Chapter 40

Before dawn in the Temple Keep, Alia pressures Ghanima to accept a betrothal to Farad’n to secure political peace and recover Jessica and Duncan. Ghanima, in yellow mourning, refuses, citing Farad’n’s culpability in Leto’s death and Fremen honor. Alia’s evasions about Jessica and Duncan deepen Ghanima’s distrust.

Irulan joins, pleading duty and leverage—Farad’n holds Jessica and Duncan—but Ghanima rejects Voice and scorns Irulan’s Corrino ties. Ghanima openly accuses Alia of lying and hints at Alia’s surrender to Abomination, triggering a tense silence and wary reassessment between aunt and niece.

Challenged yet intrigued, Alia invites alternatives. Ghanima proposes a trap: she will publicly consent to a betrothal to draw Farad’n to Arrakis, then kill him. Irulan warns this would destroy Atreides honor and alienate the Great Houses and faithful, but Alia calculates that Church and State can be bent to her proclamation.

Ghanima insists the betrothal be staged to ensure proximity to Farad’n and mocks the idea that Fremen—or Farad’n—would believe her sincerity while she wears mourning. Alia accepts the plan, eager to formalize witnesses from select Houses, despite Irulan’s horror and pleas to cloak any killing as accidental.

As Irulan flees, Ghanima urges placing Irulan under surveillance to prevent any warning. Alia asserts control and departs to set the plot in motion. Left alone, Ghanima mourns Leto and affirms her vendetta, wishing she had died in his place.