In the prison interview, Jean-François recites Gabriel’s legendary achievements over five subsequent years of service—assaults on Báih Sìde, freeing Dyvok slaughterfarms at Triúrbaile, liberating Qadir, breaking the siege at Tuuve, killing elders across Dyvok, Chastain, and Ilon territories—before demanding to know how Gabriel’s rise collapsed. Gabriel deflects with a repeated word: patience.

Jean-François notices the name tattooed on Gabriel’s fingers and identifies it as Gabriel’s daughter. Gabriel then recounts how, after he and Astrid Rennier secretly maintained their love while serving—she as Mistress of the Aegis of the Silver Sorority, he as the Ordo Argent’s paragon—Astrid became pregnant. Despite Gabriel’s fame, their forbidden union with a sworn sister sparked outrage; the brethren, including Greyhand, demanded Gabriel renounce Astrid. Gabriel refused, and both were excommunicated. Denied farewells, they left San Michon together on Justice.

Gabriel describes the birth of their daughter, Patience, whose existence transformed his purpose. He speaks tenderly of fatherhood, calling Patience proof that good could spring from sin. When pressed on where they went next, Gabriel shuts down, saying he does not want to speak about his family anymore.

Jean-François asserts control, reminding Gabriel he is a prisoner and effectively a slave. Gabriel crushes his wineglass in his hand, letting blood flow, deliberately provoking the vampire’s hunger. Jean-François recoils, calls for his thrall, Meline, and struggles to master his predatory impulse as Gabriel taunts him about slavery and need.

Meline arrives, armed but deferential, and tends Gabriel’s hand with witchhazel and bandages while fetching another bottle of Monét. The power dynamic steadies: Jean-François threatens punishment, but Gabriel notes the Empress’s need for the Grail’s secret and argues the vampires’ world is doomed without it. He refuses to share more about his family and offers to return to the intended narrative.

After a tense pause, Jean-François accepts. He recaps the failed gambit at San Guillaume: the Company of the Grail—Sister Chloe, Père Rafa, Saoirse, Bellamy, and Phoebe—were slain by Danton, the Beast of Vellene, leaving only Gabriel and Dior alive, with the reveal that Danton was female. Gabriel asks for a smoke, is denied, and drinks instead, announcing he will resume the story of the Grail’s end and beginning.