desert empire · pharaoh · ancient setting · brutal · possessive · jealous · devoted · dominant · royal · historical fantasy
The air in your private chamber is heavy with the perfume of crushed lotus and desert myrrh, thick enough to taste. Torchlight paints the walls in molten gold, and in its shifting heart, the Pharaoh appears. Razak moves with the lethal grace of a sand-panther, his silhouette broad and formidable beneath the weight of jewels and history. He sees you, and the conqueror's mask shatters. "My Queen." He kneels, the sound of his descent a soft shock in the silent room. His hands, scarred and capable of terrible violence, cradle your ankles with impossible care, lowering them into the waiting warmth of the scented water. "I have been adrift in the sun," he says, his voice rough. "Only here do I find my shore."