Is it better to remain blissfully ignorant of a tragedy, or to know all the details even when you can do nothing about it? That question is not easy to answer.

—DUKE LETO ATREIDES

When Rhombur Vernius approached Jessica on an enclosed balcony in the Grand Palais, the cyborg Earl opened his mouth, but no words came forth. She knew immediately that something terrible had happened. “Tell me—what is it?”

“It’s the boys . . . Bronso and Paul. They’re gone!” He explained in a rush, but as he finished, the confusion passed from his demeanor like mist blown on a wind, and he drew himself taller. “I promised Leto to keep your son safe. If an enemy has abducted them, or harmed them—!”

Jessica forced herself to rally, to speak in a calm, matter-of-fact voice that helped focus Rhombur. “There are several possibilities. It seems most likely that someone has taken them, they’re lost or injured, or they’ve run away. How long have they been gone? The first few hours are the most critical.” When his expression flickered, then fell, Jessica realized he had not told her everything. “Now is not a time for secrets, Rhombur—our sons are missing!”

With deep regret, the cyborg Prince described how he had revealed the boy’s true parentage—and Bronso’s angry, distraught reaction to the news. Bronso’s voice shook with tension. After the loss of his wife, Jessica didn’t know how much more the rebuilt man could bear.

Back inside the Grand Palais, in the lower exhibition chamber surrounded by transparent plaz walls, Jessica helped Rhombur establish an emergency center. Gurney and Duncan came running at her summons, and both vowed to find the boys at all costs. Gurney paced across the checkerboard floor and doubled back. “Call that Avati in here again. I still think he had something to do with what happened to Tessia, and the boys would be his next likely target. ‘Suspicion is like a foul odor, tainting all and slow to disperse.’ ”

“Even if they are innocent, the technocrats will rejoice to hear about another problem I have to face,” Rhombur groaned. “Another Vernius blunder.”

Jessica’s voice was hard as she called up projected maps of the subterranean city complex. “What if they’ve left the planet? Could they have fled or been taken to the surface? Gotten aboard a ship?”

“Uh, we have security systems. I have already asked teams to check the imagers, but they saw no record of—” His shoulders sagged again. “But it would have been child’s play for Bronso to bypass them. He had access to any number of scramblers. He used them as toys, but now . . . I don’t know.”

“Let’s have a look at your spaceport records, to find out how many ships have come and gone since the boys went missing.”

“Dozens,” Rhombur said. “Shipping is quite active, with vessels coming and going at all hours. We’ve had three Heighliners since yesterday—”

Jessica cut him off. She would not allow Rhombur to drown in his doubts, but urged him to pursue every possibility. “Then we will also obtain Spacing Guild records. We’ll study the routes of those three Heighliners, and determine which ships the boys could have gotten on—willingly or unwillingly—and plot a matrix of destinations where they might be.”

Rhombur was moving now, ready to gather the information. He looked stronger and more determined, and Jessica was relieved. She had helped him out of his malaise, and now he was ready to charge ahead. “You’re right, Jessica. If they ran away, Paul or Bronso must have left some trace. They’re just boys, after all.”

Jessica didn’t contradict him, though she knew that Paul was not just a boy. Next she turned to her own difficult task, mentally composing a message to be given to the next Guild courier to depart from Ix.

She had to tell Duke Leto the bad news.