Chapter 60: Family Gathering (Part 2)
Makado silently set his fork beside his plate.
Of course, things always turned out this way. Once again, he had drawn everyone's attention to himself amid a situation where no one was pleased, all for the sake of an old friend.
And Makado had no desire whatsoever for this state of affairs to become as inescapable as a law of physics over the countless years to come.
So, with a sincerity even he found unimaginable, he raised his head. His gaze passed through the shadows beneath his black hood as he extended an invitation to Mors, who sat beside the Emperor. "Yes, the Emperor needs Mors."
"I will try to take that as an invitation rather than a cry for help." Mors quite directly and easily dissected the essence of those words. "Honestly, your appearance is the very embodiment of the notion that old men are wise."
Makado sighed from the heart and nodded.
The Emperor silently set down his knife and fork, giving a small nod beneath the shared scrutiny of Mors and Peturabo.
Mors interlaced his fingers and held them before the lower half of his face, using the shadow they cast to conceal the shifting curve of his mouth.
Peturabo felt the fullness in his stomach after the entirely new cuisine and began considering exercise and digestion.
By all rights, Horus felt he ought to step forward and make a few harmonious jokes, rescuing the atmosphere around the table—a chill so dense that one might wonder whether they were inside the flagship or outside it. But he simply could not forget the information exposed in Mors's question. Even his own surname now made him feel a faint urge to keep his distance out of reverence.
The color scheme of his armor,