Lion Head Mesa rivulet

the queen scorched her with demand.
tamar swallowed.
she put her mouth close to the royal ear and began to whisper;
tamar said many things: of the pounding hearts and the taste of a kiss;
of the body's response and the brief, necessary discomfort, before the adjustment, the acceptance.
the sounds that might be evoked, the way honey and wine spread across every pore and inch of flesh,
the way the heart might seem to stop at that moment, the clasp of eyelids and —
tamar smouldered with shame. surely she betrayed arsenio in this moment.
the way that one lay languid and boneless and sated after;
"it is not something to fear."