She leaned in once more, pressing her lips to his again soft, lingering, cruel in its tenderness.
"That," she whispered against him as she pulled back, "is how I will hurt you."
She turned away, already walking toward the towering silhouette of her castle.
"Once your seed is planted in me," Mahu added without looking back, "that will be the last time you ever set foot in my realm."
The light shifted as she departed, her figure receding into the vastness she ruled, unyielding, resolute, gone.
Ikenga remained where he stood, frozen, the echo of her words ringing louder than any blow.
His vision blurred as he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, his form vanished from Mahu's realm.
The moment his presence vanished, Mahu's strength failed her.
