Lion Head Mesa forty-seventh

likewise, as senmut raised his brilliant eyes no higher than the queen's sculpted cheekbone, he thought of what it would mean to be beside her.

not a confusion for the prince, who must now perhaps make himself look upon her with new eyes. in this moment he saw only the elegant girl she had always been, not a child but still untarnished by the rigor of bearing heirs. hers would be a fiercer task, for in her would be both the tending of lineage and kingdom.

could he himself be such a man? senmut brought the flower forth now, tribute laid at her very feet. "i will pray you think of me fondly, divine one," he said with new gravity to the words, and perhaps she too might hear it.

the erpa-ha, becoming himself.