The pharaoh is not busy until very much later; he comes and finds him in the library and instead of saying 'sit comfortably' says 'stand and come here', and then hugs him. "How are you holding up?"

"I think everything is going reasonably well but I am so tired of making decisions and - manifesting opinions on flower arrangements... It will be all right, but I suppose I am a little stressed, and seeing you helps." 

Patpat. "I always think of it as a game the purpose of which is impressing the vendor not really picking flowers I like. It's much easier to have opinions on people than on flowers."

"For you, perhaps." He lets his cheek rest on Khemet's shoulder. "I keep having to go places in public with Carissa, or she has to go alone, sometimes, and it is nervewracking, now that half of Cheliax knows we are getting married. I never thought I would be this tired of - orienting to possible threats and tracking contingency-plans and being in control of situations, I do that so natively..." 

"It's harder when you're scared for other people, I think. At least for me it is. Because you're not fully in control of them and you'll annoy them if you demand to be and yet you still have to do just as much to keep them safe..."

"Yes, that is it exactly." Sigh. "I care about her. We had a conversation about whether we were in love with one another, and - I am moreso than before, it turns out that executing a major, complicated project with someone under time pressure makes me feel closer to them... But it is not as - restful - with her as with you, yet, I - think maybe it matters that you hardly need my protection." 

Hug. "I don't. Maybe someday you'll have a setup that feels as safe in Cheliax, without being too constraining."

"Maybe someday." 

Leareth leans on him. He was desperately craving Khemet's arms around him all day, and now that he has that, he still finds himself wanting - something - the thing this is except more, somehow. He could suggest they do some more of the magic-fighting, that was fun and good stress relief, but it doesn't feel like quite the thing he's hungry for, it's close but it sounds tiring right now... 

"I think," Leareth says slowly, "that - I want to be yours tonight - I want to watch you be powerful and scary, and win..." 

He raises an eyebrow, and nods. Stops hugging him. "Come with me."

Leareth goes with him. 

He takes the hallway that leads out of the Dome, waves the guards there away, takes Leareth's arm, Plane Shifts them to his demiplane. 

"Technically," he says, "I guess you still have a little bit of magic here, but knowing you I bet it is all ways to recharge your other magic. Right?"

"Almost all. I also have Fly prepared and did not cast it yet today." 

"If you try to fly away I will just dispel it."

And he kisses him.

Leareth does not try to fly away, why would he want to do that.

It's - scary, a little, having basically no magical recourse here, it goes against a lot of long-trained instincts, but - it's all right, it's safe, this is Khemet's place and he, right now, belongs to Khemet, and for just a little while he can stop tracking everything and holding onto the looming future in his mind, and just be here. 

He leads him to the bed and takes off his shirt and starts giving him a massage with one hand and casting a spell with the other; without mage-sight it's harder to tell but he's not being subtle. 

"You're very tense," he says, conversationally, while he casts it.

This is true. Leareth nods. He's trying not to be, usually he can get through very busy hectic periods without being physically tense about it, holding the tension in his shoulders won't actually help and just gives him headaches - but the last week has been hard along axes he isn't used to. 

...Probably some of it is that he doesn't meaningfully have magic right now and this leaves him feeling vaguely like a turtle stripped of its shell. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but it does on some level make him nervous. 

He massages him with his free hand. He finishes the spell, which, without Othersense, doesn't feel like anything.

"This is a geas," he says, now with both hands free to hold Leareth, which he does. "For the rest of tonight, I bind you not to resist any spell that I cast on you, and to obey all of my instructions." Petpetpet.

- wow, Leareth had not been expecting that at all and it's terrifying, in a way that speeds his heart rate and makes his breath catch, especially the part where he can't even feel it on him - he feels trapped and helpless, acutely aware of the demiplane's limits around him and Khemet's hands holding him, neither of which he can do anything about. He's scared, but - not in a bad way, it leaves him dizzy and feeling weirdly light. No point having plans if he's pinned down to a single course of action, which is 'whatever Khemet wants of him', so he can just...stop.

Leareth goes limp in Khemet's arms; the only thing he's trying to control now is his breathing, it feels like he can't get enough air, but once he remembers to properly exhale then it's all right, everything is all right...

He's just going to hold him for a while, hold him and pet him gently and maybe resume the massage, which is easier with Leareth so relaxed. 

"I love you," he says quietly. "I do need you lucid enough that I can tell if you're enjoying yourself, before I will want to do anything else. I am sure I will learn to read you like this but it will take me some practice."

"Mmm...?" Oh is he supposed to say words now. It's weirdly hard to do, he has to pull his attention in and string a thought together; his mind has some of the same scattered quality from when he was injured after the Heartstone attack, just without any of the bad parts.

"Love you," he says, vaguely. "...I think I am enjoying myself. Feel weird, though." 

"I noticed." He kisses him. 

Leareth kisses him back. The feeling-scared recedes, nudged aside by the distraction, and - well, it's not accomplishing anything, there's no way to act on it, so why bother. He still feels helpless and trapped, but in a calm, level way, just a neutral observation of the world and his current position in it.

This isn't actually a time-dilating demiplane, but still, Leareth feels oddly unmoored from the past and future. There's only right now, this moment, and it's a very good moment. 

This is more like a Leareth state that leaves him in a mood to do lots more things with him!

Good!

So far Leareth hasn't even noticed the geas, subjectively, Khemet hasn't given him any instructions or prompted him to do anything that he wasn't already going to do anyway. 

It will be noticeable the first time he tells him to hold still, and when he tells him to kiss him, and noticeable in a different way when he casts Waves of Ecstasy on him.