Lion Head Mesa i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu

pharaoh fell back at once, laughing, but his voice was tight and his eyes were humourless. shock rolled across the lines of his mouth, that she should reject him not only again but at all. for a moment the fine-made nostrils flared, and then in the ones to follow he had composed himself, face sliding back beneath the cool and painted veneer of alabaster and black and lapis.
"you are so noble, satsu," and he meant the words. "your friend means to follow that ... miserable creature off into whatever wastes the man means to lead him. is that the fate you want for the physician?"
he inhaled. "if you are to do this, you must understand politics and trade. any child you have while i am your husband will be counted as mine, and must be seen as mine, or you will humiliate us all."
he drew himself up rigidly in the water, but then watched her with an open look. "do you understand the weight you mean to take onto yourself? you are to be our queen. i have tested you with words and a mere suggestion and you come to near blows. if you mean to maintain this deception with me — and i will be loyal to never touching you for all of our days — then you must understand the pitfalls of what it means to misstep on so high a ledge."
"we must be godlike. and you must understand how those before you have ever held power." it was not through a sense of righteousness. "one side of akashingo is a place of pleasure. and still you are surprised when i mention it to you."