“And always Combined Mercantiles — but the company is stronger now than before. And more ruthless.”

Phillips stood firm. “Either we go back to our previous price, or I will talk to other merchants.”

“You may talk, but you will find few willing to trade outside of Combined Mercantiles.” Qimmit’s voice grew harder. “Contact me again after they let you down. But my feelings will be hurt, so expect an even higher price.”

Phillips looked inquiringly at Vor, who said, “I know other places where spice merchants mingle with harvesting crews and cargo haulers.”

The captain turned away from Qimmit. “We’ll take our chances.”

Valya Harkonnen realized she had done a cruel thing to her parents after returning to Lankiveil. Perhaps they would never forgive her … but she did not seek forgiveness. She never had. Her goals were beyond such concerns.

Even so, she wondered if she would ever see her ancestral home again. Lankiveil was a cold, isolated, unwelcoming place, not at all a world worthy of noble House Harkonnen. By rights her family should have lived on the Imperial capital of Salusa Secundus, not in exile on an out-of-the way planet few people wanted to visit. Someday, she would help her family earn back the glory it deserved.

For now, though, she was journeying far from Lankiveil, and taking her teenage sister, Tula, with her. But Valya’s thoughts trailed behind her and filled her with sadness.

Her parents had suffered enough, and she had not intended to cause them more anguish, but when her brother Griffin’s body had arrived in a shipping container — sent by the vile monster Vorian Atreides — she’d been pushed over the edge. She had long hesitated to attempt the Agony that would transform her into a powerful Reverend Mother, having seen too many Sisters fail, who either died in the attempt or were left brain-damaged — like Anna Corrino. But with her beloved Griffin dead and the hated Atreides still at large, she finally took the risk and consumed the deadly Rossak drug. Valya knew that if she succeeded in becoming a Reverend Mother, she would acquire remarkable mental abilities, bodily control, and access to a library of Other Memory. With such advantages, Vorian Atreides would never escape justice.…

Locked in her room in the Harkonnen main house, Valya had steeled herself, swallowed the poison — and plunged into a realm of such excruciating pain that she was certain she’d made a huge mistake. Tula had found her writhing and screaming on the floor.

But Valya was strong. She had survived — and changed.

With the passage of only a few months, Valya’s recollection of the pain softened and receded. It was like a mother’s amnesia after a difficult childbirth, and her marvelous new abilities far overshadowed the discomfort she had endured. Now Valya had memories of previous generations of childbirth, pain experienced by mothers long past. Physically, she was still in her early twenties, but her mind held the experiences and wisdom of thousands of years.…

Shortly before Emperor Salvador disbanded the Rossak School, Reverend Mother Raquella Berto-Anirul had confided in Valya. The old woman explained how she envisioned a vital, long-ranging mission for the order, involving breeding mistresses who would carry children with specific and necessary gene markers. Raquella’s goal, and thus the Sisterhood’s goal, was to improve the human race, to perfect the species that had undergone so many tribulations.

But the Sisterhood’s long-term plans had been waylaid by the brutal and petty behavior of Salvador Corrino. After murdering the Sister Mentats and surviving Sorceresses, disbanding the Rossak School, and scattering the rest of the women, the Emperor kept only a hundred loyal orthodox Sisters with him on Salusa, led by the traitor Reverend Mother Dorotea. The specially trained women provided Salvador with useful services, despite his earlier fit of pique against the Sisterhood.

Valya knew the true Sisterhood was not defeated, though. Her mentor, Reverend Mother Raquella, had quietly reestablished her school on distant Wallach IX, assisted by Directeur Josef Venport. Dorotea could have her bootlicking faction in the Imperial Palace; Valya intended to rejoin Raquella, as a Reverend Mother.

And her sister Tula might be an important part of the future plans, too — both on behalf of the Sisterhood and for House Harkonnen. Valya’s ambitions had room for both priorities. Valya would put forth her sister as a candidate for the proper training. The immense VenHold spacefolding ship carried them now on a roundabout voyage to Wallach IX. Valya knew Mother Superior Raquella would welcome the return of her best student.

As the ship traveled, Valya felt a rush of excitement, hoping she and the intense, bright-eyed Tula would find opportunities here. “I need you trained and at my side. I must know you are willing to do whatever must be done.”

Tula’s voice sounded small and uncertain. “I hope they accept me.”

“I will make them accept you. I have that much influence with the Mother Superior. They need talented recruits in order to rebuild the Sisterhood.”

Only seventeen, Tula was exquisitely beautiful, with a slender figure, classic facial features, sea-blue eyes, and curly blond hair. She could have enticed any young man, but her quiet isolation had kept her from romance on Lankiveil. The Sisterhood would change her and strengthen her, and Tula would have to learn how to use her considerable physical assets. She could be a tool, or a weapon, to advance the cause of House Harkonnen.

The young women had left their parents, their younger brother, Danvis, and their home on Lankiveil. Both would return someday, once they restored the Harkonnen name to a place of honor instead of historical shame … and once Valya saw the Atreides destroyed. Her sister would help her achieve all that.

In the months since Griffin’s funeral, Valya had worked to ensure that Tula’s hatred for Vorian Atreides was as great as her own. That one man was responsible for so much Harkonnen suffering, dating back to the disgrace of her great-grandfather Abulurd in the Battle of Corrin.

Raquella’s Sisterhood could help her achieve what she needed.

Reaching Wallach IX at last, the two sisters stepped off the shuttle on the landing field. They felt a cold, wet wind, but Valya controlled her body and watched Tula try to do the same, as she had been taught; they had endured far worse cold on Lankiveil. The two tightened their thick whale-fur coats around their necks, taking pride in the new Harkonnen family crest that Valya had designed and sewn onto their coats before departing: a mythological creature with the head and wings of an eagle, the body of a lion. A griffin, in honor of their fallen brother.

A black-robed woman approached, and Valya recognized Reverend Mother Ellulia, who had passed through the Agony in the last days on Rossak. Ellulia was tall and slender, with wisps of silvery-gray hair peeking out of the hood over her head. Her expression lit up with recognition. “Valya, you found us again!”

Valya lifted her chin as she announced, “The Sisterhood has always been inside me, and now I return as a Reverend Mother.” She took Tula’s arm. “I brought my younger sister to be trained as well. We have come to see Raquella.”

Ellulia frowned at the familiarity. “Mother Superior Raquella is away on Lampadas to retrieve new Sister Mentats, but she is due to return in two days.” Her expression softened as she turned to Tula. “But any candidate as talented as Valya Harkonnen will be a worthy addition to the true Sisterhood. I’m pleased you came here, rather than joining Dorotea’s faction on Salusa Secundus. I was concerned you’d make the wrong choice, Valya. You were Dorotea’s friend.”