Lion Head Mesa the [m]arble hall

our gods, and he kissed the inside of her wrists with lingering honey to his mouth. they moved together as idols of jet and redstone, and now in intimate peace they lay twined.

senmut felt every part of him fulfilled, the hungers staved, the restlessness dissipated. was this all the secret? another body in one's bed, another's warmth to mingle with his own. the conversation of gods and man; the meeting of mettle and might in a place known by no battlefield.

"i will teach you," senmut said, for though to the shadows legend belonged, he did not want to lose her to this long and unknown desert into which they both would go. priest first; prince second; lover only in this moment as he kissed her mouth featherlight.

"and you will have the favor of the gods, as you have mine."