DUNE-A False Haderach (OC X Shishakli) (OC x Alia)

Part 22

Chapter 13

LADY JESSICA

As Lady Jessica sat before her Duke, a storm of doubt and consternation raged within her. Her internal struggle was palpable, a clash of many facets of herself. The Duke, perceptive as ever, sensed her turmoil but did not rush her to speak.

Within Lady Jessica, a battle of identities raged. The Bene Gesserit sister, the apprentice of the Reverend mother, the one raised by the secret sisterhood, was at odds with the mother of Paul Atreides, the mother of the child growing inside her womb, the concubine and wife-in-all-but-name of the Duke Leto Atreides.

"Jessica, what's troubling you?" Leto inquired softly as he leaned forward. She gazed up at him, torn between betraying either herself or the order that had raised her all her life or the man who sat in front of her - the love of her life.

"I...." She tried to open her mouth, but words failed her as her heart thrummed in turmoil, trying to find the appropriate words to say.

Leto stood up and walked towards Jessica, his eyes narrowing in concern. Placing a gentle hand on hers, he asked softly, "What is it that you wish to say, Jessica? You can tell me." His reassuring presence helped her calm down, and she felt grateful for his support.

"I...I do not know how to say it. It's just..." too much. How could she tell him of the sisterhood's orders and plans? Of what they had done to the Emperor, of what they had done to a boy born against their wishes.

"I've always known that there were things you couldn't tell me about because of the sisterhood, but I've always trusted you more than myself. Please, tell me what you can," he spoke softly as her eyes welled up with tears.

"Tell me what I should do in these grave times. We're stranded in foreign lands with enemies all around, and I need your guidance." She nodded and used her Bene Gesserit training to calm her mind.

She then took out the piece of paper that Inzal had given her, the paper had a single name on it. And though she had been surprised at the name written on it, she had an inkling that Inzal was right that this person was the traitor inside their ranks. The one who had betrayed them to the Harkonnens.

Leto was surprised, yet he took the piece of paper from her hands and unfurled it, frowning as he read the name before facing her.

"Before Inzal left," she began as she told him of what had happened.

"He gave me the name of the traitor in our ranks," she finished and saw his eyes widen as he scanned the name once more.

"It's Impossible, Yueh. He is an Imperial-conditioned medic. Inzal lies; he could never betray us; moreover, he hat." Leto rejected the notion, just as she had before he had whispered the truth in her ears.

"...hates the Harkonnens, but not because they have killed his dear wife. No," she cut in, surprising Leto as she glanced down.

"Because they yet hold her," she told him what Inzal had told her, and it angered her that one of her own sisters had been abandoned to such a fate. That perhaps she would be left to the Harkonnen mercies much like poor Wanna. After all, how was she different than her in the grand scheme of things?

"The Harkonnens hold his dear Wanna in their hands," and she knew just how much the doctor loved his wife and just what such a captivity would mean for anyone. For her.

Leto was perplexed and enraged at the same time as he glanced down at the paper. He was not ignorant to the ways of the Harkonnen, they were hated throughout the galaxy for a reason, many in these very Halls had survived such pains, their hatred for the Harkonnen forged in the fires of their prions.