver, and she’s been tracking them for weeks. She performs a blood vow, telling Dior, “I am yer talon and tooth, Flower. By my heartsblood spilled, I vow it” (96).

The group enters the ruins of Aveléne with the 40 rescued children. A survivor named Isla á Cuinn explains that the attackers were already inside the walls when the assault began. In the rubble, Gabriel discovers the shattered hilt of his friend Aaron de Coste’s sword, confirming his death.

The party finds shelter in a derelict hovel. While the children recount details of the attack, Isla, who survived the fall of another city, has a despairing breakdown. A tense argument erupts between Phoebe and Celene over their next destination. Phoebe urges them to seek sanctuary in the Highlands with her people, while Celene insists they continue west to find Jènoah. Gabriel quiets the dispute and promises the frightened children that he will guard them through the night.

While standing watch, Gabriel is tormented by his intense bloodthirst and haunted by visions of his dead wife and daughter. Lachlan confronts him, revealing he knows Dior is a girl because he can smell her menstrual blood, and demands the truth. The argument turns violent when Lachlan insults Gabriel’s late wife, Astrid. Celene breaks up their fight.

Appalled to learn Celene, an Esani vampire, is Gabriel’s sister, Lachlan questions how he will explain his new allegiances to the Silver Order. After Lachlan storms off, Celene insists he is a threat and must be dealt with. Gabriel demands answers about her past and her powers, but she refuses, stating that her deep hatred for him is the only proof he needs of her commitment to their mission, as nothing less could compel her to endure his presence. Gabriel retorts by telling her about the niece she never knew and warns her not to harm Dior.

Dior joins Gabriel on watch, and they discuss their limited options. Gabriel suggests either taking the children to the safety of his ancestral home or sending them with Lachlan to San Michon. He is wary of Lachlan, fearing his reaction when he learns of the massacre Gabriel committed at the monastery.

Suddenly, Gabriel hears movement in the woods. He and Dior find a lone, one-armed wretched. Eager to prove herself, Dior persuades a reluctant Gabriel to let her fight it. He gives her his sword, Ashdrinker. As she attacks, the wretched turns and speaks, revealing it is being controlled by a more powerful vampire. Dior easily kills the creature, but Gabriel is horrified, realizing that a Voss vampire has used it as a scout and now knows their location.

Horrified that a powerful Voss vampire is now aware of their position and likely less than 50 miles away, Gabriel quickly evacuates the hovel. He decides that Lachlan must take the children north to San Michon for safety, while the rest of them act as decoys to draw the pursuit away. He manipulates a reluctant Lachlan into agreeing by appealing to their bond, lying that it is a matter of trust. Dior allows Lachlan to keep her sword to protect the children. Gabriel parts from his old friend with a heavy heart, knowing the bloody truth that awaits him at the monastery.

With the children gone, Dior must choose their path. She rejects the safety of Gabriel’s home and the sanctuary Phoebe offered in the Highlands, deciding instead to continue west with Celene to find Jènoah. The narrative returns to the present, where Gabriel tells Jean-François that this choice led them into the heart of the Esani heresy, ensuring none of them would ever be safe again.