Paul's voice was not loud. But the men closest to him heard it, and something in the way he said it made them stop. The quiet spread outward from where he stood, house by house, until the hall had silenced itself.
"Arrakis has changed hands three times in living memory."
"Each time, chaos. Each time, spice production collapsed. Each time, the Imperium bled for it."
He paused for a moment.
"House Atreides is not asking for a prize. We are asking for stability. For every house in this room that depends on spice. For every guild navigator. For every contract signed in the last decade."
"Ask yourself, not what House Atreides gains. Ask what the Imperium loses the next time Arrakis changes hands."
"Standing in front of everyone present here today, On the Honour of House Atreides, we will ensure the flow of spice never stalls, and the empire never bleeds."
"House Atreides requests a fifty-year irrevocable stewardship of Arrakis, renewable by Landsraad vote," Paul said.
Several voices that had been voicing disagreements silently listened as Paul's words began to sway them.
Fifty of stability... it was attractive and fair.
Houses in opposition to house Atreides realized however, that for 50 years, they would be suppressed by competing houses.
Some remained, but the majority had shifted towards House Atreides.
The majority was overwhelming, the voices against this passing were thin and few in between.
Shaddam watched in silence.
He watched in silence for a long moment.
The hall was quiet as eyes turned to Shaddam.
Finally, he spoke, his voice measured and quiet.
"This session of the Landsraad is concluded."
He said as he calmly turned around and began walking away.
Paul watched in silence for a few moments as Shaddam left the room.
Several families on the stands had begun standing up at this moment and began preparing to leave.
Paul turned around and took a step forward, but accidentally stepped into the large puddle of blood left by Feyd.
He scraped the blood from his shoes on the floor and quietly began walking towards the exit.
His mind seemed to have remembered something as he glanced at the sword he had kept holding through the landsraad.
"Thanks for the sword, Duncan" He said, handing the crimson short blade covered in Feyd's blood to Duncan.
"The honour was mine." Duncan said with a smile.
Stepping further into the hall, Paul paused.
'I... can't hold in' the thought flashed through his mind as he slowly turned towards Thufir and smiled softly.
"Thufir... I am sorry... but I'll have to ask you to delay your retirement."
"House Atreides requires your service," Paul said as he felt his control over the poison in his nerves slip. His eyes shut and his body dropped to the ground.
...
Shaddam was silent as he walked towards his throne room.
Mohiam quietly followed behind him.
The silence between them was still.
Shaddam arrived at his throne room.
The two guards stationed outside quickly opened the doors, and Shaddam walked in.
He slowly approached his throne.
Arriving at the steps leading up to it, he began to climb them but when he arrived in front of the throne, he paused.
He didn't sit.
He just stared.
"In that hall... That hall just changed everything," Shaddam muttered to himself as his eyes hovered on the throne.
"Your majest—"
"Don't" Shaddam strictly said, interrupting Mohiam.
"Just... Dont" he said as he stood by his throne, staring at it for several long moments.
Finally, he took a sharp breath in and moved to sit on the throne.
His eyes were sharp as he looked ahead.
"The session was devastating, but... I am still the Emperor, we have 50 years to reclaim what was lost" Shaddam said.
...
"Our House has secured an exclusive contract with House Atreides for the next 20 years, the bets were placed well," Aldric said in passing to Sera, who remained silent.
"Mentat Thufir and Warrior Duncan have been strictly guarding any news of Duke Paul's conditions, we must know his current state," Aldric said.
"Our agreement only holds if he's alive," He said as he kept walking, but Sera's oddity did not go unnoticed.
"Is something bothering you?" Aldric asked, glancing at her.
She was silent for a moment before she shook her head.
"He knew he was going to collapse."
"Yet he still held out till after the terms were agreed to."
"That is admirable," She said.
"Admirable indeed, but we must now focus on the present... is he alive?" Aldric muttered and Sera nodded in agreement.
...
On Arrakis, Jessica watched as the projection of the Landsraad concluded.
The people in the hall cheered as soon as the projector switched off.
Soldiers and house help alike celebrated this grand slam victory with pride.
But Jessica was silent.
Her breathing was controlled, but her thoughts were not.
A moment of relief came, but it quickly vanished as a feeling of unease filled her.
'Leto would never have done it that way.' was her first thought.
She shut her eyes for a moment, calming her mind.
'He protected the pride of House Atredis by engaging in that duel.'
'And he almost died doing it...' she thought as a small frown appeared on her face.
"There was something odd about his breathing" She muttered as she remembered Paul's controlled breathing after getting stabbed by the needle.
'It must have been coated in poison... but that pattern of breathing, it reminds me of Nerve control,' She thought to herself in silence but shook her head in disagreement with her own thoughts.
'To control poison in you... requires a certain level of expertise that I did not train for.'
'Then how did he manage to do that?' The thought appeared in her mind, but she had no answers at the moment.
Suddenly, as she was about to file it away for later a thought struck her.
'I taught him the theory, yet he showed an expertise over Nerve control, he had to have been poisoned at some point...'
'He didn't trust me,' the thought immediately appeared.
Her hand moved to her stomach, seemingly searching for some comfort.