City of the Dead

that?’
    ‘You spawn of Set,’ said Senseneb after studying his face in silence for a moment or two.
    Huy laughed. ‘Now you don’t believe me.’
    ‘But what you say is so possible.’
    ‘Yes; but is the reasoning?’
    ‘Coming from you?’ She smiled. ‘I honestly don’t know any more.’
    Huy had sat down in the chair near the couch. Now he leant forward to pour the wine which Hapu had placed there when he arrived.
    ‘Isn’t it a little early for that?’ asked Senseneb, putting her feet on the ground and sitting up.
    ‘Yesterday was very long,’ said Huy. He sipped the drink he had poured and leant back, looking at the girl. Two or three strands of hair had swept across her face and she shook her head to clear them. He gazed at the columns of her neck and the collarbones that spanned her wide shoulders, then he became aware of her gaze and looked away, uncomfortably. He had become relaxed at last and here, in this delightful garden which Senseneb would only be able to enjoy for a short time more, he felt that the walls were enough to shut out the rest of the world - at least for that morning. His eyes were drawn back to her. The expression on her face was veiled, but her heart was speaking to him again and its message was clear. He put down his cup, rose, and crossed to sit next to her, touching her arm where a bruise was already developing. Her eyes were lowered, her breath was warm. She moved her head gently forwards and touched his nose with hers. Then she kissed him, fully, open-mouthed, but still lightly and quickly, drawing away as soon as she had done so. His nostrils were filled with the smell of her, close and delicious.
    ‘Not here,’ she said, standing and drawing him up with her. ‘My room is more comfortable.’
    They hurried to the house, stomachs hollow with excitement, both needing to bury the tension and sadness of the last few days in love. The house was empty and Huy wondered what had happened to the servants — could they all have left already, except Hapu? Again she caught his thought as they reached her door on the verandah, and smiled. ‘I wanted you, and so as soon as you arrived I told Hapu to send everyone away for the morning. I know I may sound a little crazy but when I make love I like to be alone with my lover.’
    The catch of the door would not give at first and she rattled it in a fit of impatience. Inside, the room was cool and white; the bed was covered with fresh sheets of soft linen. Once the door was shut, Seneseneb became the panther under her skin. The mourning robe was shrugged off in one movement. In one more she had slipped her arms round him and with cunning, hungry, practised hands taken his kilt away and embraced the Worshipper of Min between his thighs. Her lips were on his neck, plunging and sucking, and he fell back as she straddled him. All that she did had a lithe, violent impatience. She slid down his body, never removing her lips and tongue from his skin, until her mouth found him, taking him deep within her, cushioning him on her tongue, caressing his balls with one cool firm hand, while the other encircled the root of his manhood. His heart reeled, partly because of the distance from reality which exhaustion brings, partly from her demands on him, to which he was responding, to his astonishment and delight, with as much enthusiasm as they were made, i want you.’
    ‘I want you.’
    ‘I love you.’
    ‘I love you.’
    ‘Give me yourself.’
    ‘Give me yourself.’
    He curved his body and found the entrance of her birth-cave with his tongue. Her tongue fondled the tip of his penis while he caressed her clitoris with his. Satisfied at last with the joining of the upper and lower openings, they turned to face each other, and Renenutet joined them where a man and a woman have their core.
    For one hour they buried themselves in each other, and when they finally ceased, they looked into each others’ eyes like happy, wary animals, finding trust there, but also danger and mystery. She turned from him, presenting strong buttocks, and supporting herself on her arms turned her head over one shoulder to issue her next command. Past thinking, he seized her flanks and then her breasts so hard that she gasped, and gave himself to her again, feeling her softness against his hard stomach, while she reached below them to stroke him.
    Still when he withdrew, neither had finished with the other, though the appetite as another hour passed became less