The Enki

Chapter 50

Magnus left the room, and I was left alone with the man who raised me. He opens his eyes and smiles when he sees me.

"Rose, it's been a while."

I feel tears prick my eyes.

"I'm so sorry, dad, for all of this. You've suffered so much for me."

"Ah, it wasn't all that bad. Maybe the last few weeks were a little rough. Don't worry, Rose, I don't blame you for anything. I knew what I was signing up for when I met your mother."

"You know that we were Enki this whole time, and you never mentioned it to me."

"Don't be mad, Rose, it was to protect you. You may not be my biological child, but I knew if I told you, it wouldn't be long before you went looking for answers."

I nod through tears.

"Oh, dad! I miss you so much. What I wouldn't have given to have you with me throughout this."

"I wanted to be there, baby. we, your mother, and I thought it best that I leave you with someone who could protect you."

"I'm not sure it worked out how you would have hoped."

My dad sighs.

"Yes, I learned about Christophe transitioning you. It was obvious from the moment he met you that he was in awe of you. The first child to be born of an Enki in centuries. He did what he thought was best. Sometimes, we make decisions in good faith that don't always work out. You should forgive him for that."

To think of Christophe was like a knife in the heart. I had made a terrible mistake leaving him.

"How did they find you?"

"They have known where you were for some time, but they were waiting for the right time to make their move. Hence, the reason your mother asked me to leave you with Christophe. In fact, it wasn't supposed to be him but his creator, Jean Luc. With his network, it would be easy to protect you. What a shame it was to find that he had taken his own life."

"Did they hurt you?"

"Your father was mad that I had been part of the plan to keep you away from him. It was nothing that I couldn't handle."

I could tell from the way his eyes darted that he was lying. If I ever got out of this, I would make Tharn pay.

"How did you meet my mother?"

There was a plan to be formed for us both to escape, but I needed answers. He was the person I was closest to in the whole world.

"I used to travel for work. Mostly wildlife photography. I like to live off the beaten track. Camping out and observing wildlife in their habitats. I was doing a gig up in the Scottish Highlands tracking wildcats. For 10 days, I had trekked across hills and forests without much luck. I decided one evening to camp out and use only the moonlight as light. I caught some beautiful photos. The plan was to develop them and see if I had caught something. Of course, I did. I thought I had finally caught a wildcat, but it became clear the size was too big."

I couldn't help but be impatient. I wanted to know how he met my mum, not how his career was back then.

"It was the same height and shape as a bigger cat, one you would only see in Africa or Asia. It's unusual for Scotland to see anything bigger than a wolf, and at the time, wolves were pretty much extinct in Scotland. So I had to find it again. I spent months tracking the beast, and I swear I almost died of malnutrition having to live off nature. I found it, though, or it found me rather."

It finally clicked. The beast was my mother. I had only known Christophe to shape-shift into his Eagle. Magnus, if he had an animal, didn't mention anything.

"It was my mum, wasn't it. It was her animal. Before I met her I dreamt of her. I dreamt of the ceremony to shift. Her animal is a panther."

My father nods, and as he remembers, you can tell he is still in awe of her.

"I thought she was going to kill me. I certainly did take a beating. But something made her stop. Her panther face was inches from mine. One bite, and I'd have been dead. Then she backed off. She changed in front of me, and I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was so horrified and in much pain that I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a small plain room. She came to me and told me everything."

I related to how he would have felt. The way I had reacted to the news of being Enki was overwhelming.

"She told me her kind had been hiding her in a remote location in the Highlands, but she feared that eventually Tharn would find you both. As long as she was with you, she put you at risk. She knew that her connection with Tharn would draw him in and it was only a matter of time before the Enki she thought she could trust would betray her. Tharn had a habit of getting what he wanted. So she asked if I would take you, as if you were my own child. I couldn't believe how she would just trust me with the responsibility but by then we had drawn, close."

I hadn't realised that there had been a romantic relationship between them. In a way it was beautiful to know that my mum hadn't just abandoned me to some random stranger or orphanage.

"It took a while for her to trust me. You must know she has been through some horrible things."

I nodded.

"She told me everything. It hurts me to know what my so called father did to her. I will get revenge for her."

"Don't hold onto hate Rose. I thought I had raised you better than that."

"How can you be so calm about it? He allowed her to be raped, repeatedly."

He cringes when I say the word rape.

"I was mad with rage for a long time. I thought of a thousand ways to murder him. After a while I couldn't hold on to it anymore. I had you to care for and the last thing I wanted to do was foolishly try to find him to carry out the plans I had in my head. I had to keep you safe. I made a promise to you mum that I would. I loved her so much I would have died for her."

I could see the pain in his eyes. The sacrifices they both had to make.

"Your mother was devastated to lose you. I was devastated to lose her. I have never loved anyone since."

It was nice to finally know the full story of why my mother gave me up. For so long I had carried this chip on my shoulder being motherless. Crying that she had died and left me. It all seems such a waste now to have invested so much effort into being upset by it.

I go to ask more questions but I hear footsteps and know that our moment to bond was over. I had to choose whether my life was more important than his.