‘Yes. So much erosion in a period of a few years? This is the work of centuries. Horus was brought to an unnatural place, and it is unnatural still.’ He walked towards the doors. ‘Let us face the enemy,’ he said. He pulled Curze along at the end of a length of chain. The Night Haunter regarded the Delphos with interest. Sanguinius thought he saw a frown cross Curze’s face. It was gone before he was sure. Curze’s pallid features were shadowed, unreadable.

The primarchs walked at the head of a contingent of their elite warriors. Squads of the Sanguinary Guard, the Invictus, the Deathbringers and the Doombringers followed. The Ultramarines marched between the Blood Angels and the Dark Angels. The men of the I Legion glared at those of the IX. The Blood Angels did not react, but Sanguinius could feel the tension in his sons. They did not share the serenity that had touched him here. They were alert, wary, braced, as they had been since Signus Prime, for an attack that might come from within as easily as from without.

The darkness beyond the gate was heavy, dry. It was a husk. Helm lights pierced it, revealing eroded walls. They looked as if sandstorms had blown through the temple’s chambers. Reptilian frescoes were faint dying whispers of images. Their content was a mystery, though what remained slithered against the eye.

The rooms were deserted. The echoes of marching feet bounced dully against the walls. The primarchs and their guards moved deeper and deeper into the Delphos, deeper and deeper into nothingness. The Lion muttered under his breath with each succeeding empty chamber.

‘This is a waste of time,’ he said at last.

‘Patience, brother,’ Sanguinius said.

‘Patience until what?’

‘I don’t know. But it will come.’ He was certain. The knot of fate was tight before him.

‘Konrad,’ Guilliman said. ‘What do you see? Is Sanguinius right?’

‘What should I tell you?’ Curze answered, his rasp hissing against the stones. ‘Something you would believe, or something true?’

‘Maybe I should break your back again,’ the Lion said. ‘I might believe what you said then.’

‘My answers would be the same. So, I think, would your disbelief. You can’t accept the absence of hope.’

‘You can’t accept its presence,’ Sanguinius said.

‘You keep disappointing me,’ said Curze. ‘You, of all our brothers,­ should know better.’

The frown appeared again. This time Sanguinius was sure.

In the centre of the Delphos, they found a room that had been secret. There were no iron doors over its entrances. Instead, there were openings in the walls where masonry had fallen in. There were faint patterns of dried blood on the floor.

‘We are close,’ Sanguinius said.

‘To what?’ Guilliman asked.