Lion Head Mesa house of cards

she was dying.
the sorrow he felt grew harsher, greater. he had never been able to be sure of his feelings when it came to maegi, but she came with the death rattle almost upon her, asking for his name and his stamp upon her lineage.
gucci was away; he could not be here for this. and —
ramesses drew her forward, settling the frailty of her body into the curve of one alabaster arm. "i will do something more, maegi. i will call you my sister."
his lips trembled; at last he did see, and a single tear marred the impeccable paleness of his cheek. "in my home, a husband and a wife might say brother and sister to one another."
ramesses thought upon all the many deaths he had witnessed.
"i will give your children the name sem-bintanath," he decided. "'children of a priestess who rose unto the sun. they will be kin to mine, cousins through the royal line of akashingo."
his voice broke. how he loathed for this to be true! how he wished to hear her voice clear of pain and fill with mockery, to say she had only been making a joke of a sort, that she would not and could not die.