As alarm bells rang, Gabriel de León and Aaron de Coste left the chapel and joined Baptiste on Aveléne’s walls while townsfolk armed and gathered at the gates. Gabriel searched for Dior Lachance among the crowd but did not see her at first. On the road beyond the torchlight stood Danton Voss, the Beast of Vellene, exuding terror and dominating the onlookers with his presence.

Danton demanded parley with the lord of the place. Aaron announced himself, resisted Danton’s mental assault with his sevenstar mark, and declared his lineage as Aaron de Coste of House Coste. When Danton asked who Aaron was and taunted him, Aaron insulted him, called him a parasite, and invoked the memory of Danton’s sister’s death at the Twins, threatening to make Danton scream. Aaron drew his silversteel sword, and Baptiste hefted his warhammer as Aveléne’s defenders readied ignited arrows and guns.

Danton invited Aaron to “call thy dogs” and revealed his forces. From the darkness emerged nearly a dozen highbloods—his kin and Ironhearts—including a tall brute, a gold-haired woman with red eyes, and a boy who had died young—followed by hundreds of wretched thralls: fallen soldiers in imperial colors and civilians of all ages, all enslaved to the highbloods’ will.

Danton proclaimed that he saw into the hearts and preparations of those within the walls and promised to visit the same ruin upon Aveléne that befell House Coste. He elaborated on sadistic plans for the townsfolk, vowing slaughter and torment unless Dior was surrendered, arguing that giving up “one little girl” would save everyone else. Dior then appeared in the street within the walls as the crowd stared, while Danton taunted her by naming Saoirse, Bellamy, and Rafa, and by invoking Gabriel’s past to promise he would hunt her forever.

Gabriel drew Ashdrinker and shouted defiance, but Danton declared he need not enter the city and granted Aveléne one night to submit before returning with “all hell’s fury.” To demonstrate his mercy’s limit, Danton’s tall Nordlund highblood dumped a chained captive into the snow: Rafa, now Became, tongue blackened, fanged, and mindless with hunger. Danton pressed Rafa’s face into the snow, reiterated his ultimatum, and withdrew with his highbloods and horde, leaving Rafa behind to howl.

Dior reached the battlements and, horrified, recognized Rafa. With his intellect gone and only hunger remaining, Rafa strained against his chains. Dior insisted they could not leave him like that. Gabriel took a watchman’s bow, lit a tallow arrow, and shot Rafa, burning him to ash. Dior forced herself to watch and bear witness while the people on the walls weighed her presence as the cause of the threat.

Aaron quietly advised Gabriel and Dior to return to the keep, and they withdrew through the murmuring crowd. As they left, the smoke from Rafa’s remains drifted upward, unanswered by heaven. On the wind, Gabriel caught a faint, ominous scent: death and silverbell.