Lion Head Mesa (ap) serpent

the wine sparkled in his veins and in his eyes.
he listened to the way that the redhawk ambassador said the roman's name, and chose to read into it what he wished. or rather, a concept he though preposterous for a man who had arrived with a ganymede of a little medic.
his people frowned upon very little. but men like that did not have friendships with women, ramesses believed, for how could a woman provide what they wished?
perhaps she saw it herself in the stoic roman cur.
ramesses smiled pleasantly at ruenna's praise. "your flattery may affect my humble nature, lady redfern." a small amused snort cleared his nostrils as his brow quirked then smoothed.
"i named germanicus chief royal tactician. and i have set him as our neb. he is a respected nobleman with all the privileges over the fellahin and indeed, the guards if he wished. but he does not wish it," pharaoh gossiped on, pausing to take more proffered berries, "indeed; he desires to live like a wild man in the mountains. you will understand now why i questioned his possession of so elegant a companion."
ramesses grinned the polite, mean smile of a practiced court-attendee. "i agree with the queen. we will not be so boisterous then. or perhaps Sobekneferu and i might come to the caldera. with a guard, of course."
ramesses, maneuvering satsu around now: you will be addressed by a series of titles and no longer your name.
she was queen.
pharaoh's second gambit. he glanced between them both and sighed with a malicious pleasure, turning his eyes back toward the throng.