Lion Head Mesa bird of paradise

!!!

makono challenged him, and not only this, but moreover in the voice of reason and politics and positioning he had taught to her. there was no evidence of it; his face had gone smooth and marbled as his beloved child spoke.
so senmut had brought word of the old family. of course he had, and after a brief rise of anger, ramesses knew he could not hold the hem accountable. the little peasant had only done as he was bid, which was serve faithfully and loyally.
"you are correct. there were two before me." and perhaps the unrippled surface of his rich voice would prove in itself a warning before what came.
"the first was amenhotep. it is said my mother had him poisoned in infancy to displace his own as my father's favourite concubine." now he bestowed upon her the history ill-gotten, in all its ugliness.
"the second was akhenaten. he broke beneath the pressures and threats of the harem; he railed against the gods and renounced them, save for one. save for Ra. and for his hubris Ra burned his eyes from his head. my brother was found dead in the desert. by the time he could be carried back to the palace, the sand in the khamsins had scoured his face to nothing."
and still ramesses did not look at her.
the blood oozed and dried.
"when i was born my father was old. i was his heir. i was the last son, not the first choice. my ambitions took me to kadesh and after my victory he declared me regent. and then to ensure that every heir i produced was divine, and to ensure that my many sisters and i were not divided after his death, he married me to one of them."
voice, leaping with bitterness beneath the long chains of resolution.
now did pharaoh turn his gaze, heavy and ironwrought, to his child. "if you mean to be pharaoh, you will make siptah your Divine Consort. you will not deviate from the path laid. you will compromise here, nekubi makono, and not divide akashingo with infighting."
his voice was cold. "that is the taboo. not so there. but it is so in this wilderness. it is the final way forward. if you mean to shift Ma'at, you will understand what cannot be changed."