Anger thinned Idaho’s lips, but he remained silent.

“Such foolishness endangers us all,” Moneo said. “Noree is the God Emperor’s intended.”

Idaho tried to control his anger, but the words were a betrayal: “He can’t marry her!”

“Why not?”

“What game is he playing, Moneo?”

“I am a messenger with a single message, no more,” Moneo said.

Idaho’s voice was low and threatening. “But he confides in you.”

“The God Emperor sympathizes with you,” Moneo lied.

“Sympathizes!” Idaho shouted the word, creating a new depth to the room’s silence.

“Noree is a woman of obvious attractions,” Moneo said. “But she is not for you.”

“The God Emperor has spoken,” Idaho sneered, “and there is no appeal.”

“I see that you understand the message,” Moneo said.

Idaho started to push himself away from the table.

“Where are you going?” Moneo demanded.

“I’m going to have this out with him right now!”

“That is certain suicide,” Moneo said.

Idaho glared at him, aware suddenly of the listening intensity in the women at the tables around them. An expression which Muad’Dib would have recognized immediately came over Idaho’s face: “Playing to the Devil’s Gallery”, Muad’Dib had called it.

“D’you know what the original Atreides Dukes always said?” Idaho asked. There was a mocking tone in his voice.

“Is it pertinent?”

“They said your liberties all vanish when you look up to any absolute ruler.”

Rigid with fear, Moneo leaned toward Idaho. Moneo’s lips barely moved. His voice was little more than a whisper. “Don’t say such things.”

“Because’ one of these women will report it?”

Moneo shook his head in disbelief. “You are more reckless than any of the others.”

“Really?”

“Please! It is perilous in the extreme to take this attitude.”

Idaho heard the nervous stirring that swept through the room.

“He can only kill us,” Idaho said.

Moneo spoke in a tight whisper: “You fool! The Worm can dominate him at the slightest provocation!”

“The Worm, you say?” Idaho’s voice was unnecessarily loud.

“You must trust him,” Moneo said.

Idaho glanced left and right. “Yes, I think they heard that.”

“He is billions upon billions of people united in that one body,” Moneo said.

“So I’ve been told.”

“He is God and we are mortal,” Moneo said.

“How is it a god can do evil things?” Idaho asked.

Moneo thrust his chair backward and leaped to his feet. “I wash my hands of you!” Whirling away, he dashed from the room.

Idaho looked out into the room, finding himself the centre of attention for all of the guards’ faces.

“Moneo doesn’t judge but I do,” Idaho said.

It surprised him then to glimpse a few wry smiles among the women. They all returned to their eating.

As he strode down the hall of the Citadel, Idaho replayed the conversation, seeking out the oddities in Moneo’s behaviour. The terror could be recognized and even understood, but it had seemed far more than fear of death… far, far more.

The Worm can dominate him.