Since Valeria Messalina had been born from the thoughts of the Prince of Pleasure, granted a name and form, and begun wandering between the material and the illusory with seduction and corruption as her mission, she had never experienced fear as pure and cold as this—fear capable of freezing her very essence.
The hand clamped around her throat, wreathed in golden flames, seemed to be made not of flesh, but of pure, terrifying psychic energy.
Psychic Flame seared her daemonic essence, bringing an intense sensation of "dissolution" at the level of her soul, far beyond physical pain.
Suffocation began to blur her consciousness. The surging tides of Golden Psychic Energy around her formed a cage, imprisoning her within this carefully disguised shell that now seemed so fragile.
Yet deep within that ultimate fear, born of a threat to the very foundation of her existence, an utterly contrary sensation—a twisted, intense shudder of pleasure—quietly sprouted and spread like a poisonous vine.
Pain itself became stimulation. The experience of approaching annihilation brought an unprecedented, sick excitement.
She could even "feel" every tightening of Lorgar's arm muscles, feel the almost tangible pressure of his furious will transmitted through his skin.
So powerful... so pure... such... intoxicating violence and desire for control...
A voice hissed deep within her disintegrating consciousness.
To seduce, corrupt, and ultimately draw such a being into the Court of Pleasure, she had even received a gift of higher-order power bestowed personally by Lord Slaanesh—a sliver drawn from his own essence.
That power was enough for her to twist the minds of billions with ease, and even contend with Greater Daemons of other factions.
Yet now, before this Primarch's boiling fury and Divine Psychic Energy, that sliver of bestowed power was melting rapidly and helplessly, like thin frost beneath a blazing