Emperor Paul Atreides - Blog Posts

For you to stay with me

Paul Atreides x fem!reader

Summary: Paul wants to keep you by his side no matter what the cost.

Word Count: 574

Warning: ANGST, possessive behavior, poisoning, escape attempt, abuse of power.

note: since it's Halloween, this story is inspired by a dialogue from Crimson Peak.

You walked aimlessly through the corridors of the Palace, your vision blurred by tears, your steps not so steady. You walked as fast as possible, trying to get as far away from him as possible. You wanted to summon a shai-hulud and head out into the desert, but you couldn't do that in your current state of health.

You tried to breathe properly, but instead you just sobbed, reality crashing down on you more severely with each passing minute. Some servants passed by you with worried or scared expressions, but they didn't say anything and just walked on.

You tried to walk faster but you felt dizzy, so you let out a groan of frustration and placed your hands on your knees, taking a deep breath. The moment was interrupted when two thin, slightly calloused hands held you and guided you to lean against a wall.

Paul.

He made you lean your back against the wall as you tried to free yourself. He held your hands tightly inside his, towards your chin. You were in such bad health that you hadn't even heard him approaching.

"Calm down, calm down, please." he spoke in a soft voice, which you now knew was just a facade.

You moaned weakly at the pain of the grip on your wrists and continued trying to free yourself uselessly, tears now flowing freely down your face. You let out a painful sob and felt your knees weaken.

"Let's talk, calm down." Paul speaks again and you turn tearful eyes to him.

"Talk? How can you ask me that?" you twist your wrists in a frustrated attempt to free yourself. "Let go of me!"

Paul was poisoning you. He knew you wouldn't accept being his concubine after he married Princess Irulan, he knew you would leave and might never see you again. He asked you for some time to talk a few weeks ago and you accepted after much insistence from him, but the conversation ended up being postponed and you remained in the Arrakis palace for longer.

Every time you thought about leaving, Paul found a way to distract you and make you change your mind, and when he started failing to convince you to stay, you started to feel really bad about your health. You felt dizzy, weak bones, some pain, so it was difficult to get to the desert to summon a sandworm.

You would suspect that it was due to the food or the environment, after all you have been used to being exposed to the spice throughout your life and being in an environment with almost no spice could have induced this effect. Well, that could be it, but wasn't.

You knew you shouldn't listen, but you arrived early at Paul's boardroom and overheard him talking to his mother, openly admitting that he had been poisoning you by putting the substance in your food and drink for weeks. He looked scared while he was telling you this, you tried to get out of there but you made noise and he heard you.

"Be reasonable." he begged while still holding your wrists tightly.

"You lied to me." you sniffed

"I did."

"You poisoned me!"

"I did."

"You told me you loved me!"

"I do." you looked into Paul’s pleading eyes. "I do." he repeated.

You tried to pull away, your wrists already sore from his grip, but you felt another dizziness and your consciousness slowly left you.