Gilles appears to the public as a stooped, pale old count wrapped in thin linen and velvet, fingers knotted like dried roots and breath shallow and wheezy. His bedchamber is perpetually cool and scented faintly of rosemary and iron. When he chooses his martial form he straightens to a tall, severe knight with hair drawn back and a pale scar bisecting his left cheek. His skin has the pallor of wax; his face keeps a small, cruel smile as if remembering a private victory. Unexpected element: his right hand is warm to the touch no matter the temperature, while the rest of him feels cold. He favors a heavy signet ring set with a small shard of deep-sea blue glass taken from the Strait of Rhana.