After Astrid’s visit, Gabriel composed a heartfelt letter to his mother, apologizing for silence, affirming love for her and Celene, and demanding details about his father’s identity and whereabouts. He emphasized the urgency, fearing for his life, and hid the letter beneath his pillow for Astrid to courier.

By morning, Sister Esmée signaled the plan was set. Following a dawn mass mourning Sister Aoife, Gabriel prepared to depart in the stables with help from Kaspar and Kaveh, both shaken by Aoife’s murder; Gabriel silently wondered about Kaveh’s prior secret meeting with Aoife but could not confront him. The air still stank of the previous night’s battle where Gabriel slew Vivienne La Cour and two wretched.

Greyhand, Aaron de Coste, and Seraph Talon assembled for the Hunt. Talon, geared as a Hunter and visibly grief-stricken, thanked Gabriel for avenging Aoife. Aaron remarked on Gabriel’s survival against three coldbloods; outward courtesies fell flat as Gabriel suspected Aaron had freed Vivienne from the Foundry, linking Aaron’s clandestine visit to the Armoury with Aoife’s death. Despite this, Gabriel had to ride with Aaron on an Abbot-ordered mission.

The company set out through snowfall toward the Godsend Mountains, tracking an elder Ironheart of the Blood Voss stalking the Nordlund—an unusual presence so far east if the Forever King was concentrating power in Vellene. Gabriel foreshadowed that none of them understood the horror awaiting them, and that this would be the last Hunt he, Greyhand, and Aaron would share.

In the present prison frame, Gabriel’s sanctus dulled and his thirst returned. He needled Jean-François, who summoned wine via his thrall Meline. Gabriel noted Jean-François’s sketch of Astrid and gauged the historian’s age as relatively young for a highblood, taunting him about fear and Margot Chastain’s orders. Their exchange turned to the Grail and Gabriel’s failures, which Jean-François used to provoke him.

Gabriel proposed focusing on the Grail thread—Chloe Sauvage, Dior, Father Rafa, and their flight from Danton Voss and a masked highblood—arguing Empress Margot desired that account most. Pressed on why he joined Chloe toward the Volta despite having a wife Astrid and daughter Patience, Gabriel admitted he distrusted Dior’s claim but wanted to draw Danton: he used Chloe’s company as bait for vengeance against the Voss. When asked what became of the devout, compassionate boy he once was, Gabriel replied simply that he grew up.