Orders went to Fenris. Wolves ran. The planet of sorcerers burned in colors no man should see; Sisters of Silence and a Custodes cadre went with the rout to make it clean.
Aurelia stood in the strategium and shook. "Why brother against brother? Why this?"
The Emperor's answer was a door closing. "Magnus defied Me. He opened what I sealed. He broke trust. The law must stand."
"There must be another way."
"I have made My will. I will not speak of it again."
She bowed as if the motion could keep her heart from showing. "Yes, Your Majesty." The title tasted like iron. Later she wrote humane protocols into Choir‑Forts, a way to try to save civilians in Prospero and watched astropath attrition fall; it felt like mending one thread while the tapestry burned.