Lion Head Mesa eightieth

"i would prefer she was deposed and another put in her place, Divine One," the scarlet prince agreed, canting his head toward the modulated voice of pharaoh. "but i have brought her words here for your consideration. why throw aside a sword before it has been used in battle?"

they were jeweled together, a pair of perfectly matched scarabs, which glittered in the shafts of pure godlight shining down through the high-vaulted crimson ceiling.

"at present there are no husbands, great Consort. i believe her match must be one of military might," removing pointedly himself! — "as she has offered herself as matron to our army. she will resist your conditions. present her with a strong man and she may offer no tooth. she is a feral woman, this zharille."

to the glittering obsidian power of rashepses; "i had thought, if we were to replace zharille, that mesen-ka might be your consideration for our nebet." he would be away upon campaign, senmut supposed, sparing racharra the muddy, miseried trek of a soldier's wife for another year at least.

"but then i considered moreover that these remnants of mereo might still be about, and in the absence of the roman, could not another of his officers be married to the girl? there, then, would your foundations be solidified. this search will take time, however, and meanwhile the lake sits waiting."

his shoulders were straight before them. "in my mind, we must choose: does zharille merit our negotiations? racharra does not want to rule. shall we place then a reluctant ruler upon disputed land, and the land in dispute by one she knows?" senmut paused. "i am no man of military stratagem. i am food for the gods. but surely the gods would not pluck a child from the mud of a lake only to fling her back into it when she has grown almost to a woman of exceeding worth who can command far more than that outpost."

mother against daughter, it seemed. racharra was dedicated to akashingo, but she did not have her mother's want to claim and to build. zharille appeared to loathe their kingdom, but with their blood born in her camp, and reared properly as her first children had been — was this a gamble they wanted to take? was searching for the remnants of mereo worth anything?

"the hemet nazli attended your lordly sister, makono, Divine One, when she went to train in mereo. perhaps we might speak with her. she may have an idea of where the higher officers went when mereo fell. i will make new overtures to the moon village, and seek about them for a prince. their ways might be more acceptable to our guest upon greatwater, though i will keep the nebet first in mind."

another pause. "before her future is chosen, Divine One, Gilded Consort, i would ask that you allow the young noble to speak for herself. her aims have changed, but there is much in her that wishes to bring honor to akashingo and the Red Land. her words are worth what they have earned in her expedition, and more."