Gabriel reads more of the journal, learning that Wulfric seemed to genuinely love his mother and considered abandoning his duties for her. Tensions in his group simmer: Aaron keeps his distance from Baptiste for fear of his vampiric nature, while Lachlan and Charlotte are drawn to each other but constrained by his vow of chastity. Aaron confronts Gabriel about his bloodthirst and offers to kill him if he succumbs, which Gabriel gratefully accepts.

Tolman, Valentino, and Carlos arrive. The Beaufort brothers are initially hostile toward Aaron but are convinced when Gabriel reveals he possesses a vial of Dior’s blood. They bring news that Fabién, after suffering an ambiguous loss at Augustin, has withdrawn to San Maximille. Charlotte produces crates of her family’s finest wine to celebrate.

During celebration, Aaron and Baptiste share a tender moment, but Aaron reaffirms their relationship can never be as before. Gabriel drinks heavily but finds it does little to quiet his vampiric thirst.

He wanders away and accidentally injures a young soldier with a thrown bottle. The scent of blood overwhelms him. The intoxicated soldier makes a sexual advance. Unable to control his urges, Gabriel closes his hand around the soldier’s throat—the chapter ends there, outcome unconfirmed. In the present, Jean-François expresses voyeuristic fascination and propositions Gabriel, who dismisses him and continues his story.

Gabriel reads that Auriél discovered she was pregnant. When she told Wulfric, he reacted with fury, calling the unborn child an abomination and demanding she end the pregnancy. When she refused, he fell into despair, believing it divine punishment and mysteriously whispering of a “blackened veil” being “undone.”

On the march, they intercept a “meat train”—thousands of human prisoners being transported by Voss’s forces as food. Gabriel leads a charge to free them. During the battle, Gabriel kills a highblood and loses control, drinking directly from its wounds. Lachlan witnesses and later confronts him. Gabriel angrily retorts that he will hold on long enough to kill Fabién.

Gabriel remains puzzled by the mention of the “blackened veil” in his mother’s journal, as the sky had not yet darkened when his mother was pregnant with him. Gabriel is thirty-three, while daysdeath began only twenty-seven years ago. The army, slowed by rescued prisoners, reaches San Maximille. The command staff devises a plan using Lachlan’s wax map. The main infantry will assault the south wall while silversaints target weaker points: Lachlan and Tolman will attack the east gate, Valentino and Carlos will split to hit the two sally ports, and Gabriel and Aaron will infiltrate the château through its sewage outflow, or “slopway.”

Just as they finalize plans, Phoebe is brought into camp. She and Gabriel share a passionate reunion before she reveals that Dior is alive.

Phoebe recounts how Dior was resurrected and is now a duskdancer. She details the battle at Augustin, where Dior, Celene, Reyne, and Mother Maryn fought Fabién’s forces—Celene and Reyne both fell against Kestrel. Maryn claims Voss worships the Five. Now a believer, Phoebe insists they must take Ashdrinker to Dior immediately.

Gabriel refuses, prioritizing vengeance. His allies agree to attack San Maximille at dawn. Later, Gabriel and Phoebe have a passionate and violent sexual encounter. At her urging, Gabriel drinks her powerful blood, which dims his thirst and imbues him with her strength.

Energized by Phoebe’s blood, Gabriel leaves her to rest and walks through camp. He advises Charlotte to confess her feelings to Lachlan before the battle, sharing his own regret about not having enough time with his wife and daughter. Then Gabriel is contacted telepathically by Fabién Voss, who taunts him from the fortress. Fabién claims responsibility for forging Gabriel into his greatest adversary and hints that the Esani have deceived him. Shaken, Gabriel returns to his tent and discovers Phoebe is gone—and she has taken Ashdrinker.

Gabriel informs his commanders that Phoebe has fled with Ashdrinker, likely toward Augustin. They decide the attack on San Maximille must proceed. Gabriel believes that with Phoebe’s blood, he can still kill Fabién using a silversteel blade anointed with the vial of Dior’s blood he still carries. Valentino gives Gabriel one of his blades, Valor. Charlotte delivers a rousing speech, and the silversaints lead the charge against San Maximille.

Gabriel and Aaron infiltrate through the slopway, emerging into a courtyard teeming with the Dead. Aaron breaks open the inner gate, allowing the army to flood in. Fabién’s children, the Princes of Forever Ettiene and Kestrel, join the fray. Gabriel battles Ettiene on the walls; Kestrel confronts the silversaints below, killing Carlos Beaufort and Tolman, murdering Valentino (who bleeds out on cold stone), and grievously wounding Lachlan and Aaron.

Fabién springs his trap: thousands more wretched emerge from hiding places, surrounding the army. Ettiene reveals they were intentionally lured inside. Gabriel boils Ettiene’s blood but is stabbed and severely wounded. With forces overwhelmed, the battle appears lost.

Fabién halts the fighting, his forces freezing with Gabriel’s comrades at their mercy. A young vampire girl emerges, runs to Gabriel, and calls him “Papa.” It is Patience, his daughter, believed murdered years ago. Now undead, Patience lovingly embraces him but refers to Fabién as “Papa Fabién.”

Fabién offers a truce. He invites Gabriel inside to reveal the truth about the Faithless and the Esani deception, promising that afterward Gabriel and his surviving men may leave in peace—with Patience—or Gabriel may join him. Trapped, Gabriel agrees.

The narrative returns to the present. Gabriel tells Jean-François he is overcome with bloodthirst. Intrigued, Jean-François summons Meline and permits her to be fed upon. As they both drink, Gabriel reveals it is a ruse. He produces a concealed silversteel dagger and stabs Jean-François through the heart.

The silver blade pins the vampire and prevents him from transforming. Gabriel boils his blood, fulfilling an earlier promise. With guards trying to break down the door, Gabriel fights his way out, killing a dozen thralls. He leaves Jean-François alive, telling him to use the “forever” he just granted him wisely, and escapes.