Constantine Corrino: the Emperor's illegitimate son

Lord Constantine Corrino was the illegitimate son of Emperor Javicco Corrino of House Corrino, born of the Emperor's union with Sister Francesca of the Bene Gesserit. Raised at the Imperial court on Salusa Secundus beside his half sister, Princess Ynez Corrino, he grew into a young man caught between two hungers, the approval of a father who withheld it and the vices that came easily to a lord of the Imperial House. When deaths at court set Ynez against the Emperor and the soldier Desmond Hart rose at the throne's side, Constantine's need to be seen by his father shaped his choices at every turn. It kept him silent when his sister needed his voice before the High Council, and it moved his hand when he discovered evidence against the swordmaster Keiran Atreides. His reward was command of the Imperial fleet, an honor he did not know the Sisterhood had designed for him before he was born.

A Son of the Emperor and the Sisterhood#

Constantine's existence was itself an act of Sisterhood policy. His mother, Sister Francesca, had been dispatched to the Imperial court as an instrument of the order's breeding design, and she became one of the great loves of Emperor Javicco Corrino. Their union produced a son who could never inherit, an illegitimate lord raised in the household of a stepmother, Natalya Arat, and in the shadow of a legitimate heir, his half sister Ynez.

Constantine grew up knowing what his mother was, and knowing that the Sisterhood always had a reason for everything it did. The question of what reason lay behind his own birth followed him into adulthood, and when he finally asked Francesca directly, her answer defined him. He had been born to protect Ynez from those who would bring her harm, including those who claimed to love her. His purpose, in the order's ledger, had never been the throne. It had been his sister.

The Kidnapping#

The bond between Constantine and Ynez was forged in the worst night of their childhood. Rebels broke into the palace to kidnap the princess, and Constantine, who was with her, understood that he could not stop them. Instead he told the intruders to take him as well, refusing to let his sister be carried off alone. The Sisterhood, not the palace guard, ultimately saved the two children.

Their parents buried the affair. To admit that rebels had reached the heir's own bedchamber would have made the Imperial House look weak, so the kidnapping was concealed from the Imperium entirely, and even as an adult Constantine refused to speak of it. Ynez drew a different lesson from that night. She later told her brother that he was stronger than he believed because he had fought for her, and that his staying with her had saved her as surely as any rescue.

His Sister's Keeper#

When Ynez was betrothed to Pruwet Richese of House Richese, the marriage contract left her free to train with the Sisterhood while her nine year old husband grew up, and it fell to Constantine to make the arrangements. He travelled to Wallach IX and met with Valya Harkonnen to settle the terms under which Ynez would join the order and train for ten years. He asked for private accommodations for the princess, but accepted Valya's ruling that once Ynez arrived she would be treated the same as any other student. He then returned to Salusa Secundus and told his sister what he had arranged.

The night before Ynez's wedding, brother and sister went out together to Division for one last night of freedom before her departure. It was a glimpse of the easy companionship between them, two children of the Emperor who trusted each other more than they trusted the court around them.

Death at Court#

The wedding never came. Pruwet Richese died, and when the Corrino family gathered with the grieving Richeses, Constantine's attention wandered to Shannon Richese, with whom he shared several long looks. The two ended up in bed together, and their encounter was as political as it was carnal, for each tried to draw information out of the other. It was Constantine who gave more than he got, telling Shannon that his father had detained Desmond Hart in connection with Pruwet's death.

The death split the Imperial family. Ynez told her parents plainly that she believed Desmond had killed the boy and that his continued presence in the palace frightened her, while Natalya and Javicco insisted the family appear together at the High Council to show a united front. Away from their parents, Ynez pressed Constantine toward something far more dangerous. She wanted the two of them to force the Landsraad to act on Desmond, which meant publicly betraying their father. Constantine feared the consequences, and no assurance from his sister could steady him. When the moment came before the Council, Ynez spoke alone.

He offered his explanation afterward. Constantine stood with Natalya, Javicco, and Ynez when the Emperor announced a new unit dedicated to hunting insurgents, and when he saw his sister leave early he followed her to her room. Ynez was angry that he had abandoned her before the High Council, and Constantine admitted the truth. Their father had been proud of him for coming, and he could not go through with the betrayal. He had chosen a father's rare approval over his sister's cause, and he promised her it would not happen again.

The Fleet and the Price of Approval#

Constantine's rise began with a message he never sent. His mother Francesca appeared at court believing her son had written that he needed her, and Constantine, surprised, told her the summons had not come from him. He then gave her news that had never reached her, that the Sister Kasha had died. What Constantine did not know was the design his mother now served. The Sisterhood judged that it would benefit the order to have the son of a Sister commanding the Emperor's fleet, and Francesca went to Javicco and urged him to start trusting Constantine with real responsibility so that he could rise to his expectations, reminding the Emperor that he had been much like Constantine in his own youth.

The young lord's habits did not change at once. He arrived late to his sword training, and Keiran Atreides dismissed him with a single lesson, that Constantine needed to start taking responsibility for himself. Stung, Constantine stayed behind and practiced his swordwork alone. Francesca found him there, and it was in that practice yard that he asked her why he had been born and heard that his purpose was Ynez's protection, guarding her even from those who claimed to love her.

The answer bore immediate fruit. As Constantine put away his sword he found the palace schematics that Keiran had taken, proof that the swordmaster his sister loved was working against the Imperial House. He turned the schematics over to the guards, and Keiran was arrested. That night Constantine sat at dinner as the celebrated son he had always wanted to be, and his father announced that he would command the new fleet. The appointment was the summit of his life, a father's public trust at last, and it fulfilled the Sisterhood's quiet intention down to the letter. Constantine Corrino had protected his sister exactly as the order had bred him to, and the cost of his father's pride was the man Ynez loved.