Sisterhood of Dune (61 page)

He didn’t press her for more information, but she saw the wheels turning in his head. Afraid that she had raised his suspicions, Zhoma took her leave as quickly and politely as possible.

*   *   *

UNABLE TO SHAKE
his uneasy suspicion, Roderick delved more deeply into the background of Dr. Zhoma. Using his Imperial mandate, he retrieved the woman’s travel records, which were perplexingly muddy, with many of her trips made under unusual circumstances and with destinations that made little sense. He suspected Zhoma was hiding some unorthodox activity, which concerned Roderick even more.

He discovered that not only was the Suk administrator a talented physician who had graduated with high scores (although she rarely practiced medicine on actual patients), but Zhoma was also a former attendee of the Sisterhood’s school on Rossak and had left the school abruptly four decades earlier.

He thought of Sister Perianna’s suspicious activities and her mysterious departure from his wife’s service. And he and his brother had sent Anna to the Sisterhood as a new acolyte for protection and instruction. Might they indoctrinate her instead?

He would have to stay alert.

That night he joined his brother for a private dinner, knowing that Salvador preferred conversation between the two of them rather than the extravagant and exhausting public banquets. The brothers ate a simple but delicious meal of roast fowl, rice, and vegetables, all of which had been carefully tested for poisons in accordance with Salvador’s request.

When the Emperor took out a small ampule filled with a transparent honey-colored liquid, Roderick stopped him from consuming it. “What is that?”

“The vitamin supplement Dr. Zhoma gave me. She says it will make me feel like a new man, healthier and more energetic. Ah, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt normal.”

Frowning, Roderick extended his hand. “May I?” Salvador gave him the vial, and Roderick held it up to the light, pondering. “Before you take this, I’d like to have it tested.”

“Tested? For what? It was prescribed by my personal physician. You chose her yourself.”

“I’d like to be sure. We supposedly trust our kitchen staff, yet we test all our food for poison. Should we be any less diligent with your medicines?”

Salvador frowned. “I suppose not.”

Roderick pocketed the vial. “You know I’m always looking out for you, Salvador.”

“Sometimes I think you’re the only one who does, whether I deserve it or not.”

Roderick’s heart went out to his brother, seeing the ache and emptiness in his face. “Of course you deserve it.”

*   *   *

BECAUSE HER PRESENCE
agitated Salvador, the Empress Tabrina spent much of her time in Roderick’s offices, asking persistent questions about Imperial representatives, as well as various cabinet ministers and ambassadors.

Roderick knew that Tabrina was studying the duties to find an appropriate position for herself, whether or not Salvador ever granted her a title. The more Tabrina asked the Emperor, the more stubborn he became. Roderick understood his brother much better than the Empress did.

It wasn’t that Salvador viewed his wife as incompetent, it was that he considered government positions, cabinet posts, and ambassadorships as rewards to be granted for service, as commodities to be sold to appropriately influential people. Giving such a job to his wife would be a wasted opportunity.

Now Tabrina leaned close to Roderick in his office, studying two new decrees that had been drafted in Salvador’s name. The door was closed “for confidentiality,” according to the Empress. He remained as patient as possible, though she leaned too close and she wore too much pheromone-laced perfume—certainly not for Salvador’s benefit.

She pushed the decrees aside, even though Roderick hadn’t finished reading them. “There’s so much talk about me having an Imperial heir,” she said.

“As there should be. Salvador’s son will be next in line for the throne, and the people grow tired of waiting.” He looked up at her. “You have responsibilities to the Imperium, Tabrina.”

“I could bear a Corrino heir … but we both know you would be a better Emperor. You’re the smarter one, the better-looking one.” Tabrina sounded flippant. “Why was Salvador born first? It’s like genetic roulette, and you lost.”

“He’s the Emperor,” Roderick said, bristling.

“I could bear
your
son,” she said quickly, her voice husky. “No one would ever know that
you
got me pregnant, rather than Salvador. Even DNA tests would show the same thing. No one would question it.”

“
I
would question it. And if you do not share my brother’s bed,
he
would question it, as well.” Roderick stood up and walked around the desk, away from Tabrina. Her expression grew darker, and he turned on her. “You are the Empress. Be happy with that. I already have a wife, a family. I don’t need to be something I’m not.”

“But it’s something you
are
!” Tabrina said, and Roderick held up a hand to cut off further conversation. His receptionist abruptly opened the door, and Tabrina lashed out at the old woman. “We asked not to be disturbed. You’re interrupting us.”

The woman looked past the Empress to focus her attention on Roderick, in a clear rebuff. He wondered if she’d been eavesdropping. “Prince Roderick, you gave me strict instructions to alert you the moment the chemical-analysis results arrived.”

Roderick thanked her. “Yes, I did. Empress Tabrina, I believe we’re done here. This is an important and private matter.” He looked hard at her until she finally submitted, and walked out of his office in an attempt at good grace.…

After Roderick read the test results on the vitamin supplement Zhoma had prescribed for Salvador, he went to see his brother right away. They had made a grave mistake, and needed to rectify it as soon as possible.

Moments later, Roderick appeared at the Emperor’s private study, chased away the guards at the door, and dismissed the handful of advisers and scribes who attended him. Salvador blinked owlishly up at him. “What is it now, Roderick?”

Closing the door so that they were alone, he said, “My brother, I’ve discovered a plot against you.”

The human brain is a fragile instrument, easily damaged, easily perverted.

—admonition of the Suk Medical School

Anna Corrino survived, but remained in a coma for days, responding to no treatments, showing no sign of awareness. She was not dead, but the Sisterhood was in an uproar, fearing for the future of their entire order.

The Emperor’s sister was impulsive and unwise—the reason she’d been sent to Rossak in the first place. Though distraught, Reverend Mother Raquella saw nothing to be gained by blaming Valya, who had not watched Anna closely enough and therefore inadvertently allowed the girl to do something so inconceivably stupid. The Sisterhood did not look for scapegoats—it looked for solutions.

The unfortunate Corrino girl lay on a bed in the main medical clinic, uncomfortably close to where the vegetative failed Sister volunteers were kept alive. In adjacent, guarded rooms the brain-damaged survivors remained under close observation. Raquella wanted to summon Dr. Ori Zhoma immediately, pulling her away from Salusa Secundus to see if she could do anything to help Anna … but the Reverend Mother was not yet ready to let the Emperor know what had occurred.

There might still be time. She needed to be very cautious.

Dorotea herself had lain unconscious for days during her transformation, so Raquella did not entirely surrender hope. However, Dorotea had been strong, well trained, and committed … while Anna Corrino was none of those things. Anna’s condition was an unparalleled disaster, and all the lives in Raquella’s Other Memories could not tell her how to escape the certain Imperial repercussions.

Sister Valya had taken the tragedy personally. She spent every extra hour at Anna’s bedside, talking to her, touching the girl’s hand, trying to stimulate her back to awareness. As Raquella entered the room that afternoon, Valya looked pale and frightened. “Has Emperor Salvador been informed yet? How do you think he’ll react?”

“He sent his sister to us for safekeeping. When he learns about this, the Sisterhood could be in grave danger. Unless she comes out of the coma.”

Valya’s eyes narrowed, and she swallowed hard. “Perhaps if he never finds out exactly what occurred? We could say it was a tragic accident, that a predator attacked her during a jungle exercise, or that she fell from a slippery cliff path, like Sister Ingrid did.”

“But she isn’t dead, child, and even if she were that’s no excuse. She’s our responsibility.” In oppressive silence, they both looked down at the girl, neither of them speaking.

Suddenly, heaving a deep gasp, Anna sat straight up on the infirmary bed. Her eyes flung open, and she looked around without seeming to see her surroundings. Her mouth moved, and small, incomprehensible noises came out, growing louder—until Raquella realized they sounded like the voices of Other Memories that came and went inside her own head, as if Anna were channeling them. She seemed to be speaking dozens of nonsensical, overlapping conversations at the same time in Anna’s own voice.

Shouting for the medical Sisters, Raquella shuddered at the realization that Anna’s attempt to pass through the transformation might have left her damaged, like some of the other volunteers who had failed.

Perhaps it might have been kinder if she had died.

*   *   *

FOR THE NEXT
week, the Mentat Karee Marques and several other Sorceresses monitored Anna, tending to her, nursing her. Though Anna had awakened, she might never recover, and Raquella knew she could not avoid letting the Emperor know for much longer, but she wanted a better understanding before she broke the news.

She called Valya and Dorotea—
Reverend Mother
Dorotea—to listen to the Sorceresses’ reports. Karee Marques looked highly agitated. “Anna’s jumbled voices have stopped for the most part, though they come in bits and pieces and finally fade away. When she spouts phrases, they are not always echoes from her other memories—sometimes she recites facts, random bits of learning such as historical lists, as if information is spilling out of her. She exhibits behavior similar to what was once called an idiot savant. She has an incredible capacity for certain details. She might prove to be useful, if she could learn to control the incredible flow of information.”

Sister Esther-Cano, the youngest of the pureblood Sorceresses, spoke up. “We have no idea how this could be, but Sister Anna has become an expert in the technology of foldspace travel. She has recited a wealth of information on all aspects of ship construction and operation, including the complexities of Holtzman mathematics and navigation chambers.”

Karee nodded. “We have verified the details to the extent that we could, and found no errors. She seems to know more even than the published papers suggest … quite possibly classified information that only Venport Holdings possesses. It is difficult to pull her focus away from such things even to feed her.”

Raquella clasped her hands in front of her on the desktop. “Does she discuss other subjects with any level of rationality?”

Karee shook her head. “She doesn’t seem interested in anything except foldspace travel—for now. She says she’s going to build her own ship and become a Navigator, so she can escape from this place forever.”

“She makes no secret about hating it here,” Sister Esther-Cano said. “She never wanted to come to Rossak in the first place, but was forced to.”

“Previously, she was emotionally unstable,” Valya pointed out, sounding nervous, “but this seems much different. I did report on prior indications of her mental quirks, such as how she was able to manipulate the movements of burrowers inside their hive wall, and she said she could also alter fogwood growth in the Palace gardens. Perhaps she had an odd kind of mental defense we did not recognize.”

Dorotea warned, “I know Emperor Salvador, and he will not take this well. He is quick to lash out and cast blame. We must be exceedingly careful about how we present this problem to him.”

Feeling like a martyr, Raquella bowed her head. “I am the Reverend Mother of the Sisterhood. I accepted Anna Corrino into my care, and I promised to protect her. Therefore, I will go to Salusa Secundus myself and give them the terrible news. Anna will accompany me to the Palace, but I will shoulder the blame personally, telling the complete truth and asking for understanding. Maybe in that way I can save the Sisterhood, even if it costs my own life.”

Dorotea straightened, and Raquella sensed a change in her demeanor, as if she intended to take charge of the situation. “No,
Grandmother.
The Corrinos already know and respect me. Maybe I can salvage this. They valued my service—
I
should be the one to go. Perhaps I can control the message.”

“I can’t let you go,” Raquella said.

“I am a Reverend Mother now.” Dorotea’s voice was even, but the defiance was clear. “You don’t have to
let
me. I will do what I need to.”

Despite her own protestations, Raquella realized that the younger woman was correct. It was the best solution. She was disturbed by the insubordination, but Dorotea had indeed ushered many Sisters through the process of becoming Reverend Mothers … something Raquella had never been able to do. And in choosing the candidates carefully, Dorotea had strengthened her own power base within the order. She was ambitious, with obvious aspirations of leading the Sisterhood, and the trip to Salusa would look good on her resume. Was she making a power play? If so, it was a risky one.

Finally, Raquella acquiesced with good grace. “Very well, go to Salusa and take Anna with you. Your past experience with the Corrinos may well make you our best hope.”

*   *   *

VALYA ACCOMPANIED ANNA
Corrino and Dorotea, along with two of the new Reverend Mothers, across the polymerized treetops to the area where the shuttles landed. Anna was pliable and cooperative, though she continued to mumble a stream of unintelligible phrases. Her eyes were vacant, her expression flat.