Lion Head Mesa oasis

voices quieted as pharaoh's eyes grew spearlike and riveted.
his gaze followed tamar and the slim pale figure at his side.
his mind, his vision, his body; all reacting in the memory of maggie, whom ramesses had never forgotten.
but where her eyes had been the blue of cold oceans far beyond his memory, kasmut was crushed alabaster and rose-sand.
he descended his throne and strode forward. a flick of his tail dismissed tamar.
pharaoh lowered his mouth between kasmut's shoulder-blades. "how far you must have come."
another wave of his plume, to sayf and to sayyadina, and as they filtered out, he sought the flower's gaze.