Leto shifted uncomfortably, but managed a quiet "Thank you," when she wished him a happy birthday. Even quieter, he answered her question. "We mark the occasion, yes." But his mind was on the ascendency. He would have taken rule by now, had he been home. He would have been well on the Golden Path, with Ghanima as queen at his side. He'd already accepted that he would have no true wife, no one to love as Ghanima would come to love her consort. But now, for no sensible reason, he found that idea repulsive.
"You never said," he murmured, jumping back to a topic that doubtlessly would be safer than that of his ascendency, "Just what you'd do, if you were walking around in front of me now."
And the words he'd used to say it brought to bear a dozen different scenarios -- all more outrageous than the first. He had the good sense to look somewhat abashed.