Lion Head Mesa honeywine

He huffed a laugh.

Who would I even take as concubine? Neb Gucci? I think we’d rip out each others throats within the day. There was no one else he would touch within Akashingo, beyond his once upon a time dalliance with Zaahira. But the Jodai was another one who would probably take him as concubine before he ever took her as one. Slung up over a muscular shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he could almost see it and snorted at the image.

I considered it, once. Now I’m more…sentimental than anything. He watched the distant horizon with open longing

I loved someone, once. They had been everything to each other, once.