‘I don’t know. I have never seen you or your Legions in my visions.’

Guilliman nodded slowly, looking off into a future that already caused him agony. ‘There is a way,’ he said. He turned to the Lion. ‘But after all this, we will not reach Terra. We will not fight at our father’s side. We hit the blockades ahead of the Blood Angels. We tie Horus’ forces up instead of the other way around. We run interference for Sanguinius.’

The Lion thought for a moment, then said. ‘We can also draw some of their strength away.’

‘How so?’

‘By applying the lesson I have learned at Episimos and Davin. Your fleet is the largest. I will attack their bastions, Roboute. I will destroy their home worlds. That is the judgement that awaits them. Let it come now. Burn the corrupted planets. How many of our treacherous brothers will stay with the blockades if their worlds are directly threatened? Not all of them.’

‘Very well,’ said Guilliman. ‘It makes sense for my Legion to be the battering ram against the blockades.’ He turned to Sanguinius. ‘We will open the way for you.’ He sighed. ‘I never thought, if Terra still stood, that I would not be at Father’s side in the struggle. Perhaps this is my expiation.’ The pain in his eyes was hard to look at.

The Lion was expressionless. Sanguinius wondered if he might not be finding some real satisfaction in his path, in being the hand of judgement.

The three primarchs stood in silence for a few moments. The paths were set. The moment of the Triumvirate’s dissolution had truly arrived. They would fight for the common cause, but separately now.

‘When shall we three meet again?’ the Angel said.

But he had told his brothers what waited for him on the Vengeful Spirit, and they did not answer.

The chamber was dark. Though it was not a cell, it could easily have been. The vault door at Sanguinius’ back was sealed. Azkaellon and a full squad of the Sanguinary Guard waited beyond it. Azkaellon had been reluctant to leave Sanguinius alone with Konrad. ‘His bonds are strong,’ Sanguinius had told him. ‘They are about to become stronger.’

The stasis coffin stood against the far wall. It was open, angled backwards, waiting for its occupant. It was embedded in a generator that protruded into the room, bulking like a mausoleum’s vault. Energy coils sparked, their power contained, ready to generate the field.

The Night Haunter stood in front of the coffin, unconcerned. ‘You think your faith has been rewarded,’ he said.

Sanguinius thought for a moment. Then he said, ‘I believe you are speaking for yourself. You must be pleased, Konrad. We march towards the ends we both know. Nothing has changed.’

‘Nothing ever could.’

‘Really? I don’t think you believed that on Davin.’