The lightning had done its work, taking my brother away from me to the valley of the dead. I could only hope he did not suffer. I cried, letting the tears fall. My men all reverted to their human forms and one by one, they gathered around me, holding me in their safe and warm embrace. It would not be enough. No one could ever replace my brother. But I was glad that I did not have to suffer through this alone.
When my tears subsided enough for me to open my eyes, I was surprised to see the audience hall had filled with people. Servants, slaves, merchants, families, people of all kinds had slipped from their hiding places and made their way here, into the palace. And they were all kneeling, their foreheads to the floor, doing obeisance to the dead boy pharaoh.
“May the pharaoh’s soul find rest and contentment in Aaru!” someone yelled.
“May the pharaoh’s soul find rest and contentment in Aaru!” the rest of the room said in agreement.
Long live Queen Sanura!” the person then said.
Long live Queen Sanura!” the people chanted, but then they added, “the Lioness of Egypt!”
16
We held funerals for months. I spent weeks piecing together the names of the people who had died under Keket’s rule, and I was sure there were still many people unaccounted for. Unfortunately, the city coffers had been mostly wasted, as I had been warned, but I gathered everything in the palace that I could find made of gold and had it melted down to create a new currency, stamped with the likeness of my brother on one side and myself on the other. I called in favors from nearby kingdoms, borrowing whatever money and food I could. I requested that the nobles return to the city, and bring their fortunes with them to spend in the markets and temples. I granted amnesty to any who asked it of me for crimes committed during the time of turmoil. I freed the slaves, giving them Egyptian citizenship and allowing them to now work for pay.
And the people crowned me their queen.
The ceremony had been quite small. It had been held only days after my brother’s death, as soon as the priests of Ra could be found and some of the nobles returned. There was some discussion about whether a queen would be a sufficient ruler for Egypt, but it seemed to have been more formality than any actual dissent. Egypt needed a ruler, and I was the only member of my dynasty left. I heard no talk about the need for me to take a husband. I think it was clear to everyone rather quickly that Zakai, Oringo, and Saleem were more than political allies, and they did not want to open the door to me suggesting a foreign husband, so they stayed mute on the issue…for now. Once stability and prosperity returned to Egypt, and the African kings were well out of the city, I was sure it was only a matter of time before the magistrates would broach the issue. But for now, I was queen, in my own name, in my own right, with no husband or pharaoh to defer to.
I was queen.
And finally, months after Keket and Ramses were dead and I was crowned queen, I was able to put those I loved most to rest. I held official state funerals for Ramses, Father, Habibah, Chike, and Anat. Even though Anat had been buried with all the necessary rites once, I did not know if she was able to complete her journey after being brought back, so I buried her again, making sure she had everything she needed in case she had to start her journey from the beginning.
Ramses had at least had the wherewithal to send Father to the royal embalmers. But as time went on, he seemed to have forgotten about the need to hold a funeral, so Father’s body had been safely waiting within the royal embalming studio to start his journey through Duat.
Habibah’s body had been more difficult to locate. At first, it seemed as though no one knew what had happened to it. Finally, after the people of the city began to trust me, women from Habibah’s order confessed to me that they had stolen Habibah’s body and embalmed it themselves, keeping it safe from Keket’s wrath in a crypt beneath the city library. I thanked the women profusely, giving each of them great honors. Truly, Habibah had been blessed to have such loyal friends.
And finally, my darling Ramses. I made sure he was buried as a pharaoh, not a mere prince. Of course, he had not had time to build a pyramid of his own, so he was buried alongside Mother and Father, and I knew that they would lead him by the hand through the trials of Duat and not leave his side until they were all three together in Aaru, where I too would see them again one day.
At last, when all the funerals were complete, and the city was able to shrug off the sadness of the past and look toward the future, I started construction on a temple to Sekhmet. It would take years to complete, but I would fulfill my vow to my goddess. Every day when I woke, I dressed in simple clothes and walked to the building site where I would pour out an offering of wine and pray for her exultation and thank her for her protection. I vowed to do this until the day I died.
“It is time for us to leave, Your Majesty,” Zakai said as I looked out from the balcony of my room to the pyramids in the distance as the sun set over my country. I rubbed away the chill from my arms and nodded slowly.
“I know,” I said. Since Ramses’s death, at least one of my lion kings had been at my side at all times, and usually all three of them could found somewhere nearby. They were my friends, my confidants, and my advisors. It was unspoken, but we all knew their time in Luxor was limited. They all had their own homes to return to and rebuild. Their own friends to bury. Their own families to care for. Their own counties to rule. We had put it off for as long as we could, waiting until the funerals for all those who had died for me had been held and to make sure my place on the throne was secure. But now, we could tarry no longer. The people who had only accepted my rule because there was no other option now fully endorsed me. I was repairing the relationships with our allies. The cities that had been destroyed were being rebuilt and the harvest was being sown. There were still many difficulties and challenges ahead, but I did not have to worry about being overthrown or forced into a marriage or alliance I did not want. As Habibah had said so long ago, “As long as you have the love of the people, you’ll never have to worry a day in your life,” and I certainly had their love now.
“My people have sent word that a few gorillas have been seen near Dakari village,” Oringo said. “They want me to try and communicate with them, see if I can coax them to stay.”
“That’s wonderful,” I said. In honor of the gorillas who had been killed, I had poured out offerings to them in the temple of Thoth, the protector of monkeys and creatures like them. Hopefully this new family of gorillas was a manifestation of his blessing.
“And I must return to my family,” Saleem said. “Apparently, Janissa is actually excited to marry the Zulu prince. She heard a rumor that he is quite handsome. She is insisting I invite her betrothed to Nuru for an official visit so she can meet him herself.”
I chuckled. Young love was so precious. I was happy for her and grateful for Saleem’s sacrifice on her behalf. I wished her nothing but joy.
“And what about you?” I asked Zakai. “What pressing business do you have waiting?”
He shook his head. “It is home,” he said, and he needed to explain no further. Even though I had found great love and happiness outside the walls of Luxor, I was incomplete. I would never be able to find true contentment living anywhere but here. I knew the lion kings each felt the same way about their homelands as well.
I took a deep breath and shuddered a little. Knowing this moment was coming did not make it any easier to face. When they left, I was not sure how I would find the strength to wake up in the morning. Who would advise me? Who would protect me? Who would comfort me? I had built a small circle of trusted magistrates around me, but I would never love anyone the way I loved Zakai, Oringo, and Saleem. When they left, they would each take a part of my heart with them, and I would never be whole again.
“When will you go?” I asked them.
They all looked at each other, and then they looked at me.
“In the morning,” Zakai said, and I nearly collapsed my knees felt so weak. Zakai swept me off of my fe
et and carried me to my large bed, tossing me onto it.
Every night since we took up residence in the palace, the men took turns spending the night in my room. They had never slept with me at the same time, and I didn’t ask them too. They were prideful men, and when they were with me, each of them wanted to forget about the others. But since they were all leaving tomorrow, I supposed they were unable to agree on who would have the right to spend the last night with me, so they decided they would just have to share me.
And I couldn’t be more excited.
I was already wet with desire, but as each of my men removed their clothes, I thought I would pass out from being unable to breathe. Each man could not be more different. Zakai with his deep black skin. Oringo with his skin of tattooed mahogany. Saleem with his olive skin kissed by the desert sun. Yet each man was also in the peak of health and fitness. I wondered if their bodies, with lean waists and muscular chests and arms, were from their active lifestyles or were a gift from the Lion Queen. Even Saleem, who spent more time reading in his library than doing any physical labor, was built like a god. Whatever the source of their exquisite physiques, I gave thanks to Sekhmet I had the stamina to keep up with them.
Zakai climbed onto the bed and over me first, with Oringo and Saleem on each side of us. He cradled my body in his arms and placed his lips on mine, kissing me gently as his hands held me tightly against him. He then kissed down my neck and my chest. As he did so, Oringo moved in, kissing me hard with his prodding tongue. My body was not sure which sensation to react to, Oringo’s mouth on mine or Zakai’s mouth now between my breasts. Zakai then slipped the straps of my gown down my arms and removed the silky garment from my body, exposing my nakedness to them. Zakai continued down, down, down my body until he reached my private area. He kissed my black hair, then tugged it with his teeth, teasing me and making my legs quiver in anticipation.
While Zakai pleasured me from below, I had not even noticed that Oringo had taken position straddling my face. But as I opened my eyes, his erect manhood stood throbbing in front of me.
“Take it,” he commanded, and I could do nothing but comply. I opened my mouth, welcoming him inside, even though I nearly gagged from the girth of it. He pinned my hands over my head so I could not use them to push him away, and he lowered himself over me, thrusting into my mouth as I felt Zakai’s tongue thrusting into my sex. I moaned at the sensation of receiving pleasure from one man and giving pleasure to another at the same time.
Then, I felt another set of hands on me as Saleem cupped both of my breasts. It felt as though he had dipped his hands into a warm oil and was using it to give my body the most relaxing massage. The warmth as his hands ran around the masses of my breasts and then squeezed them up, pulling the nipples taught was so incredible I nearly climaxed from that sensation alone each time he did it. After doing that a few times, he then slid his hand down my stomach to the pearl at the top of my sex, gently caressing it as Zakai still sucked and prodded my opening. I tried to scream my pleasure, but Oringo’s manhood was completely filling my mouth, stifling any noise I wanted to make and forcing me to breathe through my nose. I wanted to cry out, beg for release, but I could not. I could not speak or use my hands. I was completely at the mercy of these three huge men.
I tried to snap my legs together. If Zakai would not give me release, maybe I could get him to stop, or at least slow down, give my body a chance to calm.
“No way,” Zakai said when he realized what I was trying to do. He pushed my legs wide open and slid his manhood into me. As he did so, Saleem continued to massage my beasts and pearl. My body was in such a state of delight, I could no longer think. I could not process which aspect was more pleasurable. All of me shook, panted, and writhed, begging all of the men for more.
I spread my own legs wider, pushing my hips up, pulling all of Zakai into me. Oringo thrust harder and faster into my mouth, and I could taste the salt of his pleasure. He grunted and groaned, finally exploding, releasing his seed into my mouth. As I swallowed it down, he finally climbed off of me, panting from his exertion. But still, my body could not rest. Now, I could see both Saleem and Zakai pleasuring me, and the looks on their faces told me they were feeling the pleasure as well. Zakai pounded into me and then let out a moan as he spilled into me. As he pulled away, I wanted to cry.
“No, no, no,” I said. “I’m still not done.” I looked up and saw that Saleem was still aroused. I sat up and pushed him onto the bed, climbing over him and taking his manhood into me. As I lowered myself onto it, I tossed my head back and moaned. He continued to massage my breasts, taking the nipples between each of his fingers in turn. I steadied myself on the bed and bucked against him like a wild stallion. I cried out my pleasure, looking from Saleem, to Oringo, to Zakai, watching their faces as I reached my climax. This was what I had truly been missing. I was incomplete without all of them together. I had never really known what it was to climax until I had had all of them inside me at the same time.
As Saleem finally spilled into me, I reached my height of desire as well. I slowed my movements, panting as I tried to catch my breath. As I fell onto the bed and my head collapsed onto the pillow, the men gathered around me, kissing me, holding me, gently caressing me.
“You can’t leave,” I said.
“We have to,” Zakai said.
“No,” I said, even though I knew we didn’t have a choice. “That…that was so incredible. How can you do that to me and then leave me?”
“I have to admit,” Saleem said, “I didn’t think that tonight would be more pleasurable for me than usual. But seeing you in such ecstasy, it heightened the sensations for me as well.”
Oringo nodded his agreement.
“But we have to leave,” Zakai said, taking the role of leader, saying the things no one else wanted to.
“But not forever,” I said. “I have known for a long time that I could not live without you, any of you. I had been trying to convince myself that loving you from afar would be good enough. I know you have responsibilities to your people. But after that…after tonight…No, you cannot leave me forever. We must be together. All of us.”
“Yes,” Oringo said. “We do need to be together. We lion kings should be united with our lion queen.”
“We all are still in alliance with you, Queen Sanura,” Saleem said. “Perhaps it would be best for us to make an annual trip back to Egypt to…reaffirm our alliance.”
“Do you mean it?” I asked him. “It would be terrible to have to wait so long to see you all again, but it would be better than not seeing you at all or only one at a time.”
“That…seems reasonable to me,” Zakai said. “It is not uncommon for kings and queens to pay regular visits to allies to pay tributes or reaffirm their friendships.”
At the thought of seeing all my lion kings again, I was able to lay back and relax. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to waste a moment we were together. I could rest plenty after they were gone. But for now, we held each other, we talked, we dreamed of a beautiful future together.
For all of us.
The End
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Her Betrothal
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The Queen of Egypt Page 13