143. The Most Beautiful Mistake

That night, a dinner was held aboard the Vengeance. There were only seven attendees—technically, there should have been eight, but for certain reasons, Guilliman found an excuse about working overtime that night and sent Little Horus away.

Vulkan had already taken more than enough shocks today. He had woken up in the morning thinking he was still in the Warp, only to find six of his brothers gathered around watching him. Then, at noon, Guilliman had hammered a string of major revelations into his head, and he had spent the entire afternoon unable to recover.

There was a limit to how much a human being could take, and Guilliman felt it was better not to provoke him any further for the time being.

"Then, to Vulkan!"

Sanguinius rose with a smile all over his face, holding an exquisite golden goblet in his hand. Crimson wine swayed inside it, giving off an alluring aroma. "Let us all drink this cup for him!"

With that said, he tipped back his head and drained the wine in one go. Logically speaking, everyone should have followed him and drunk their own cups. Unfortunately, this was a gathering attended by Leman Russ, and therefore certain things were bound to change.

For example, they had originally agreed to drink only red wine today—but Russ refused unto death, and somehow even colluded with Jaghatai Khan. The two of them spent an entire afternoon smuggling a batch of Vengeance's special-reserve liquor over from Terra Space Station.

Bang!

Russ burst into loud laughter as he slammed the thick wooden tankard in his hand onto the table, then swept his arm out wildly. "All right! Sanguinius! What are you drinking red wine for? Aren't you afraid your wings will get stained that damned color? Come drink this with me!"

With