<…With careful, steady actions, Alotros sat in the middle of the lake and mechanically cupped handfuls of the dark fluid, one after another, to his lips. He drank silently, unhurried.
‘Look at me,’ ordered Sanguinius. His heart tightened in his chest and a very specific kind of sorrow gripped him as Alotros slowly obeyed.
The primarch saw the trails of dried blood visible from Alotros’s nostrils, his ears, the corners of his reddened eyes. His lips, his chin, the exposed flesh of his neck, all were wet with the blood he had been patiently drinking, mouthful by mouthful.
Sanguinius knew that it was already too late, but he could not go on without trying.
He offered his hand. ‘My son,’ he began. ‘Step back, if you can. Step back from the abyss and return to us. I will save you.’…>
— Fear to Tread by James Swallow (The Horus Heresy, Black Library)
Just wanted to paint this heartbreaking scene…😔
