Lion Head Mesa plumes

ramesses mirrored satsu. he lay down sphinxlike. only the remnants of their meal remained between the pair, easily swept aside. he watched her speak more flowingly; he heard the sound of her language once more. she harboured old pain behind her brightened eyes.
and somehow satsu saw fit to come upon the very thing he had been pondering. pharaoh took this as a sign from some provential god, Wepwawet perhaps, and crossed forelegs at the ankle.
"his line ends. yours could begin."
in explaining the process of deception, ramesses had avoided this. and now he skirted its corner with careful paws. 
she glowed before him. he did not wish to see such elegance squandered.
when they were married, only heirs might come from satsu. ramesses could fill a thousand bellies with his children and not a one of them would have claim to the glory that akashingo would be.
but she knew the ways of men. she knew how her father had regarded the fairer wolves. and here she was upon the precipice of queenliness. he was not here.
"he cannot haunt your life inside these lands." ramesses slowly lapped berry juice from his own mouth. the room swelled and spun and there was at once only her.