Ynez Corrino: princess and heir to the Golden Lion Throne

Princess Ynez Corrino was an independent young royal of House Corrino and the heir to the Golden Lion Throne. The daughter of Emperor Javicco Corrino and Natalya Arat, she grew up inside a palace where weakness could never be shown and politics reached even into a child's bedroom. Her betrothal to a boy of House Richese was meant to bind two Great Houses together, and her own ambition was to train on Wallach IX as a Truthsayer of the Sisterhood. Instead, a chain of deaths at court, the rise of the soldier Desmond Hart at her father's side, and her love for the swordmaster Keiran Atreides carried her from the throne room to a fugitive's berth on a courier ship bound for Arrakis.

A Kidnapping Kept Secret#

Ynez's first lesson in politics came when she was still a child. Rebels broke into her bedroom in the palace to kidnap her. Her half brother Constantine knew he could not stop them, so he told the intruders to take him as well. The two children were carried off together, and it was the Sisterhood, not the palace guard, that ultimately saved them.

Their parents concealed the entire affair. To admit that rebels had reached the heir's own bedchamber would have made the Imperial House look weak, so no one outside the palace ever learned that the kidnapping had happened. Ynez later described the episode as the first time she became aware of politics. The memory also shaped how she saw her brother. Years afterward she told Constantine that he was stronger than he believed because he had fought for her that night, and when he objected that the Sisterhood had done the actual saving, she answered that his staying with her had saved her just as much.

Betrothal to House Richese#

As heir to the Golden Lion Throne, Ynez became the centerpiece of an alliance between House Corrino and House Richese. She was betrothed to Pruwet Richese, a boy of only nine years, in a deal arranged between their fathers that gave the Corrinos the resources they needed. The negotiations were conducted through intermediaries as well: Vera spoke for House Richese while the Sister Kasha Jinjo represented House Corrino, exchanging resources to secure the engagement. The Sisterhood's hand ran deeper still, for Valya Harkonnen had used the order's influence to broker the marriage and had arranged for Ynez to join the Sisterhood and train with it during the long wait for her husband to come of age.

Ynez accepted the arrangement without complaint. She told her mother she was satisfied with the pairing precisely because of the age gap, since it left her free to live as she wished while Pruwet grew up, including training with the Sisterhood to become a Truthsayer. At the engagement ceremony she tried to get to know the boy, but Pruwet told her talking was unnecessary, as the whole thing was ceremonial. Afterward she noticed him playing with something from his pocket and was startled to see it was a thinking machine, a technology that was prohibited. When her mother objected aloud, Ynez publicly defended Pruwet, then privately warned him that if he tried anything like that after they were married she would stab him herself.

That night she went out with Constantine for one last evening of freedom before her departure. At a club she met Keiran Atreides, the royal swordmaster who had trained her with the blade and who had promised she would do well on Wallach IX. Keiran nearly stopped what began between them, but when Ynez reminded him that she would soon be in another world, he let it continue.

Deaths at Court#

The alliance died with the boy at its center. Pruwet Richese was killed, and the next day Ynez and her family met with the Richeses, where Ferdinand Richese demanded answers and rejected the Corrino attempt to blame the death on the child's toy. Ynez herself was unmoved by Pruwet's death, but when she learned that Kasha Jinjo had also died she began to hyperventilate. Valya Harkonnen told her that the Sister Theodosia would be there for her as Kasha had been and left the two to become acquainted. Ynez wanted only one thing from the introduction, to know how Kasha had died.

The double loss worked on her. A rumor circulated that Desmond Hart, the soldier newly risen at the Emperor's side, had killed Pruwet, and Ynez came to believe it. She confronted her father, telling him of the rumor and insisting that she still meant to go to Wallach IX for her training. Javicco refused, saying the family needed to present a united front. Ynez answered that a united front was impossible as long as Desmond stood at his side.

She returned to the club that night and found Keiran. They spoke of the Great Houses, and Keiran told her his belief that when humanity defeated the thinking machines it had merely traded one set of overlords for another. Ynez kissed him, but Keiran pulled back after a few moments, saying he was trying to choose the right path for himself.

The Accusation Before the High Council#

At home, Ynez pressed Constantine to accuse their father publicly. Constantine was afraid, and she tried to give him courage with the memory of the kidnapping. When the moment came she could not find her brother anywhere, so Ynez made the accusation alone, attaching it to Harrow Harkonnen's request that Pruwet's death be investigated.

The result was not what she intended. Desmond Hart admitted before the assembly that he had killed Pruwet, but called the act an execution, since the boy had possessed a thinking machine, a forbidden technology, and argued that the Imperium needed to crack down harder on such contraband. He then had guards bring in two criminals and revealed their plan to kill everyone in the chamber with a drone they had programmed, a plot he himself had foiled. He publicly executed the two criminals along with Lord Hagal.

Despite having turned against her father, Ynez stood dutifully behind Javicco with Constantine when the Emperor announced a new unit dedicated to hunting insurgents, then left the moment her duty was done. When Constantine came to her room she vented her anger at his abandoning her to accuse their father alone. He apologized, explaining that Javicco had believed his son was coming to the High Council to support him and had been proud, and Constantine could not let him down. He apologized for letting Ynez down instead and promised it would not happen again.

Keiran, Prison, and the Flight to Arrakis#

Ynez then learned that Keiran Atreides had been arrested as an insurgent. She went to see him in the cells and used Truthsense to test his answers when she asked whether everything between them had been a lie. Keiran told her he cared for her, and that this was why he had been unable to go through with killing her family. He had chosen her over his principles. She asked whether he believed he could build a better Imperium, and he said he did.

She came back to the cells to free him. Her mother Natalya caught her in the act and ordered her arrested, unmoved by Ynez's defense of Keiran's actions. Ynez was released through the intervention of Valya Harkonnen, who had herself arrested, used the Voice to command her own release, and then freed Ynez. Valya said she had a plan to get the princess off the planet until matters could be sorted out, but Ynez refused to leave without Keiran, so Valya freed him as well.

The three escaped in a suspensor car to a fuel depot, where Valya said a connection of hers could get them off world on a courier ship. She sent Keiran and Ynez ahead while she slowed the pursuing guards. The pair ran into guards of their own and killed them with the swordwork they had trained together, then reached the ship. When Valya joined them they departed for Arrakis, where she told them the path to their enemy began.