Gabriel described the day as ordinary: he worked in a lighthouse loft, watched Astrid and Patience together, and felt content after years hiding far south. Fifteen years had passed since the Battle of the Twins; he had not smoked the sacrament in a decade, and Astrid's blood and love helped him keep his thirst and darkness in check.

As sunset neared, a wrongness crept in: the gulls were silent. Astrid called Patience for dinner, but there was no reply. Gabriel reached for Ashdrinker when he heard Patience's voice and a feather-light knock at the door. Against their rule to be inside by dark, Patience had gone to gather silverbells. Astrid opened the door to find Fabién Voss standing on the threshold with Patience, with several Princes of Forever—Alba, Alene, Kestrel, Morgane, Ettiene, and Danton—waiting outside in the dark.

Voss demanded entry and hinted he would release Patience if invited in. Despite knowing the danger, Gabriel, consumed by terror and love, said "Come in," and Voss entered holding Patience. He seated himself at their table, placed Patience on his lap, and commented on their domestic life. He exposed his intrusion into both Gabriel’s and Astrid’s minds, revealed Astrid’s hidden anniversary wine, and gently questioned Patience, emphasizing her youth and promise to magnify Gabriel’s dread.

Voss contrasted Gabriel’s brief fatherhood with his own four centuries with his daughter Laure (the Wraith in Red) and reframed their conflict as vendetta, not quarrel. When Astrid brought wine and hid a knife, Voss noticed and pressed Gabriel for a confession of his greatest sin. Gabriel, desperate to buy mercy, offered pride, lust, then wrath. Voss rejected each and named sloth as Gabriel’s worst sin—accusing Gabriel of abandoning his path and becoming a lion pretending to be a lamb.

Voss taunted Gabriel’s pleas, insisted he keeps his vows, and with a minimal motion moved to fulfill his promise in a way that would destroy Gabriel. As Gabriel tried to recount the exact act, his voice failed; he could not force the words that would make the horror real.

In the framing present, within the cold prison cell, Jean-François observed Gabriel’s breakdown with a glimmer of pity, shedding a single bloody tear. Gabriel, shattered, lifted his gaze and echoed the question Voss had asked him that night: "Where?"