Su-Kassen watched the grey-armoured warrior turn his head to look at the Custodian. The image from the Custodian’s helm-feed showed the set of his features in perfect clarity. It could have been a handsome face, but gene-craft had broadened and morphed it so that its humanity was lost beneath a hardness that made the hairs rise on Su-Kassen’s neck. There were the eyes, too, still and unblinking, and as cold as distant stars. She knew his name. As a member of the War Council of Terra she was aware of the existence of the Regent’s Knights Errant, although not the details of what they did or why. She also knew that the warrior looking directly up into the pict-capture had been a captain of the Luna Wolves Legion and a close confidant of Horus Lupercal himself. His name was Garviel Loken, and now he was a warrior whose grey armour marked him as a ghost trapped between loyalty and circumstance, fighting a war beyond the light of morality.

‘Do you wish me to leave, Lord Regent?’ she asked.

Malcador shook his head but did not look up from the screen set on his desk. The latest gathering of the council had broken up minutes before. It had been brief and grim.

Five days before, the horrors had begun to haunt the sleep of all those on the nightside of Terra. The dreams had no pattern or consistent element except one: terror. They were containing the unrest, but the dreams were fraying the already-thin threads of control. Only inside the Palace did the night pass without terrors. Renewed Lectitio Divinitatus cult activity had also been reported. It would have been difficult to deal with even under normal circumstances. With the outer spheres of the Solar System ablaze and the enemy closing with every hour, it was bordering on catastrophic.

‘Fate,’ Malcador said softly, looking at the face of the grey-armoured warrior and letting out a breath, ‘always manifests in the small things.’ Su-Kassen remained still, uncertain whether he had been talking to her. ‘Let him pass,’ he said. A second later the door to the tower chamber opened.

‘Captain Loken,’ said Malcador. Loken looked at the Regent and, despite the anger fuming from him, bowed his head for a second. ‘Something vexes you.’

‘You issued a kill order for the prisoners held on Titan,’ said Loken.

Malcador held the Space Marine’s gaze.

‘The high-risk prisoners held in the facility above Titan were moved. Some of them were being moved through Uranus orbital transfer when the assault began. The ships holding them were hit. There were losses, and it appears that some of the prisoners were able to escape. The standing orders are for a hunt-and-kill protocol to be pursued without limit, and yes, those orders were mine.’

‘That is–’ began Loken.