Chapter 58 (I prefer to celebrate my decisions)

Taref returns to Kolhar lauded for assassinating Manford Torondo. Despite public praise and rewards, Taref is haunted by the intimacy of the killing and fresh grief over fallen comrades. He and Lillis, once eager for offworld adventures, now see their missions as mere sabotage for VenHold, far from their Zensunni dreams.

When Lillis returns from a mission, she confesses misery with cold, wet worlds and a lost sense of home. Taref offers to use Venport’s favor to send her back to Arrakis, but she feels irreparably changed. By dawn, Taref finds Lillis frozen to death outside the barracks. Stricken, he vows to return her water to the sietch, honoring desert custom, and to take home the waters of their dead friends.

Shocking news then arrives: Manford is alive and has swayed Emperor Salvador Corrino to seize all Arrakis spice operations, annexing VenHold assets and cargoes. Venport learns his embedded spy Ellonda has been murdered and mailed back in pieces, confirming Butlerian ruthlessness and the depth of his infiltration’s compromise.

Enraged, Josef Venport resolves to protect the spice flow critical to Navigators. With Cioba’s caution and Draigo Roget’s projections that connectivity binds the Imperium more than the throne, Venport contemplates toppling Salvador. He orders Draigo to Lampadas to win Gilbertus Albans and the Mentats to the side of reason.

Consulting Norma Cenva, who foresees peril and insists the spice must not be interrupted, Venport plans to lure Salvador to Arrakis under the guise of cooperation. He will attempt to make the Emperor relent, and, failing that, he hints he will “deal with the problem” decisively to secure VenHold’s future and civilization’s lifelines.