Roboute Guillimached as the body, not uhat of a young woman, fked away into a cloud of ash that slowly gathered into a pile on the floor. Nobody spoke, though he assumed their thoughts were just as loud as his own.

  There were many things in the darker reaches of this gaxy no human could ever uand, not even one enhao such a degree as himself. Whatever just happened was far from the strahing that had happened in his life, it wasn’t evera since he awoke from his stasis.

  His meeting with the … being that was his father oook that spot easily.

  “Octavian,” he said, sending a minute jolt through the Custodes as he removed his gaze from the pile of ash a Guilliman’s gaze. “I want to know everything you tell me about that ‘thing’.”

  To be ho with himself, the primary feeli in his heart iermath of his meeting with the Xeno was worry, mixed with a trace amount of treacherous hope.

  The creature somehow knew where exactly to plunge her metaphorical khe fact it khe worry he hid in the depths of his heart so far was by itself eerie and he would have loved to igs little power py. Unfortunately, it was right. He suspected the Xeno knew even before ihat he wouldn’t be able to give up on somehow getting even a single one of his brothers back. The creature figured out just the spot where it hurt the most, he would never know, but it had and it was right.

  He loathed every day to guide this mutated, rotting carcass of an empire bato order as it did its very best to tear itself apart from within while the sgers already gathered to feast on it. Again and again, he wished for any of his brothers to e back, to let him share his burden with them or at least have a siher being iire gaxy who might be able to uand him.

  Hope oison, he knew, but it was a delicious one and he drank it down like a starving man. If there was even the slightest little figment of truth to any of the cims the Xeno made, he had to get to the bottom of it.

  What worried him though was that so far he gave nothing. True, the information was unfirmed, but in essehe alien just waltzed up to him and gave him free information.

  The gene-library, if she ever got around to g it, was entirely repceable and almost worthless in his eyes and the Pariah was as good as new if the medics’ reports were right.

  He didn’t uand his foe. That was his problem. He hadn’t the fai clue how much the things he thought worthless and gave up with little resistance were worth to her.

  vely, before him stood just the man who could tell him everything he wao know. If only he wasn’t so tight-lipped.

  “It is uhe highest level of fidentiality, Lent.” There was just the fairace of uainty in his voice.

  Guilliman uood. The Xeno obviously didn’t share Octavian’s dogmatic attat to secred probably the only reason she never gave a full breakdown of what she was just because he hadn’t asked.

  He khe game more than well enough to refrain from doing so. She gave information for free, but if he showed i she would have asked for pensation and would have been in a position to ask for much more than any other way.

  “Your mission is to protect that creature if I remember correctly?” Not that he thought his memory would decide to fail him for the first time in his life.

  “Yes,” Octavian said. “That is correct.”

  “The biggest threat on the Xeno’s life at the moment is me deg that her tinued survival is a threat to the Imperium, is that not so?”

  “Perhaps it is,” Octavian allowed. “If one doesn’t factor in the unknown and the dahe Shadowkeepers represent.”

  “Perhaps if I knew more of this Xeno I could be vihat cooperation is preferable to eliminating it,” Guilliman said. “Though if you were to keep your silence, I might just assume that is in accordah your mission. That me knowing that information you withhold would only persuade me to termihe threat the Xeno poses. I believe it would be prudent to act with that assumption in mind, if that was the case, wouldn’t it?”

  Threatening a custode as he was doing right now might be a dangerous gambit, but he was more than willing to take it. Octavian and the Aquilian Shield o him were tense, coiled like springs and the olden warriors also showed readiness for bat — though who would they aid if a fight really did break out, he couldn’t know.

  Then Octavian gave the slightest of nods and Guilliman allowed himself a minute smile. From the versation he had with it, he uood that the Xeno had an uanding of his character and the things he values — it knew of things that were long fotten — he had to even the scales as much as possible before their meeting.

  He didn’t have long. Baal was already clearly visible through the viewing panels.

  With that in mind, Guilliman listened with rapt attention as Octavian began to speak.

  e on, you do it. Okay … 3 … 2 … 1 … move. After psyg myself up food minute ihe fines of my head, I finally mao gather the resolve to do what had to be done.

  It might have been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, easily up there with my fight with the Shadowkeeper.

  A single g Selene’s adorably drooling at my shoulder almost shattered that resolve, but I was made of steruff than that … I think.

  “Hey,” I nudged her softly. “We o get up.”

  She just groaned, sg up her eyebrows and flopping around to her other side, whifortunately meant she was no louy side like a koa. I used the opportunity to slip out from uhe b and hop over to the other side and give her a poke. Then another, and another in all the tickly spots I discovered yesterday.

  “Oh, damnit STOP,” she yelled, half g, half ughing as I gave her naked side a final pinch. “You are evil.”

  I puffed myself up at the pliment, which earned me a pillow to the face.

  “Coffee?” I asked, putting the pillow ba the bed with a simple under Selene’s gre.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Uhm,” I frowned. “Recaff? That’s what you call it, right?”

  “Yeah,” she frowned back, squinting at me suspiciously. “The one you make out of Xenanic fluids?”

  “… no?”

  “I’m good, I think,” she huffed, slipping out of the bed with a scowl of one deprived of their m intake of caffeihen she gave me a hopeful look. “ you do that ‘pick-me-up’ thingy with your space-magic?”

  “Sure,” I grihen poked her in the side again, which made her let out an adorable yelp as bio-energy rushed into her body and banished any sembnce of fatigue.

  “We should get dressed if you are in such a hurry,” she grumbled, but the tired scowl was gone from her face as she gave her body a look-over. She was certainly the more ‘enthusiastic’ out of the two of us yesterday, but she was still left with the marks of our lovemaking. It was beautiful, especially with her dishevelled hair to go with it.

  “We probably should,” I gave a faux sigh as I jured up my regur set of silken pants and … toga? No, that was that flowy Roman clothing. This was more of a long shirt split at the sides aogether by a sash at my waist. It was simplicity itself, but I loved how the materials felt against my skin and the fact that it didn’t limit my range of movement o. “Such a shame.”

  “On that, we agree,” she gave my clothed form a regretful look. Just for her, I refrained from healing away the marks she left on me, and there were a lot. Selene was the sort that was surprisingly brazen once she let herself go. “The fleet’s here?”

  “Yep,” I said. “Already in low orbit. The Thunderhawks are desding as we speak with the big blue man himself in one of them.”

  “Hmm,” she frowned as she finished pulling on her pants, putting on her ow of the same clothing I had on, just in bck. “Will that really be alright? Primarch’s are supposed to be a league above Custodian guards and a single one of those almost did you in.”

  “If that Shadowkeeper didn’t have the exabination of are toys that he had, I would have sughtered him in a minute,” I shrugged. “But you are right, Guilliman has toys of his own that I should keep my distance from. Though unless he pulls out a Bnk on the level of that bck skull, he wouldn’t have much of a ce at doing me any perma damage.”

  “If you are sure,” she squi me. “You aren’t even back to full capacity yet, are you though?”

  “… I should be in a few hours,” I grimaced as I felt around the hair-thin cracks crisscrossing aire half of my mindscape. “I’ll be careful, and so will you. I have no idea whether I save you if you get yourself impaled on his fming word. That thing obliterate souls.”

  “Maybe you should go alone,” she said thoughtfully. “If it es down to a fight, we’ll just be baggage.”

  There was a resolve in the way her eyes narrowed as she said that. A promise that she would ge that fact. I smiled at her. “It shouldn’t e to that. I had a little talk with him and I think he’ll err on the side of caution and aim for diplomacy … at least for now.”

  “When?” she massaged her head as if nursing a headache. “Did you run off to talk with the Regent Lord of the Imperium while cuddling?”

  “Yep,” I nodded. “Sorry.”

  “Why are you sorry?”

  “Should have given my entire focus to cuddling.”

  She rolled her eyes, but not without a smirk tugging at her lips. “Let’s get the other two, or do you want to leave them? If you want to be there whehunderhawks nd, we only have a few minutes.”

  “I think Valenith should e.” I rubbed my . “Guilliman has one of Eldrad’s other stray appreagging along with him. I’m curious what’ll happehey meet.”

  “Alright,” she nodded, emotion draining out of her face as her back straightened. She had no obvious ons on her, but the Harlequin’s Kiss glinted on her left wrist and the white choker on her neck would unfurl into the best bat armour I could make for her, along with a small arsenal of ons. “I’m ready.”

  ‘Val,’ I tightehe telepathiioween me and the Eldar. ‘We are going to meet the newers. e.’

  “Let us go then,” I grinned. A portal hissed and tore through space, showing a very surprised and unfortunate human in a ragged PDF uniform oher side. The moment I felt space a bit behind me as Valenith’s familiar aura spread out of it, I stepped through. “This is going to be fun.”

  As an afterthought, I sent a summary of all the stuff that happened and where we were going to Zedev, along with a request to tinue fortifying the pce without itting too much of his resources.

  The pos was the only one of us who I didn’t make semi-immortal so he would be staying behind.

  I sent a bolt of psychic power after the human now scrambling away, wiping his short-term memory and putting him to sleep. o have everyone up in arms just for little old me.

  Well, there was no this time. I didn’t pn on attag them, plus the surprise would be ruined if Dante knew I was here. I hope Mephiston wasn’t a killjoy.