stepping out of the bathroom in a fresh attire and running a hand through his damp, black curls, paul discarded his sweaty practice gear into a basket that held most of the family's dirty clothes. while buttoning up his white linen shirt, he walked over to the bed, where his fiancé lay

duke paul of atreides was back on caladan for a while, to celebrate his engagement and spend some time with his lover before returning back to arrakis to bring the political aspects of the relationship to use

it had been his idea to fake a relationship between you, fremen royalty, and him, duke of atreides, for political purposes only. that had been more than ten months back, and both of your people had reacted surprisingly positive;

especially when, at a meeting where both fremen and people of caladan were present, paul had kneeled down in the hot sand and proposed to you out of nowhere

now there was a ring on your finger; the design of house atreides carved artistically into the gold of the heirloom. paul had come up with the faking-an-entire-marriage only a few days before he'd went through with it, when he'd overheard a conversation between two of the people and realized how good it'd be for his alliances

and yours too, of course

"it suits you," he told you, nodding to the ring on your hand that rested against hid white sheets

considering the fact that the two of you had been dating for almost a year now, playing pretend and having to spend days and days on end with the other, he was still rather distant. obviously, he'd warmed up and actually talked to you even when no one was watching, but he almost always made sure to display that his intentions were purely political

"how do you like caladan?", he inquired as he fixed his father's ring

this was new to you; a planet full of water wherever you looked, while you and your people were used to collecting water even from the dead