Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune, #6)

by Frank Herbert

Every time he recognized this Bene Gesserit change, he felt sad. Nearer the day of our parting. But Murbella was talking. “She (Odrade was often ‘she’) keeps asking me to assess my love for you.” Remembering this, Idaho allowed it to replay. “She has tried the same approach with me.” “What do you say?” “Odi et amo. Excrucior.” She lifted herself on one elbow and looked down at him. “What language is that?” “A very old one Leto had me learn once.” “Translate.” Peremptory. Her old Honored Matre self. “I hate her and I love her. And I am racked.” “Do you really hate me?” Unbelieving. “What I hate is being tied this way, not the master of my self.” “Would you leave me if you could?” “I want the decision to recur moment by moment. I want control of it.” “It’s a game where one of the pieces can’t be moved.” There it was! Her words.