‘Take the book. My equerry shall present you with my seal and your identification as militant-apostolic. As far as I am concerned, you are he. We shall treat it as a temporary appointment, if you like. You have one week to decide whether or not you will take the post permanently. Nevertheless, I would like you to do this one service for me. Write the sermon for the triumph I am planning, and deliver it.’

‘Are you commanding me?’

‘I am asking you. You do not have to do it.’

Guilliman looked searchingly at the priest. Mathieu gripped the book.

‘Good,’ said the primarch. ‘Now go – anything you require will be made available to you.’

‘You could deliver the words yourself, my lord.’

‘I shall be honest with you, Frater Mathieu.’ Guilliman rested his hand on a pile of files, all in rough binders marked with the barred ‘I’ of the Inquisition. ‘I have looked carefully at many possible candidates for this office. I chose you as all the intelligence I have on your life suggests you are an honest man, fervent but reasonable, kind yet bold. As you said, you help the needy, and you have no ambition other than to do good. As far as I can tell. I have been wrong before.’

‘I have my own work.’

‘And I have greater for you,’ said Guilliman. He lowered his voice, and looked out through the cloisters to the floating wrack of void combat. ‘If I say I am not a god, I damn myself in the eyes of my father’s worshippers. If I say I am, I damn myself again in the eyes of those who are suspicious of me. Not every man regards my return as fortuitous. Some suspect fell powers at work. I have my detractors. I require someone who can handle the Adeptus Ministorum gently. Most dangerous of all to me is to have a man in this position of a worshipful character. I need someone who can get things done, who will not go into paroxysms whenever I speak, and one who will question what I say should it need questioning. In short, I need someone who can see the man behind the god.

‘You came to me freely. You have not cast yourself upon your knees. You may be surprised to learn that you are one of the very few members of your organisation that I have been able to hold a proper conversation with. In the first few minutes of our exchange, you called me a hypocrite. The fundamental of it is, you are not overawed. You are therefore perfect for the role. You may not believe in me completely. I see that as an advantage.’

The priest hugged the book close to his chest like it were a precious child. ‘I believe in you, my lord.’

‘Because you have faith, priest?’ said Guilliman, and this time he could not mask his feelings.

His scorn slid off Frater Mathieu like water.