About the book: year / After the horrors of Isstvan V, Horus openly declares war on the Imperium. Powerful figures gather in the shadows of the Emperor's Palace. They plan to send a team of assassins to eliminate the Arch-Traitor Horus and thereby end the war in the human galaxy before it can even begin. But unknown to them, another assassin, determined to kill the Emperor, has already set out on his journey..