Rhombur sat on an examination table in a warm pool of afternoon sunshine that poured through a high window. He could detect the warmth on his cyborg limbs, but it was a different sensation from his memories of human nerve signals. Many things were different….

Dr. Yueh, his long hair secured in a silver Suk ring, held a scanner over the artificial knee joints. His narrow face remained intent. “Flex the right one now.”

Rhombur sighed, “I intend to go with Gurney whether or not you give me medical clearance.”

The doctor showed neither amusement nor annoyance. “May Heaven save me from ungrateful patients.”

As Rhombur bent his prosthetic leg, the scanner blinked green. “I feel physically strong, Dr. Yueh. Sometimes I don’t even think about my replacement parts. It’s what is natural for me now.” Indeed, even with his scarred face and polymer skin, the joke around Castle Caladan (started by Duncan Idaho) was that the Prince was still better-looking than Gurney Halleck.

Yueh visually checked the cyborg mechanics as Rhombur walked about the room, did chin-ups, and completed a clattering tuck-and-roll across the floor. A muscle on the left side of the doctor’s jaw twisted as he spoke. “I believe you’ve been greatly helped by your wife’s aggressive therapy.”

“Aggressive therapy?” Rhombur asked. “She calls it ‘love.’ ”

Yueh shut down his scanners. “You have my approval to go with Gurney Halleck on this difficult mission.” Concern etched the weathered features of the Suk doctor’s face, wrinkling the diamond tattoo on his forehead. “It will be dangerous for anyone sneaking into Ix, however. Even more so because of who you are. I do not want to see my lovely handiwork destroyed.”

“I’ll try not to let that happen,” Rhombur said, taking on a determined expression. “But Ix is my home, Doctor. I have no other choice. I am prepared to do what is necessary for my people, even if the Vernius bloodline must… end with me.”

Rhombur saw the doctor’s eyes flicker with deep pain, but no tears. “You may not believe this, but I understand. A long time ago, my wife Wanna was seriously injured in an industrial accident. I found a specialist in artificial human control functions— very primitive compared with what you have, Prince. He replaced Wanna’s hips, spleen, and uterus with synthetic parts, but she could never have children. We had planned to wait… but we waited too long. Of course Wanna is beyond childbearing age now, but back in those days it was quite traumatic for us.” He busied himself putting away his medical instruments.

“Similarly, Prince Rhombur, you are the last of House Vernius. I am sorry.”

When Leto summoned him to his personal study, Rhombur suspected nothing. After clomping into the room he stopped and stared with astonishment at a familiar man standing by a stone-framed window.

“Ambassador Pilru!” Rhombur always felt a surge of affection when he saw this public servant who had so tirelessly, though fruitlessly, fought for the Ixian cause over the past two decades. But he had just seen the man at his recent wedding to Tessia. Rhombur felt a sudden twist in his heart. “Is there news?”

“Yes, my Prince. Surprising and troubling news.” Rhombur wondered if it had to do with the Ambassador’s son, C’tair, who had been continuing the fight on Ix.

As Rhombur settled into a rigid stance, the dignified diplomat paced the office, ill at ease. He activated a holoprojector at the center of the room, displaying the image of a ragged, dirty man.

Leto’s voice had an edge. “This is the man who attempted to assassinate Shaddam. The one who almost killed Jessica in the Imperial box.”

Pilru looked quickly at him. “Entirely by accident, Duke Leto. Many aspects of his plan were… naive and ill conceived.”

“And it now seems that certain aspects of his ‘maniacal attack’ were a bit exaggerated by the official Imperial report,” Leto said.

Rhombur remained confused. “But who is he?”

The Ambassador halted the image and turned purposefully to him. “My Prince, this is— or was— Tyros Reffa. The Emperor’s half brother. He was executed four days ago, by Imperial decree. Apparently, there was no need for a trial.”

Rhombur shifted his weight. “But what does this have to do with—”

“Very few people know the truth, but Reffa’s claim was indeed legitimate. He was truly Elrood’s bastard son, raised quietly by House Taligari. Shaddam apparently considered him a threat to the throne, however, and concocted an excuse for his Sardaukar to annihilate Reffa’s home on Zanovar. Shaddam also killed fourteen million additional people in the cities on Zanovar, just for good measure.”

Both Rhombur and Leto were shocked.

“That is what triggered Reffa’s brash attempt at revenge.”

Handing a set of printed documents to Rhombur, the Ambassador continued. “This is the genetic analysis proving Reffa’s identity. I extracted the samples myself, in his prison cell. There can be no question. This man was a Corrino, by blood.”

Rhombur scanned the sheaf of papers, still wondering why he had been called to this meeting. “Interesting.”

“There is more, Prince Vernius.” Pilru gazed intently at the scarred man’s face. “Reffa’s mother was Elrood’s concubine, Shando Balut.”

Rhombur looked up quickly. “Shando—!”

“My Prince, Tyros Reffa was your half brother as well.”

“That can’t possibly be true,” Rhombur protested. “I’ve never been told anything about a brother. I… never even met the man.” He kept looking over the analysis report, rereading it, searching for something to free him from this terrible reality. “Executed? You’re sure?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Ambassador Pilru chewed at his lower lip. “Why couldn’t Elrood have just made Tyros Reffa a noukker— an officer in the Imperial Guard— like most other Emperors have done with the sons of their concubines? But no, Elrood had to whisk the child away as if he was something special, opening up all of these problems.”

“My brother… if only we could have helped him.” Rhombur dropped the documents onto the floor. He rocked back on his heavy cyborg legs, his face a mask of anguish. The Prince of House Vernius paced the stone floor.

In a measured tone, Rhombur announced, “This only steels my resolve to oppose the Emperor. Now he has made it personal between us.”