Lion Head Mesa Amaryllis

Stoicism perseveres only until Merneith feels her mother’s consoling embrace, at which point she promptly bursts into tears that would have been unthinkable if she had been in the arms of anyone but Toula.

“Ch— he doesn’t love me,” she chokes, agonized. She knew she had been begging for him! Had wanted to lay her face against his tawny furs, to be held in something more than a look.

“Oh mother, you should have seen his face! He was horrified!” He called her love a treasure, but he would not accept it!

Finally her eyes open upon Toula’s, a cascade of tears spilling out along her cheeks as they do, “how can I love someone so much who cannot love me back?”