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enemy? Leto wondered. The torn helix insignia dangled from his lapel.
"Then now is not the time to call us children," Kailea said with surprising
strength. "We're a part of this fight."
Rhombur stood tall, looking unusually regal beside his broad-shouldered father,
rather than spoiled and stocky. "And we're ready to help you retake Ix. Vernii
is our city, and we have to get it back."
"No, all three of you are going to stay here." Dominic held up a wide, callused
hand to silence Rhombur's instant objection. "First order of business is to
keep the heirs safe. I'll hear no argument in this. Each moment of arguing
takes me away from my people, and they desperately need my leadership right
now."
"You boys are too young to fight," Shando said, her delicate face now looking
hard and unbreakable. "You're the future of your respective Houses -- both of
you."
Dominic came forward to stand in front of Leto and looked him directly in the
eye for the first time, as if he finally saw the Atreides boy as a man. "Leto,
your father would never forgive me if anything happened to his son. We have
already sent a message to the Old Duke, notifying him of the situation. In
response, your father has promised limited assistance and has dispatched a
rescue mission to take you, Rhombur, and Kailea to safety on Caladan." Dominic
placed beefy hands on the shoulders of his two children -- children who now
needed to be much more than that. "Duke Atreides will protect you, give you
sanctuary from this. It is all he can do for now."
"That's ridiculous," Leto said, his gray eyes flashing. "You should take refuge
with House Atreides as well, m'Lord. My father would never turn you away."
Dominic gave a wan smile. "No doubt Paulus would do exactly as you say -- but I
cannot, because that would doom my children."
Rhombur looked over at his sister in alarm. Lady Shando nodded and continued;
she and her husband had already discussed the various possibilities. "Rhombur,
if you and Kailea live in exile on Caladan, then you may be safe, not worth
anyone's trouble. I suspect that this bloody revolt has been engineered with
Imperial influence and support, and all the pieces have fallen into place."
Rhombur and Kailea stared at each other in disbelief, then at Leto. "Imperial
support?"
"Why the Emperor wants Ix, I do not know," Dominic said, "but Elrood's grudge is
against me and your mother. If I go with you to House Atreides, the hunters
will come for all of us. They'll find some reason to attack Caladan. No, your
mother and I have to find a way to draw this fight away from you."
Rhombur stood indignant. His pale skin flushed. "We can hold out here a while
longer, Father. I don't want to leave you behind."
"The deal is done, my son. It's already negotiated. Other than the Atreides
rescue operation, there is no help coming -- no Imperial Sardaukar to assist us,
no Landsraad armies to drive back the Tleilaxu. The suboids are their pawns.
We have sent appeals to all the Houses Major and to the Landsraad, but no one
will move fast enough. Someone has outmaneuvered us . . . ."
At her husband's side, Lady Shando held her head high, despite her pain and
disheveled appearance. She had been the Lady of a Great House, and an Imperial
concubine before that, but first of all she had been lowborn. Shando could be
happy even without the riches of an Ixian governorship.
"But what happens to the two of you now?" Leto asked, since Rhombur and Kailea
didn't have the courage to inquire.
"House Vernius will go . . . renegade." Shando let the word hang in an
astonished silence for a heartbeat.
"Vermilion hells!" Rhombur finally said, and his sister also gasped.
Shando stood and kissed her children.
"We'll take what we can salvage, then Dominic and I will separate and go into
hiding. Maybe for years. A few of the most loyal will accompany us, others
will flee entirely, still others will stay here, for better or worse. We'll
make new lives for ourselves, and eventually our fortunes will turn again."
Dominic gave Leto an awkward handshake, not quite the Imperial clasp of fingers,
but more the way Old Terrans used to do it, since the Imperium -- from the
Emperor to all of the Houses Major -- had let House Vernius down. Once they
declared themselves renegade, the family Vernius would no longer be part of the
Imperium.
Shando and Kailea were crying softly as they hugged one another, while Dominic
clasped his son by the shoulders. Moments later, Earl Vernius and his wife
hurried out through the chamber's access tube, taking a contingent of guards
with them, while Rhombur and his sister held one another and watched them go on
the comeye screen.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, the three refugees sat in uncomfortable but efficient
suspensor chairs, eating energy bars and drinking Ixap juice. And waiting.
Kailea said little, as if she had lost her energy for fighting the
circumstances. Her older brother tried to cheer her up, but to no avail.
Isolated here, walled off, they had heard no word from outside, didn't know if
reinforcements had arrived, or if the city continued to burn . . . .
Kailea had cleaned herself up, made a valiant effort to reconstruct her damaged
gown and torn lace, and then wore her altered appearance like a badge. "I
should have been attending a ball this week," she said, her voice empty as if
all the emotion had been scrubbed from it. "The Solstice of Dur, one of the
largest social events on Kaitain. My mother said I could attend one when I was
old enough." She looked over at Leto and gave a mirthless laugh. "Since I
could have gotten betrothed to an appropriate husband this year, I must be old
enough to attend a dance. Don't you think?"
She plucked at her torn lace sleeve. Leto didn't know what to say to her. He
tried to think of what Helena would have said to the Vernius daughter. "When we
get to Caladan, I'll have my mother throw a grand ball to welcome you there.
Would you like that, Kailea?" He knew the Lady Helena resented the two Ixian
children because of her religious bias, but surely his mother would soften her
heart, considering the situation. If nothing else, she would never be seen
committing a social faux pas.
Kailea's eyes flared at his suggestion, and Leto shrank back. "What, with
fishermen dancing a bawdy jig and rice farmers performing some fertility rite?"
Her words cut deep, and Leto felt his world and his heritage to be inadequate
for someone like her.
Kailea softened, though, and rested her fingers on Leto's forearm. "I'm sorry,
Leto. Very sorry. It's just that I wanted so badly to go to Kaitain, to see
the Imperial Palace, the wonders of the Court."
Rhombur sat sullen. "Elrood never would have allowed it, if only because he's
still angry at Mother."
Kailea got up and paced the small, algae-smelling chamber. "Why did she ever
have to leave him? She could have stayed in the Palace, lived her life in
luxury -- but instead she came here to this . . . cave. A cave that's now
overrun with vermin. If Father really cared for her, would he have asked her to
sacrifice so much? It makes no sense."
Leto tried to console her. "Don't you believe in love, Kailea? I've seen the
way your parents look at each other."
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