Dune_ House Atreides - Brian Herbert [169]
Leto knew that his mother’s resentment ran at depths invisible beneath the still waters of her public face. Helena was a hard taskmaster to Kailea, who responded with even greater determination.
Late one evening, Leto went up to the tower room after his parents had retired for the night. He’d intended to ask his father about taking them on one of the Atreides schooners for a day-trip up and down the coast. But as he approached the wooden door to the ducal chambers, he heard Paulus and Helena engaged in deep discussion.
“What have you done to find a new place for those two?” The way his mother said the words, Leto knew exactly whom she meant. “Surely some Minor House on the fringe will take them in if you pay a large enough bribe.”
“I don’t intend to send those children anywhere, and you know that. They are our guests here, and safe from the loathsome Tleilaxu.” His voice dropped to a grumble. “I don’t understand why Elrood doesn’t just send his Sardaukar in to flush those vermin out of the caves on Ix.”
Lady Helena said crisply, “Despite their unpleasant qualities, the Tleilaxu will undoubtedly bring the factories of Ix back to the path of righteousness and obey the strictures established by the Butlerian Jihad.”
Paulus gave an exasperated snort, but Leto knew his mother was deadly serious, and that frightened him all the more. Her voice grew more fervent as she tried to convince her husband.
“Can’t you see, perhaps all of these events were meant to happen? You never should have sent Leto to Ix—he’s already been corrupted by their ways, their prideful thinking, their high-handed ignorance of the laws of God. But the takeover on Ix brought Leto back to us. Don’t make the same mistake again.”
“Mistake? I’m quite pleased with everything our boy’s learned. He’s going to be a fine Duke someday.” Leto heard the thump of a boot tossed into the corner. “Stop your worrying. Don’t you feel at all sorry for poor Rhombur and Kailea?”
Unswayed, she said, “In their pride, the people of Ix have broken the Law, and they have paid for it. Should I feel sorry for them? I think not.”
Paulus hit a piece of furniture hard with his hand, and Leto heard wood scraping across stone, a chair shoved aside. “And I’m to believe you are familiar enough with the inner workings of Ix to make such a judgment? Or have you already come to a conclusion based on what you want to hear, without being troubled by mere lack of evidence?” He laughed, and his tone turned more gentle. “Besides, you seem to be working well with young Kailea. She enjoys your company. How can you say such things about her to me, and then pretend to be kind to her face?”
Helena sounded eminently reasonable. “The children can’t help who they are, Paulus—they didn’t ask to be born there, raised there, exposed to anything but proper teachings. Do you think they’ve ever held the Orange Catholic Bible? It’s not their fault. They are what they are, and I can’t hate them for it.”
“Then what—”
She lashed out at him with such vehemence that Leto took a silent step backward in surprise out in the shadowy hall. “You’re the one who has made a choice here, Paulus. And you’ve made the wrong one. That choice will cost you and our House dearly.”
He made a rude noise. “There was no choice, Helena. On my honor and my word—there was no choice.”
“Still it was your own decision, despite my warnings and despite my advice. Your decision alone, Paulus Atreides.” Her voice was frighteningly cold. “You must live with the consequences, and be damned by them.”
“Oh, calm down and go to sleep, Helena.”
Unsettled, Leto crept away, his question forgotten, without waiting to see how soon they extinguished the lights.
The next day, a calm and sunny morning, Leto stood next to Rhombur at an open window, admiring the quays at the base of the promontory. The ocean spread out like a blue-green prairie, curving off to the distant horizon. “A perfect day,” Leto said, realizing that his friend was homesick for the lost underground city of Vernii, probably tired