Thou wilt not win a wife if thou dost take a queen by violence.
Release me!"
"Thou dost rivet mine arms about thee."
She stiffened herself and savagely submitted to her imprisonment.
Rameses laughed and, bending her head back, kissed her repeatedly and
with much tenderness. She struggled madly, but he held her fast.
"This is but the beginning," he said in a low voice, "and I have won.
The end shall be the same. I am a lovable lover, am I not, Masanath?
Am I not good to look upon? Dost thou know a more princely prince, and
is my father more of a king than I shall be? Where do I fail thee in
thy little ideals? Am I harsh? Aye, but I am a king. Am I
rough-spoken? Aye, because most of the world deserve it. Thou hast
never felt the sting of my tongue, and never shalt thou unless thou
breakest my heart. I have much to give thee; not any other monarch
hath so much as I to give his queen. And yet I ask only thy love in
return."
This was earnest wooing, which contained nothing that she might flout.
So she strained away from him and sulked. Again he laughed.
"Khem and Athor and Besa have combed my heart and created a being of
the desires they found therein! O, thou art mine, for the gods
ordained it so.
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