#//At all costs keep your good name...Princess Irulan {Threads}

[inn0cencestrained]

@deficd

There's a quiver of her lip as the Duke collapses to the ground, a pool of blood growing on the floor as Feyd mercilessly rips the dagger out of his chest. There's a gasp from the gathered, but there's no move to stop his incoming death- not that one would dare anyways.

The princess swallows thickly as she takes one last glance at the scene then forces herself to look away. Her father was safe- there'd be no other slaughter- not today anyways. But the throne was now going to belong to the victor through her hand in marriage. Mentally she'd been preparing herself for either champion, willing to sacrifice her "freedom" of wedlock to the Duke....but now....now her hand would belong to the killer that stood before them all.

Hours later, Irulan paces in one of the rooms still standing, hands nervously pressing together as she allowed herself a moment to actually feel- to worry and grieve her future, her present, and her past. Her head quickly whips around when the click of the door comes, watching as the Na-Baron steps in and it takes all the courage she can muster to give him a small bow.

"....Congratulations on your victory....I have yet to express my gratitude for stepping in place of my father for the challenge. You will....your risk will not be in vain and we will forever be indebted for your actions. I will forever be indebted to you." Irulan swallows once more, glancing up and down over his frame. "....Were you injured?"

[inn0cencestrained]

Irulan had already predicted what could become in sense of his reaction, and truthfully whatever level of distress to pure rage, was warranted. And yet, watching the hurt creep across his features was something she wasn't sure she could ever prepare for. And it hurt. Everything inside of her felt like it was ripping apart and if she didn't love him as much as she did, she would have dropped to her knees and pleaded for his forgiveness- for his love and comfort. But he shouldn't have to comfort her and she would not be selfish enough to beg for it. Her selfishness so far was shameful enough.

Animals. She was part of that pack, part of that conniving and manipulative pack. All while they painted Feyd as one. Her eyes watch as he begins to pace, and it takes every sense of strength for her not to reach out to him. But Irulan remains still and once more she drops her head in shame.

"The Bene Gesserit has been training me for years for a marriage that would still allow them the upper hand. When they deemed you a contender of the throne my training began on how to control and manipulate you- they discovered your weaknesses and they coached me on how to be your wife." Irulan sucks in a long breath, those damn tears still refusing to go away. "This began before we ever met and went on afterwards, all the way up until Paul sent his challenge to my father."

He deserved the truth, as painful as it might be for him and gut wrenching for her. "They made you out to be a monster and so a monster was what I was expecting, maybe that was why I could never...I could never enact the tactics with you. I was too afraid to try the first time we met and for those weeks afterwards...but you never stopped being kind to me. And the day- the day I was finally going to, I was attacked and....and you saved me. Then it was no longer a thought when I was around you."

Slowly Irulan looks up at him one more time. "I'm not your keeper....you are not an animal." Though trapped in the confines in this House by Paul, surely must make it feel otherwise. "I failed the Bene Gesserit in your presence, and I'm not sorry." And she would accept whatever consequences may come of it. "You are so much more than-whatever I can do to free you, I will try. Whatever I can do to to help you..." Her words falter and she can feel herself losing control of her emotions so quickly she turns away from him, heading for the door.

"I must go....I'm sorry"

@inn0cencestrained cont X

He did not like that. The sound of his full name felt wrong sliding out of her mouth. Often it was just Feyd now a sign of their new intimacy. He did not even call of think of her as 'The Princess' now, she was simply 'Irulan' or Kulta and Sydänkäpy.

He liked less the way his question had affected her. It had just been simple curiosity brought on by both the Atreides and their fey comments and jokes. Irulan was clever and understood this new world of the Bene Gesserit. He had trusted her to explain it in a way he could understand as an outsider. He was tempted to withdraw the question completely on that account alone but everything she says makes him restless and he even pulls away from her hand. When has he ever done that?

That name shoots through him like ice. Margot. He’d never intended to tell Irulan of her. He had always liked older women, had sought them out in the Harkonnen pleasure wings and not always to bed but sometimes seeking the kind of comfort only a motherless child could crave. Margot had been older but with her golden hair and Bene Gesserit training she had reminded Feyd of the princess. It had in the past few months become a source of embarrassment for Feyd especially now that he and Irulan had grown closer. In his memory Margot seemed less and less like Irulan just as Irulan was more than what a callow youth’s infatuation had made her out to be.

But he also wasn’t thinking of Margot as he listened to Irulan explain, not completely. He was thinking of the Baron, of sex without pleasure. He’d thought Margot had liked him, that he’d won her over. But he was an object. A thing to be used. Object. And in his mind he heard a deep, basso voice calling him things like 'darling' and 'beautiful'.

"Animals," He said hissing the words. "I'm not an animal!" He stood and began to pace the room the way he always did when agitated. "Am I that to you? Is that why you keep me?"

[inn0cencestrained]

“ i thought this was what you wanted ? ” (( for irulan, from feyd! what if au where feyd and irulan were friends as children and he's always had a lil' crush on her/it's requited but politics mean they can't be together ))

@deficd

He'd managed to pull her away from prying eyes- a mischievous trick he'd always had a knack at getting away with- and as always, Irulan followed. Feyd Rautha was known to too many as ruthless. A bloodthirsty and merciless weapon used and trained by the Harkonnens. Most feared him, even her father as Feyd grew into the man he was today, but not her. Never her. Since meeting at the young age of six, the terrifying Na Baron was and always would be just Feyd. Her gentle, kind, smart, and funny Feyd. Her best friend. Her only friend. He was everything and more to her...so much more.

As they rounded the corner and tucked into their usual hiding spot the Princess laughed, which earned a silent hush from him, his fingers softly coming to her lips to keep her quiet as guards approached yet turned the other direction. Irulan's eyes stayed on them until they were out of view before finally looking at Feyd with a wide grin. Her grin wasn't met, instead his eyes remained locked on her features- as if he'd never bothered to look at the guards in the first place. Brows crease just slightly as she notices the way his breathing hitches and she's about to ask him if he was alright when suddenly his lips were on hers. Gentle, but making a point.

A point she'd always wish she'd had the courage to make.

Her lips slowly return the kiss, unable to ignore at the way her body melted and soared all at once. She couldn't help the way she fell into him just as she couldn't help the undeniable love she'd had for the Harkonnen ever since their childhood. A love that could never have been voiced, not when Feyd was not one of her options for marriage. He was not on the list of her father's political strategies.

At the swift thought of her father, Irulan just as quickly pulls away, but doesn't dare move away from him. Her head shakes at his words, heat flushing over her cheeks as she reaches and grabs his hands, clutching them tightly.

"I....I do....I do." His hands are brought to her lips, softly brushing them against his knuckles. "But...but I will be soon set to be married. My father will-" Her head shakes again, finally gathering the courage to look into his eyes. "No one...no one can know what we've done. This isn't- it can't- we can't. You are everything to me, Feyd Rautha, everything. And I cannot risk the consequences of what could come of this from others....even worse I cannot risk hurting you...I would never survive that. You cannot kiss me again, Feyd....please....it will only hurt us both."

[inn0cencestrained]

@impercre continued from x

Her hand never belonged to her. It would never be her choice for it would always be the choice of men around her. She'd never been under any sort illusion that the choice would be hers, despite all the novels she read growing up that would suggest otherwise. Even Feyd hadn't started off as her choice, nothing more than a potential suitor she feared. But their time together pulled at something inside of her, something she refused to acknowledge until her now husband nearly took his life.

She'd stepped up to save her father's life....and the Na Baron's, under extreme conditions. The former Duke would become Emperor, she would be his bride, and Feyd would live out the remainder of his days as an unofficial "prisoner" and serve the Emperor and render aid to any dealings with the people of Giedi Prime. The only unspoken "compromise" she and Paul had about the whole ordeal was that she'd get to see the man....and in doing so keep some privacy- until Paul would maybe deem it unfit.

Regardless, Irulan had never meant to cross that line. But she'd been so relieved to see him standing after the battle that she'd been swift to take his face in her hands and kiss him.

And ever since then their kisses expanded, new parts touched, until that one evening not too long ago where she'd given herself to him- given him the gift that should have been reserved for her husband- but was never asked for by him.

Her breath is quick as their bodies pressed against one another, desperate for him to take her. Green eyes close as her fingers trace up and down his arm as he held her, her breath hitching at his words and finally her eyes open, turning her head to look at him while her hands now come to hold his own face.

The Princess's throat tightens with emotion as she looks over Feyd's face, his dark eyes, and sturdy features. "I," she breathes out, her voice no more than a whisper. "....I do not want to be his wife any longer." It's all she can muster, for turning back on her word would take her father, Feyd, and her life most certainly.

So instead Irulan presses her body against his again, burying her head into his neck with a soft sound as she reaches between their legs to gently begin touching him. "....Take me."

[inn0cencestrained]

@impercre continued from x

There was no sense in lying, no sense in trying to cover up her truths- not when there was the start of an all out war impending over all of their heads. Conversations like these, were meaningless in the grand scheme of things- or so her father and the Bene Gesserit had always told her. Though this conversation is "meaningless" they still would have never dared to tell their truth. But the Princess was stubborn in that way....besides what good was there to lie?

"Things that frighten me," Irulan replies, her voice steady. "In this world it's nearly impossible to keep things pure and good. There's too much bloodshed, there are too many tears, too much greed, too much pain. But...but what I have heard...I once would have only thought fictions from books would be able to capture such cruelty. And I am terribly frightened your people are here." I'm frightened for my future is what she wants to say, but must he hear her sound so selfishly right now?

"And I do apologize for being so blunt, however....surely you can understand why I am. And why....why I have my own withheld oppositions to my father's attempted deals? "

[inn0cencestrained]

The Princess sees the restraint in the other's eyes, and immediately she drops the questioning of her family. She didn't know everything about them, but she knew enough to know that her father, and her oldest brother especially, were not particularly concerned with Hara's best interest- nor anyone other than themselves for that matter. But at the end of the day was it really any different than Irulan and her own father? Sure, her father showed her care and love on some level, but the throne always came first- always. And she was to always follow that rule too.

Irulan's head shakes at Hara's concerned inquiry, emerald eyes gazing back to the outline of the garden in the moonlight. "It's nothing, really I am fine, just a little tired is all." The blonde swallows giving the faintest tug of her shoulders up into a shrug. "My father is just looking at future pairings for me and who would best be fit as Emperor. It's strategic and to be entirely honest I'm not even certain he knows what match would be the most beneficial for himself and the Bene Gesserit. I don't get a say, of course, but the prepping has just started getting more intense."

A hand runs through blonde strands. "There are favorites, of course, your eldest brother being one of them, but....there still is just a lot on the line. There's so much back and forth and it can be tiring. But...it's what I was born to do- trained to do. I've always expected it, sometimes I just forget how much is expected out of me."

Koi disperse at Princess Irulan's entry. Princess Hara follows — the natural order, the natural calling.

Even at ankle-deep, Water is like balm to the soul. She attempts a lean at a cultivator's angle. Grace for the Princess of Kaitain and moon's eye. She feels the cool wrap caressing the back half of her hock.

❛ You are too magnanimous, Irulan. ❜

Five-fingers worth of lightair swoon — to the left breast-plate it hovers, to emphasis her grateful sediment. What Irulan gifts her in truly is the relief of pleasant company. Half is heavy the heart that presences another daughter. She feels as if there's this unspoken understanding between them:

Irulan the eldest of many daughters. Hara the youngest of many Sons. But burdened with the daughter curse in dissimilar and similar ways.

She scoops a palmful and splashes up to the naked elbows. Both sides. Twice-over.

A princess does not wish to talk of her brothers. Luras espeically.

❛ It is only us and the moon, sucré Irulan. I can see it in your eyes. Something bothers you. ❜ Is it not in green of Hara's gaze, too? Irulan already knows what's been weighing on Hara, though.

[inn0cencestrained]

Tag

tag dump 5

[inn0cencestrained]

"You enjoy it?"

Irulan questions, true surprise on her features as they continue to walk down the hall. She couldn't imagine someone with the ruthless reputation Feyd Rautha Harkonnen had to enjoy something as simple and naturally pure and beautiful as a garden. Something so bright and colorful. Something so full of life when Giedi Prime was anything but.

When they finally reach the large doors, Irulan waits for them to be pushed open, and it only takes half a moment for her jaw to slack in awe. How anything could survive here, she wasn't sure, so even the minimal greenery was nothing short of a miracle. An amazement. In particular the trees that stood tall and strong.

Like a child in a field of flowers, The Princess strides into the room, looking up at the leaves of the trees as she nears one of the trunks, fingers gently- oh so gently- trailing over the bark. "These are Pilingitam Trees," she comments, mostly to herself in shock. Feyd knew- of course he knew. "I've only ever read about them, they're practically extinct. How are they here? How long have these been here?" Lips twitch upwards as she looks back at the tree, as if it was an old friend. "They're remarkable. Beautiful."

Any remains of her nightmare is long gone as she takes in perhaps one of only pure things on this planet. Feet are delicately placed as she wanders around the confinements of the garden before kneeling in front of some of the green. Fingers carefully smooth along the dirt then the plant itself- not one thought coming to her mind that it could perhaps be a weapon of mass poison. This was House Harkonnen after all. "....What plant is this?"

She looks around once more, then back to Feyd. "The Baron did not seem the type to keep a garden. Who built this? Who tends to it?"

He could write his own novel and fill it with the questions she asks. Endless, ageless. Grating. Though he filters through them, through her audible thoughts. If he's amused, it's not etched into the stone of his face; perhaps buried in the eyes. Shadows decree it a secret. Feyd lets her talk.

Screams echoing from the adjacent wing are akin to static. Black planets stain, and so he's ruined. Torn apart from the inside and re-fit together in the mold of Harkonnen legacy. It's all teeth, all scar. Someday he'll take her to that wing, if only to know that some rumors are woven in truth.

"I didn't say it'd be a garden you would enjoy."

After a long silence, perhaps as he adjusts to the emptiness of the halls. Always on edge, can't afford to be anything less than meticulous. Than defensive. for the very same glints the blade at his hip. Even sleep will not take that from him.

"Not as pretty as Kaitain's," a drawl draped in derision. Nothing should be so pretty here. And what of pretty? It dies, it dies.

But there is a garden.

Beyond double doors, into a courtyard that resembles a cemetery more than all else. No black sun to illuminate the cut marble, not yet, leaving glowglobe-fashioned streaks of light to refract. A few scattered benches, sculptures that snapshot glimpses of bloodthirsty history and myth. Some plants cling to life, clawed into the dirt; gray and black and thorned. Though among it, without the lifeless sun, smatterings of lime-green.

The Pilingitam trees are surprisingly well cared for, alive and resilient amid the kingdom of smog and smoke. Lumber often sought after, with entire forests decimated, though the ones that live in the bowels of Harko are nearly sacred.

"Enjoy, wife."

[inn0cencestrained]

Lips press together ever so slightly as emerald eyes take in the man before her, then towards the open hall before striding over to it to slide her door shut. Everyone on the grounds knew who Matrim was, but any sort of meeting between the two of them that wasn't one of short pleasantries- that would be suspicious. And she was already putting her neck on the line by even thinking of such things she'd thought she could put the man to work for.

"Well, think of it this way, every second you're 'sitting around collecting dust' is one more second you're alive." A slow breath is taken before giving a faint nod- as encouragement to herself to gather the courage to speak.

"Geidi Prime...forgive me, I don't recall anyone ever telling me to the planet, but...but I need eyes there on House Harkonnen. There have been whisperings of them stepping further out of line, into Caladan. No one will tell me anything of such rumors. My father says they would never do that, but I-I'm not so sure. I want reporting for myself. I'm tired of having to just sit back and wait for someone to mention something, or let it slip. I need to know. Regardless...Feyd Rautha Harkonnen is a potential-" The princess grimaces. "spouse and I would....I would like to know more about him. If he's all the monster they say he is. If there's some falsehood or if...if it's worse."

Hands wring together for a moment as another deep inhale is taken. "I know what I'm asking is daunting. I know where I'm asking you to go is a threat bigger than most in itself, but I...I'm running out of options. You can decline. I would never be so cruel to force this, but if you do accept you will be compensated handsomely. I also know that my father is your leader, who must kneel to....but I do not want his command over you to overtake mine. He mustn't know about this, if you accept. No one can."

@inn0cencestrained asked : “No, I said “do not under any circumstances do that.”” (From irulan)

"well, i'm here to do what you tell me to do." he says with a small amused breath. he didn't like the way that sounded, like some sort of chain around his neck. the people he had to work for always made him feel a bit unnerved. people with all those power in their hands. he couldn't imagine being in the presence of her husband. something told him that there was an iciness between the two of them. which made him suggest the spying. she wasn't keen on that though. but what exactly did she wants?

"but you're going to have to tell me what that is. i'm not used to just sitting around collecting dust." or was she scared of something? would she need protection? his eyes search her face before looking away. he doesn't bring it up. keeping the tone lighter than it probably should be.

[inn0cencestrained]

Her words aren't fair and she knows it- God forgive her, does she know it. The hypocritical emotions she feels so boiled up and so much misplaced anger now falling towards the soon to be Emperor. She can't even hide the way her face shifts into one of shame. Her father was a lot of good things- a lot of things she admired- but what he did to the Duke....if Irulan had held the title, hell or even just had some input before he gave his final order, she'd never had ended Leto's life. She'd never strive after so much greed.

It never made sense either. Her father had adored him, loved him like his son. The Princess had even overheard her father on multiple occasions express that he'd had a daughter sooner just so they could be wed to such a "brilliant" and powerful man. And yet. He still chose the slaughter.

Fingers grip onto the ledge of the window after Irulan had paced to it, her head dipping down for a moment and she nearly laughs at is final words. All her life, she'd known this would become of her. A title. She would forever and always just be a title. To her father, who yes loved her, but loved her symbolism more, to the Bene Gesserit, and to her future husband. The pick had come down between Paul and Feyd Rautha....and truth be told she wasn't sure marriage would be less loveless.

"Believe me, Duke-" From title to a title. "I have no other impressions of what this arrangement is." Her head turns to look out towards the gardens, but gives a small nod to motion beyond the wall and towards the sands of Arrakis. "....What is her name? The Fremen? She's beautiful. As a girl I'd always wished I'd had eyes blue like the Fremen. There's such a enchantment to them..."

Her words trail off and slowly the blonde turns back to face her soon to be betrothed. "....So we won't lie to one another." The statement is spoken as if words could hold such an agreement nowadays. "Then believe me when I tell you that I had no knowledge of my father's involvement with the Harkonnens beyond what it had been for the entirety of my life. And I...I was appalled to hear what was done to your father by mine. Your father had always been a welcomed friend here. He was always very kind to me....he was the first person who'd ever asked what my interests were- questions that had absolutely nothing to do with my title. I am still....horrified by it. And you have to believe that I truly am sorry for your loss."

She turns to the window again. "....It'll never happen....but I'd prefer a small wedding ceremony....."

@inn0cencestrained / continued from here

He didn’t need her trust - he certainly did not trust her, no he knew that her loyalties would always lay with her House and with the Bene Gesserit, opposed to him. But her presence was necessary. This situation they found themselves in would be easier for them both if she wasn’t constantly questioning his actions and motives. “I am cruel when it is necessary. The fall of your House was destined to happen one way or another - your father's own actions saw to that.” His calm demeanor is shattered for a brief moment, and his words spit out with venom. “I spared your father's life when he had my own killed. An act of good faith for our marriage. I did not have to.” Paul took a second to compose himself, blue within blue eyes shutting briefly before he turned his gaze back to his new wife. “I will not lie to you. You will be treated with the respect you are due as my wife, but you are a wife in name only.” Perhaps this, here, was necessary cruelty, but it had to be said.

[inn0cencestrained]

"What goes on in that arena is necessary?" Irulan questions, as if it weren't just minutes before the Na Baron had asserted himself into her presence as a silent threat- a demand for submission which she gave willingly. "It is necessary to slaughter prisoners for sport? In front of an audience where their death is cheered for? Please, Feyd Rautha, tell me why that is necessary."

Even in the silence she watches him, she takes in every move, every change in his feature- even if it's hardly noticeable to the naked eye. Each blink, each breath. It's her gift. When so many had just discarded the woman as nothing more as a thing to marry off in order to secure the throne, she'd remained silent, and instead played into their beliefs of her vacuous and like a predator watched and listened. She hid in plain sight and because of it she stored more knowledge of those around her than even the Reverend Mother knew.

But were her eyes deceiving her this time? Irulan could have sworn there was a look of dejection. An unwanting and dare she even think remorse? But she wouldn't press it- not now. Surely, Feyd lived for these matches- his reputation sure did. Maybe the match had been a disappointment, though it sure didn't sound like it based on the roar of the crowd. Regardless, that wouldn't be a string she pulls on right now.

Irulan's eyes flicker away from the man as he turns towards her, clutching at her novel, and doesn't look back to him until he's by her side an offering his arm. Wife. Once again the word, now snarled out with an intent to degrade- or at least that's the feel and she can only hope her upbringing was enough to keep any trace of hurt out of her face.

If this was anywhere else- if he were anyone else- she'd fire back harder. Hell she'd make the walk back to her quarters herself, but this was the House of Harkonnen. There was a rule given from the moment each of his daughter's could understand, the Emperor warned them to never ever be alone with a Harkonnen. If they were to ever see one and were alone, they were to run- far and fast to safety. Of course, guards were always in sight throughout Irulan's childhood all the way until the present, but the rule was still enforced. When Irulan had first come to Giedi Prime at the age of 16 to accompany her father for a meeting between "families" she was warned to never leave a guards side, never walk the halls alone, and never ever look anyone other than the Governor in the eye. Those rules were still applied- sort of. Things were different now, but Irulan wasn't stupid enough to try and wander these halls alone. And so, the Princess took Feyd's arm.

"You can be dismissed," she mutters to the Corrino warriors waiting outside of the door. "Tell my father I'm returning for my quarters for the night." She watches them reluctantly leave and she can't help the chill that runs down her spine as they begin to walk. On her way down, she'd refused to look at the things lurking in the corner. The clicks, hisses, and growls. Her guards had immediately sheathed their swords, but Irulan did as she was told and kept her head forward. But now, she can't help the glances she gives to the shadows. Her heart pounds as she takes in the slave handlers clicking their warnings, and even more terrifying women with demonic black eyes and fanged teeth snarling and hissing as they prowled in near the walls. The Princess's breath hitches, quickly looking forward again but can't help the way she grips onto Feyd's arm. "Do the doors on the room I'll be staying in lock?"

She's in desperate need of a distraction and she knows her fear is showing and she wishes she'd opted for a face covering headdress rather than the jewels surrounding the crown of her head. "Is this where you grew up?" Irulan finally gets out, the words too quickly for her liking. "What did you do as a child, just train? Or were there other amenities around that you had an interest in? A library or something? What do children do on Giedi Prime? I don't....I don't believe I've even seen a child in the few times I've come here. Are there school you attend?"

Restraint-- hasn't he offered her that? A tiny, inconsequential gift that leaves his knives sheathed and his fists half-unclenched. Whether she understands the way her words have stained his insides matters little to him; only the aftermath. Only the remains, the ashes. 'Not my brother'; a bisected confession that he never quite knows how to expel.

His body is a graveyard.

"I will do whatever is necessary."

This black planet deems it so. The preternatural essence of Kaitain hardly demands red and silver, nor should the throne he seeks. Harkonnen stains cling. If arenas deign to nip at his heels, he's full of discipline.

Deft fingers dig into the rags, resuming the thoughtless attempt of purification. Even if the paint doesn't seep in, it always lingers. Just a tick tick tick too long. Feyd doesn't answer her until the smears become smatterings. He's already dressing before the water dries. Already at her side, already offering his arm in a mockery of propriety.

He drawls from behind the teeth.

"Wife."

[inn0cencestrained]

"I don't believe civility is granted in this place, so you'll have to forgive my lack of interest in engaging in any sort of pleasantries with you, Mentat." Eyes fall back to the sea of the crowd before them as she lets the man prey on her thoughts, her emotions. She lets him drink in the sight of her and surely lust with plots on how to shake her. The sight of him alone couldn't keep her steady, not deep down. Likely he knew that, but her look of stoic never faltered.

"I believe Feyd Rautha would let entire planets burn if it meant he'd no longer having to be a show clown. Attempts on his life also don't grant any graces. So, Piter, I would offer you caution that you don't make believe his loyalties align with you and this asylum of hell you raised him in."

Lips press together at his final words but she quickly blinks away the hurt. His words were true. Her father cared more about the crown than her wishes or mental well-being. And Feyd....maybe he was right- maybe Feyd would never truly care for her either. Maybe no one would.

"My mother once mentioned parties at House Harkonnen, but I must admit I'm growing a bit bored. Feyd hardly speaks of this place, why don't you show me the foundation of who my fiance is? You raised him, correct? Show me how he was raised."

Blue-in-blue sclera-dipped mockery etched itself rightfully so into his features. A smile that missed the eyes like a wayward arrow-- to the heart, to the gut. If Piter possessed a shred of humanity, he might have tore it out and devoured it in front of her.

Instead, laughter filled the hollow.

"My my, Princess!" The timbre of his voice crawled and climbed into the air, enough to douse her with its astringent venom, not enough to break into the monochrome crowd. No sea of bonewhite-washed-black could comprehend the way his neurons misfired. No one ought dare. "Such an uncouth mouth! Is there no longer imperial civility within you?"

He hovers, holds his position. The stem quivers, wine a tidal wave against glass. Bronze and gold whimper in his peripheral; House Corrino bleeds its shame. Piter teeters on the edge of amusement and dismemberment. On the precipice of Harkonnen-fueled ambition and the sweetest release of apathy, of knowing that all roads lead to dead ends.

"Do you truly believe your husband-to-be would let you dismantle everything that he knows? That he is?" After all, after aaallll, it was Piter that raised beloved Feyd-Rautha, it was Piter that kept him alive, it was Piter who'd kept him sane in the wake of the former Baron's gratuitous shadow.

He taps his fingers against the glass. Itching, beneath his skin. This conversation is a poor substitute for his laboratory or the dungeons. Until he can sample a slice of her unrest. It mixes with the wine, coats the tongue.

"Be cautious that you don't make believe your affection," a knowing look that knows too much, "It can be used against you. Surely, though, you know this?"

His teeth are perfect. Stark white.

"Ever-watchful Irulan, just as you know that Atreides loyalists still linger. You do not need Piter to tell you this! Nor that your father would rather a sharp knife before his favored daughter is to wed a Harkonnen."

[inn0cencestrained]

In the entirety of her life Irulan had never dared speak so freely. Not to her own father, not even with her own sisters. She had a role- no she had a duty to follow the path her father and the Bene Gesserit had laid out for her. All of her life she'd been trained for what was to come within the next year or so, and yet, Irulan couldn't bite back that fear any longer. It had to be spoken otherwise it would suffocate her. The Princess trusted Hara...and dare she even think that they were friends? She'd never had the luxury of one of those either, but Hara was kind to her and Irulan felt comfortable enough to speak her mind.

"Feyd Rautha Harkonnen, Paul Atreides, or your eldest brother. Since I'd been able to understand their names, I have known that I would wed one of them. I have been preparing for it for as long as I can remember. Each one has their own specific plan crafted by the Bene Gesserit. And each one....each one comes with their own horrors. I don't...I don't want to marry any of them. Paul perhaps would have been the best fit but after what my father did...." Her head shakes before fingers run through her hair.

"I just....I don't think I'm strong enough to go through with this- I don't want to go through with this. I fear whatever the choice will be...chaos and destruction will follow."

𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒆 𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 ♡ — [ fears ] sender talks to receiver about their fears (irulan)

A princess reshapes her a hand into a hireling's role. The luxuriate of a non-audience allows it without snag nor espy Eye. They're cushioned by the palmholds of pillows and the glow of a spilling moon. They look like, just, girls.

Hara knows how to bed a flower in a hair.

Fingers make work. Delicate rivulets of cool blonde turn slipstream into baby plaits. Breath-buds bespeckle on a heart-measure. The way her nails soft-kiss the scalp as she parts is a mimic habit. This used to comfort her when she was wee-sized and had the attention of her parents. A baby that was an ornament that was bouncing on a knee.

The wine perfumes. And marries the honey flora.

Irulan talks of her current wearies and this is allowed too. Hara just listens, with a coo of acknowledgment intersperse to break through the silent. She's yet to hear an aperture for anything worth adding. This time shall come. Until then, she's two ears and two hands.

𝑓���. @inn0cencestrained

[inn0cencestrained]

"Perhaps you should be a little less chaotic and maybe I'd have less to write about?" She keeps her voice soft, but her eyes threw daggers at him, at who he was and what he'd done. But when her husband brings up Feyd, she feels her jaw lock and any pleasantries or honor she was supposed to show him were no discarded.

"And where's yours?" Irulan fires back. "Oh, that's right, she's out in the sand, because she can hardly stomach what it is you've become." The blonde bites the inside of her cheek, taking a step towards the Atreides. "It must be lonely....I could even scrounge up some pity for you if I really tried, but I'll likely just tuck that safely in the sentences of a book. Then maybe, just maybe, you'd find them less pretentious."

@inn0cencestrained

"Then perhaps you should read something else?" Irulan replies back slowly, though the back of her jaw clenches, but her eyes never waiver off of him. "Besides with how little I see you, I never figured you'd have time for my books. Maybe we should start having a meal together since your schedule is far less demanding than I thought." The offer is a facade, they both know it. Their marriage was nothing but a deal, an arrangement. A loveless and icy marriage. They would never rule as one, never act as one. It was business...it was all business. "Think on it, my Padishah."

He gets in these moods whenever Chani returned to the Sietches. He became a kind of onryō wandering the halls of the Keep lashing out at everyone and taking more than even a deep desert Fremen. Irulan was a favorite target in these moods.

"Perhaps you should find a different subject. How many have been about me now?" He hissed. There was a dazed quality to his gaze brought on by his heavy spice consumption. This was the great Muad'Dib at his most pathetic. He was at heart only a child exposed to more power than even the most seasoned could handle and it had broken him.

"Where is your cicisbeo, Feyd?" Feyd was poor sport for the Atreides Emperor in these moods. He fell into old habits learned in his boyhood of not reacting and retreating either inside his own mind or physically. Paul rarely sought Feyd's company if he could help it, they were like oil and water. But he did serve his purpose well enough, in that at least Paul could not fault him.

[inn0cencestrained]

Her eyes flicker to his hand still wrapped around her fingers. It's surprisingly warm, and it's not from any wet stains of red. It's calloused and there's still a spark of fear in her body, but...it's still far more gentle than she could have imagined.

"I meant what I said about a doctor," Irulan replies with a faint raise of her brows. There was no need to lie and give out any more false pleasantries. "And if I lost a sibling I'd feel grief." Instantly she bites the inside of her cheek, hating she'd give him that piece of bait he could use against her in the future. "But if you're injured and ended up dying, the war would be even more catastrophic. Not only would the Fremen rise up even further, but the Harkonnens would direct their fight here. There'd be no survivors."

Irulan swallows as his hand falls from hers, creasing her brows at his questioning. "I don't shed tears," she says too proudly and if the Reverend Mother was in here she'd be forced to the floor at the very least. But she was stubborn...and hell- she was sad.

"I just figured you'd want the Title of Emperor as soon as possible. Most would. Unless, of course, you need some time to shed tears for your lost life." There's a faint twinkle of challenge and dare even a tease in her eyes. "Your life changed as well."

Arms slowly cross over her chest as she carefully strides to the other side of the room, looking out the large window and up at the stars. "....When would you like the throne then? And what will you do with your time before then? Go back to Harkonnen? Wander the grounds here? The gardens are beautiful....though for whatever reason I imagine that that's not something that would peak your interest"

Condolences wasted, like tear-falls for insects crushed beneath the heel of a boot. For the old Baron, in any case; Rabban is a strange, grief-shaped hollow that he will sew into himself, along with all the rest. An eternal midnight to eclipse whatever shreds of f-a-m-ilyyy might still mean to him.

It isn't much.

But even he can see the relief that wilts in her, that the ancient Emperor still collects oxygen in his lungs.

"Your regard for me is as honey as it is pretend." There's no accusation in it, how laughter sounds like sand in the wind; he knows. Giedi Prime doesn't concern itself with these things, these inlaid pieces of rust-obsidian. There will be no doctors, nor condolences.

His touch on her hand lingers still.

In another heartbeat, it's gone.

"Why the rush?" Amusement in a gilded cage, or the pieces of it left in an emptied Sietch. Bred for this flickers through his mind, for the both of them. "No time to shed tears for your lost life?"

"No time to get acquainted?"

[inn0cencestrained]

Her eyes twinkled at his revelation and she couldn't help the smile that graces her features as she beams at him, such a rarity these days. Another roll of her hips given as her fingers trace over his features, to his lips, her thumb brushing over the bottom one as her smile remains.

"....I'm yours," Irulan whispers again, arms wrapping around him as she moves to kiss along his jaw and the nape of his neck, teeth grazing across his skin. "I'm yours. Only yours. No one will have me aside from you.....I'm yours. Forever yours."

Her lips continue to work against his skin, her breath hitching at the pleasure coursing through her as he moves inside of her. "I love you...."

He let himself be kissed a faint smile curling his lips, his breathe shaky feeling her hips rolling against his. None of the men or women in the Harkonnen pleasure wings compared when came to being inside her like this.

“I … I know but I like to hear you say it." He admitted his face reddening under her attempts to comfort him over something that ultimately wasn't all that serious. He had something of a possessive streak in him, he knew that. He still thought of Giedi Prime as his, it's people as his and his responsibility. He'd never thought or questioned this aspect of his until Irulan and he felt embarassed now that it was out. It made him feel like a child. "That your mine.”