---
Kess said, "Maybe I can sit with the driver."
It was a reasonable compromise. Humiliating enough already, but manageable.
Elena, perhaps because she understood logistics better than pride, said, "That is a good option, Young Master."
Sekhmet did not even look at her.
"No."
One flat word.
Elena's mouth closed at once.
That in itself taught Kess something. When Sekhmet had decided on a shape for a humiliation, even Elena did not spend energy trying to soften it.
Kess clenched his teeth hard enough that the muscles at his jaw showed. "As you wish."
Bat Bat, of course, leaned out farther and looked at him with frank interest. "Can you run all the way without dying? This is an educational question."
Kess did not answer her because he had no wish to be arrested by fate for strangling an important woman of Sekhmet, on a public road before reaching the heir's camp.
The order of the carriage filled itself quickly after that.
