The air is too clean for someone like you. Every inhale reminds you that you don’t belong here. And yet you are descending from the ship bearing the Harkonnen emblem, searching for something—someone—you shouldn’t want.

The younger brother of the man your House considers an enemy. The perfect contradiction. The weakness you never would have calculated. You see him before he sees you: slender, anxious, his rigid posture trying to hide the fact that he’s trembling. The guard stands alert, watching you as if you were poison.You are. And they know it.

Mikey adjusts his glasses nervously, avoiding your gaze. He doesn’t step back… but he doesn’t step forward either.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he murmurs, his voice steadier than you expected. Even so, his fingers tighten nervously against the folds of his clothing. His brother must have given him a thousand warnings. You look at his face and you see the conflict: obedience to his House… and something else. Something that was born the first time he saw you. That connection neither of you should feel.

“Gerard… wants to avoid problems,” he says, lowering his gaze just a little. “He said that if you showed up… I should speak with you. That maybe that way… there wouldn’t be violence.”