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my-tin-can-mans · 2 years

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Strange Hearts, Part 4 The Duke

Leto x Reader

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Strange Hearts Spotify Playlist

Summary: When an arranged marriage brings you to Caladan, you find that another man piques your interest

Disclaimer: I thought of this while fic and started writing under the impression Paul was in his early to mid-‘20s like Timothy. So for the sake of this story he and the reader are both in their twenties. Sorry for any inaccuracies, I’ve only watched the movie and really only paid attention to Oscar lmao.

Warnings: A little bit of angst. Unwanted Marriage? technically love triangle/affair.

Leto had always been a composed Duke. It took a lot to break that from him, yet it seemed that the moment he walked into the library that trait had shifted. No that wasn't it, it wasn't in the library. It wasn't even when you kissed him later that night, although he did seem to like it.

When he had come to apologize to you, he had kept his composure, when he turned and started to walk away, he had kept his composure, but when he held his hand to the knob on your door and heard a broken cry, it slipped through the cracks of it. Leto was the Duke, a ruler, and a pleaser, and to hear you sound so hurt, and knowing it directly related to him, he could not bear it.

You were gorgeous, you always had been. When he had visited you in your homeworld he had always thought so. Thought that when you were to be married, it would cause wars as to who your father would marry you off to. How ironic that you were offered to the only person that made it difficult for him to now forget about you.

Leto didn’t pity you for your situation, but he did empathize with you. Sacrificing yourself and your dreams for the hopes and aspirations of your fathers, seemed all too familiar. Maybe that's why he had been so drawn to you. Maybe that is why he kissed you back that first night you were here and why he turned to comfort you after hearing your cry.

Something about you showing up in his house had switched his mind to a different setting. Maybe it was the fact that he couldn’t, no shouldn't have you. He definitely could, he's proven as much. But that wasn’t it, no, because he has you and he still felt the need to be close to you. You were like a virus that entered his life unexpectedly. Everything about you invaded his mind. The soft skin he had touched, your smell, your sweet voice.

When he left your room that night, Leto went back to his. He opened the door to find Lady Jessica sitting on his bed waiting for him. Shit.

Leto loved Lady Jessica with every part of himself. But when he had been with you, he hadn’t thought of her. And now the thought made his stomach sink. Jessica has always been there for him, always stayed by his side, and loved him no matter what. He had just thrown all that down the drain for some girl who was getting married.

What an idiot. What did he think was gonna happen? He had Jessica and you had Paul, although you and Paul weren’t really together, not yet at least, he could tell Paul liked you and that made his stomach sink even lower. You had to share this castle with them now. He had put you in the worst predicament ever. Not only were you upset about the wedding and being forced into a new place, but now he had feelings for you while he was devoted to someone else and you were supposed to be to another.

“Hey,” Jessica had whispered to him, “where were you, you're usually in bed by now I was just coming to look for you.”

Shit. That could've gone badly. The idea popped into his mind. Jessica walking in on him with you. He doesn’t think Jessica would've taken it well. While she was only his concubine, they still held a deep and intimate connection.

“Sorry,” he scrubbed his hand down his face, trying to rub his brain off the busy thoughts, “I was just working a little late, and lost track of time.”

God, if that wasn't the most cliche line. She sweetly smiled at him, making the guilt in his stomach sink even lower, “you work too hard sometimes you know that?” she stated as she beckoned him over to the bed.

If only that were the issue right now.

Leto settled into bed that night with Jessica, but her presence, since the first time he met her, did not calm him like it usually did. And as he drifted off to sleep, he saw you in his mind. Your bare form beneath him, sprawled on the silk sheets, soft and wanting.

_________

The day of the wedding had arrived and the duke was indifferent. His son had spent the morning with him and seemed excited about the wedding. It seemed that every time his feelings for you grew, so did the guilt as well.

“I know that I was hesitant about this at first father but, I’m starting to see this is for the best, I know I hardly know her but I really do like her, and this way when i am to start ruling like you I’ll have someone else who prides themselves on doing what's best for their people, not someone who is after my power.” Paul had said to him.

“I’m glad you see it that way, I was afraid that even though I let you choose, you might decide that I didn't really give you a choice and you might resent me for that.”

Paul took a moment to think, they were sitting in his room Paul sitting on the end of his bed, Leto in a chair across from it, waiting for the tailor to arrive for Paul. It was the only moment that would probably get alone with each other for a while.

“You know I talked to her, and I can’t help but feel bad. She didn’t have a choice in this as I did, and even though she’s willingly doing this now and doesn’t seem to have any ill-will intentions toward me, it makes me pity her for that.”

That's where he and his son seemed to differ. He didn't pity you, he understood you, even though he and Jessica got along well, it wasn’t a choice for him, it was forced upon him by people in higher positions, and that had always irritated him, he never had a say in the matter. If it weren't due to the fact of his older age, he was sure it wouldn’t have been a choice but for you to marry him instead. But this way after his son took over, the alliance would last for a longer period of time.

Just as Leto began to open his mouth and speak advice to his son on you, the door to his room opened and the tailor, along with a few others came flooding in. Paul, now having his attention diverted, and Leto not wanting to talk about private matters in front of people who could spread ill word about the three of you, slipped away to start getting read in his own room.

Leto had been to many prestige events, he didn’t need a tailor and help to get ready, while he was way away, a servant had laid out his dress uniform on his bed for him and that was enough. He hated the attention anyways. Being alone while getting ready allowed him to decompress his thoughts and prepare for the upcoming blizzard of people.

That was until the door had cracked open and you came rushing in. his heart had melted the moment he has seen you. That look in your eyes was all too familiar. It had been the same look in his own eyes when his father had given him the ultimatum of being the Duke.

Yet somehow you still looked absolutely stunning in your gown, even with the forlorn look your face wore. Once again his affection for you grew as his heart sunk and sunk at the same time, and then. Then, Idaho walked in.

While this didn't worry Leto as much as it should have, he knew Idaho would always be loyal to him over anything, he couldn’t help but come to a realization that this was now solidified as a scandal if it were to breach further into other people's knowledge.

That fact hung over his head while he stood beside his son and watched him vow to be your loyal husband, and to stand by you. His face remained expressionless as you did the same, it stayed this way when the two of your placed rings onto each other's fingers, the same when your eyes swiftly shifted to him as the officiant stated for the two of you to kiss. It was so swift it went unnoticed by everyone but him. And then when you and Paul had finally softy met, through hesitance and tension the whole room could probably feel, his face still remained the same.

It was something that he had been trained to do through his years serving as a Duke. Without this skill, he's sure his internal thoughts would provoke many wars. He's sure that if he wore his thoughts on his face during these moments, the same would happen.

His composure stood strong for the majority of the night. Only slightly internally cracking when he spared a glance in your direction. You had looked just as much, if not more miserable than you had when you came to visit him earlier that day. The deed was done and over and maybe it was shock written on your face from the fact that this had still happened, maybe it was the fact that today was supposed to be about the marriage of you and Paul, and yet the room read as only a celebration of alliances, but you look genuinely distraught.

The more he looked at you through the night, the more he thought about how truly unhappy you seemed. It wasn’t fair. This led him to the idea that probably wasn’t the best decision he has ever made. As he swept you across the floor as the two of you danced, he decided he would play it off as being a host if anyone were to draw suspicions of the two of you.

That night everyone was busy. Guests were heading home, opting to travel than spend the night. Maids and servants were left to clean and Lady Jessica had gone off somewhere to converse with other members of the Bene Gesserit. This left Leto alone and to his own devices.

While he undresses from his robes he considered going to your room to find you, he figured you would need some sort of comfort after the day and he was sure you wouldn’t be with Paul. though it was traditional to consummate the marriage on the first night, the both of you were very timid and he figured Paul would have offered you the chance to decline, especially given the conversation between the two earlier in which he recalls Paul pitying you.

That's why for the first time this night, when he knocked on his son’s door, opting to stop by his room first and finish the conversation they had started earlier that day, his face finally gave way to his emotions when the person who opened the door was you.

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A/N: Sorry this is long overdue and also a little shorter than the rest.

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