Lion Head Mesa twenty-third

staying vague about nazli/khaba thread! set the evening after the chaos <3

"i would have done it, divine one." he stood before @Makono.

why had she not called upon him for the lady diantha? a quick word; he would be married and still attend her court.

he did not dare move his eyes to her sacred, angered face. "shall i recall the roman? he owes you a visit and an explanation, divine one."

;;

it was not his fault that each drawled word felt like a scorched insult against her ears.

her gaze held no warmth beyond a burning anger. did men simply desire to do nothing but insult her? when she stood upright it was with a rigid posture.

tell me, hem, she laced her words with a pungent venom. do you too find me an idiot? have i somehow ascended to a throne with a head full of stupidity?

<33

"i worship you, great one."

his voice was a plead.

"i cannot say why khaba turned his back." senmut's voice was dire. "you are no fool, pharaoh of the red land. you are only young."

an inhale.

"a show of force, perhaps, against the lake where i found the man."

had she a whip, it would have snapped the air. instead in its place was the soft click of her teeth.

only young. everybody surely still looked upon her as if she was nothing but a girl still. a thing to softly fawn over instead of worship in full like the divine she walked as.

now she had to make ugly moves to be seen as more.

i will kill him if he is found. i will take his useless husk and chuck it right into the damned serpent lake!

senmut was not a man of violent passions.

but he had seen how they established kings. until makono shed blood, she would only be seen as a paragon of words, no matter her personal accomplishments.

and yet he did not want this for her!

"gather the roman and your mazoi. lead them. show khaba that his betrayal of you means death also for those who support him."

was he exhorting her to a horrid end? "i will come with you. send your sister and brother with their retinue elsewhere, or trust akashingo in your absence to its queen."

her sister, now also to prove herself. senmut moved closer.

"and for all that, send me alone, great one. send me alone and i will see that poison enters his throat, even if i cannot return to you."

here, his zeal unwavering! she was the divine link between the gods and the mortal world. more rested upon her crown than he would ever know; he must only devote himself entire to those immortal aspects of ancient power she carried in her very blood.

the roman is gone, senmut. it was his now ex-wife who helped me in the final hours and who came to me with words of this.

she seethed with a misandrist rage. who were the women who had greatly wronged her? for she could not fault the lady for leaving when things clearly would not work! and reject from a fucking soldier? makono too would have turned the earth with great anger.

so it would be me and my men — and i could not send you alone! she laughed in an enraged way.

what good was it to lose senmut himself to the angry teeth of khaba? she'd rather send one of the mazoi, for the task was theirs!

she threw herself upon the throne with a thud.

germanicus had put aside his wife!

senmut thought with a small inner laugh of chagrin that he would have been chosen for the title he had only just taught to pharaoh, but that generations of kings before would turn in their massive tombs at the insult!

and upheaval she had, entirely too much. senmut bowed before her righteous and blinding rage, not daring to lift his head and speaking only when the room had gone silent but for the sound of their breathing.

"gucci served your father well. allow him the chance to advise you, pharaoh. he may have a more advantageous idea than i." he did not wish to see her in despair. "if you go to the lake, i will be with you." his body was not made for armor, but his mind worked in fever for her and her kingdom alone.

i will summon him at once. have you the want to be here for it?

she pushed the lake to the side for now. only for a moment. it would return when she called for the company of the advisor.

how ill she felt from the sudden upheaval and anger. softly, silently, she beckoned him closer. yet she did not convey what for. not yet.

in relief senmut came; in relief he put his head against the cool red stone of her throne's base and settled there in abject supplication.

"my wants are yours. but gucci may discover his tongue more easily if he did not fear that i would cut it out."

senmut had become dire.

but now he was only a deflated man.

is there something i should know between you two?

her voice held the barest of humor, of tease.

but by the divine, she wished for peace. even if only for a moment. to catch her breath before she had to carry on.

"while you were away, i was cruel to medusa. she is a priestess due to that night."

"if gucci knows, he has said nothing. if he knows, then he bides his time to speak."

but senmut would be fully deserving of such ire.

cruel.

how tired she was of everybody becoming such, herself included.

are you a glutton for punishment, hem? but judgement did not roll over in her voice yet. only humor disguised as a sword.

"only for your word, pharaoh."

he gave it back, setting it upon the proverbial altar before her.

his eyes shone with reverence.