In the twenty-seventh year of daysdeath, Gabriel de León, a scarred and aging Silversaint imprisoned in a mountain tower, watches the sun set beyond a vampire-ruled château. He contemplates suicide but has no means, noting the presence of thrall soldiers and the vampires’ fear of flame. The world outside stirs as the undead rise for night.

A vampire enters Gabriel’s locked cell without opening the door and introduces himself as Marquis Jean-François of the Blood Chastain, historian to Empress Margot Chastain. He identifies Gabriel as the last of the Silversaints. A thrall woman brings in chairs and a table, revealing puncture scars and slavish devotion to the vampire.

Jean-François tests Gabriel with politeness and subtle compulsion to sit, but Gabriel resists through the Silversaints’ Laws taught by his master Greyhand. The vampire produces water, then quotes Silversaint vows and Laws, showing knowledge of Gabriel’s Order. Gabriel, unarmed, exhausted, and suffering withdrawal, remains defiant and refuses to sit until forced by circumstance.

The historian explains his purpose: with rival courts submitting to Margot after Fabién Voss’s death at Gabriel’s hands, the Empress wants to preserve knowledge. Before Gabriel dies, she wants his story recorded. When Gabriel dismisses the request, Jean-François flatters his legend—Black Lion, survivor of Augustin, burner of a thousand kith, and the man who threatened the Forever King—and Gabriel discerns the subtext: the vampires care about the Grail. Jean-François denies concern, mocking the prophecy, but his reaction betrays interest.

Jean-François then presents a phial of reddish-brown powdered blood and a bone pipe, offering the addictive substance as leverage. Gabriel, craving and ashamed, finally sits. Lacking a spark, he demands a flame; the thrall returns with a lantern, and he carefully vaporizes and inhales the powdered blood, experiencing overwhelming euphoria and sharpened senses. The vampire endures the discomfort of the flame to keep control of the exchange.

Reeling on his knees after the dose, Gabriel asks whose blood it was. Jean-François reveals it is the blood of Empress Margot Chastain. He withholds more until Gabriel complies, promising the chronicle will be Gabriel’s only immortality. Producing quill and ink, the historian instructs him to begin, and Gabriel, tasting the smoke and bound by need and threat, prepares to tell his tale.