Chapter 83 - Beginning to Poach
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"Father reached out through the warp and brought me up to speed, Roboute."
The joking aside, Sanguinius hadn't forgotten the real business.
He leaned back against the soft cushions, his expression settling into something earnest.
"A great many problems have grown within the Imperium since we left."
"That was unavoidable, brother. The mortal High Lords have held the Imperium's center for ten thousand years. Far too long. Rot of that kind is inevitable."
Guilliman mused a moment, then went on.
"Horus and I returned to Terra for two reasons. To secure his pardon, and to announce that we Primarchs have returned. The High Lords need to be dragged back to reality."
The Angel nodded.
"Father told me he has placed the full military and political authority of the Imperium in your hands."
At that, Guilliman coughed twice behind his hand, trying to mask his discomfort.
"A duty thrust on me in a crisis, brother. Were this the Great Crusade, an appointment like that would have set off no small amount of protest among our brothers."
"Then will you support me, Sanguinius? This is not the Second Imperium we built with the Lion all those years ago. Humanity truly needs unity now."
Guilliman asked it with absolute sincerity.
The Angel leaned against the headboard and unhurriedly smoothed his ragged wings.
"I will, Roboute."
The next breath, though, his tone shifted, a quiet note of grievance bleeding through.
"Back on your Macragge, unwilling as I was — didn't you still take my hand and seat me on the throne of that Second Imperium?"
The Great Angel let out a soft sigh. "Something Horus never managed to pull off, and somehow I muddled my way through it at your invitation."
The air went perfectly still.
Guilliman's gaze darted everywhere, anywhere but the Angel's eyes. Having that piece of dark history dredged up to his face was a public execution.
On the other side of the sickbed, Loken simply froze.
"Second Imperium... Emperor?"
The former Luna Wolves captain felt his worldview shatter on the floor. These two radiant, towering Primarchs, in his eyes the very image of glory, had once split off behind the Emperor's back and crowned themselves?!
He turned, painfully stiff, toward his own gene-sire, hoping for some sign that this was slander.
Horus pursed his lips and waved Loken off, signaling not to dwell on it.
"But today is not yesterday. The Imperium and Father need us to do this now."
As for his own role going forward, Sanguinius already had a fair idea of the shape of it.
Much like the Second Imperium back then, a spiritual figurehead, soothing the people's hearts.
It was a fine enough role, really. The Great Angel had never shared Guilliman's appetite for expanding borders, drawing up spreadsheets, running administration. So long as he could shield that little patch of land called Baal, and lend his presence to steady his brothers, that was enough.
But Sanguinius hadn't forgotten one other person.
"Roboute, when you take up power, remember to leave a place for Kullen as well."
The Great Angel turned to look at Kullen, who stood propped against the wall.
This mortal had saved both his life and Horus's. Sanguinius truly didn't know how to repay such a debt, so he intended to use what connections he had to secure Kullen something safe and honorable.
Guilliman shook his head.
"I brought it up with Kullen some time ago. He told me he didn't want it."
The Master of Ultramar gestured at Kullen.
Kullen nodded with vigorous agreement.
"Lord Sanguinius, I know exactly what kind of high-risk workplace the Imperial Administratum is right now."
He gave a shrug.
"The sudden-death rate among those officials is frightening. Plenty of department heads are too busy to schedule their own funerals. I have no intention of being chained to a desk on Terra as a nuclear-powered draft animal for the rest of my life."
A flicker of approval passed through Sanguinius's eyes.
A mortal who didn't covet power, vanishingly rare.
"It seems Mr. Kullen longs deeply for freedom."
The Great Angel paused two beats, then an utterly warm, disarming smile rose across that flawless face.
He held out an olive branch no one in their right mind could refuse.
"In that case, might I invite you alone to visit my Baal? Once the mess on Terra is settled, you would be welcome to stay with us as long as you wish. There is no tangled administration there. You would be received with the highest honors."
Invite him alone?
The instant those words left his mouth,
Beside him, Horus, who had been about to launch into another story for Loken, fell abruptly silent.
The Warmaster's massive frame went straight as a spear.
No matter how harmless the Great Angel's expression looked, Horus caught the unmistakable scent of poaching in the air.
Well, well.
Awake less than half an hour, and already eyeing my mortal companion?
Inviting him alone to Baal for an extended stay? Once he went, would he ever come back?
Horus turned his head and cut in.
"That's hardly sporting of you, brother."
The Warmaster bared his teeth in a grin.
"You're inviting only Kullen? You don't plan to invite me?"
"Look at my memory. My apologies, Horus — I quite forgot about you."
Sanguinius returned the smile.
The line was pure provocation.
Guilliman, standing to one side, saw straight through it.
The Great Angel hadn't forgotten anything. He was deliberately probing the line, testing exactly how much weight this mortal carried in Horus's heart, and having a little fun at the former Warmaster's expense in the process.
It was a private, mischievous streak only Sanguinius indulged in.
Still, taking the cue, Guilliman turned a far more serious look on Kullen.
The boy really was a rare talent. He knew a great deal, his head packed with knowledge that ran impossibly ahead of its time, and his thinking was completely unshackled by the Imperium's rigid dogma.
When he himself took the reins of Imperial power, when he pushed through sweeping reform and the Indomitus Crusade, he would desperately need a mind like that at his side. Better than letting the boy retire to Baal, or trail after Horus swinging blades. Better to put him where he could deliver his full value.
"Kullen — how would you like to serve as my personal aide after this?"
The Master of Ultramar was silent a moment, then stepped in to intercept without hesitation.
"An advisory aide, of course. No heavy labor whatsoever. You wouldn't have to review a single document, only provide private strategic counsel at critical moments. All resources, all security, every privilege of the highest rank, I, Guilliman, will cover it personally."
A personal counsel post offered by the Lord Regent of the Imperium.
Outside this room, mortal high officials would beat each other's brains out on the floor for the seat.
The point was this: in this age, the only ones who could speak with Guilliman as equals, who thought along the same lines, were his Primarch brothers, and Kullen.
The brothers had their own work to do. Better to take Kullen. At the very least, compared to his gene-sons, who didn't dare even meet his eyes, Kullen was a far easier man to talk with.
The atmosphere in the ward turned distinctly strange.
3 vast, invisible presences silently measured themselves against one another.
The old knight Kullen watched the scene unfold and couldn't help thinking of his own gene-sire. If the Lion were here, he'd probably try to drag Kullen into the First Legion himself.
After all, the boy knew far too many of the First Legion's secrets!
"Stop, stop, stop, I am deeply honored by both Primarchs' regard, but I do have a matter on my hands at the moment."
Watching the temperature drop, Kullen swiftly redirected.
"I've accepted a commission from the Emperor. He asked me to bring a certain individual back, someone who will prove remarkably useful when Lord Guilliman undertakes the internal reforms of the Imperium."
"Who?"
Horus, Sanguinius, and Guilliman were all successfully diverted, asking with genuine curiosity.
"Konrad Curze."
➤ Next: Interception and Search
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