The Pharaoh's Dancer

To Be a Mother

Amunet stepped away from Runihura and felt her heart drop in her chest. She wanted to laugh at him but she couldn't. His serious expression combined with something unfamiliar made it difficult for Amunet to dismiss him. Amunet stared at Runihura for what seemed like an eternity. The scarred man in front of Amunet didn't blink or look away from her. His violet eyes bore into her own and a series of waves of malice floated off of him.

"If I'm your mother," Amunet said slowly weighing each word. "Why would you try to kill me?"

"I use the word mother rather loosely," Runihura said flipping a small knife over and over in his hand. "I was made to be your son, yes, but you never actually gave birth to me. Amun simply created me because you were having difficulty bearing children yourself. You are my mother in name only."

"That still doesn't explain why you want me dead," Amunet said cautiously. She couldn't explain it but there was a sinking feeling in her gut and an overwhelming sense of sadness.

Her heart ached.

It was different from when she left Teremun. It was a different type of pain.

"You may have been my mother at one point in time, Amunet, but I've since lost respect for you." Runihura stared down at Amunet and his eyes sharpened to slits. "Do you want to know why the goddess Amunet was so easily tricked by Mut?"

Runihura took a step towards Amunet.

"Amunet was so easy to trick because she'd fallen in love with the Pharaoh Teremun. Amunet desperately wanted to meet Teremun in person but she no longer had enough power to cross the veil to the human world on her own. So Mut offered to take her to Earth." Runihura's eyes darkened and his brow creased with anger and stress. "Amunet, so blinded by love, accepted the offer. So they went to Earth. There, Mut stripped Amunet of what little power she had left and turned her mortal while simultaneously erasing every memory she had."

Amunet felt her head pounding painfully and her eyes welled up a little with tears whose origin she wasn't sure of.

"You abandoned me," Runihura said with a chocked sob. "You knew Mut hated you, yet you went with her anyway! I warned you against it, too! I specifically told you not to go with her. That Teremun was just a human and that he was going to die anyway, yet you were stupid enough to still want to meet him."

Amunet felt at a loss for words. Runihura seemed like he was crumbling in on himself.

"I used to love you," Runihura said sadly. He looked away from Amunet temporarily and out at the vast expanse of the sea. "You and I spent nearly every moment of our lives together. You were all I had and then you just left me. I had to watch from the heavens as you suffered. Suffered for a mortal."

Runihura turned to Amunet and his spite rolled off his skin to wrap around Amunet. She felt strangled under his gaze. The sky above them grew dark as storm clouds gathered above them. Lighting struck through the sky as tornados spiraled from the black sky. Waves beat against the side of the boat knocking Amunet cleanly off her feet. Her body slammed against the railing threatening to throw her overboard. Amunet gripped the side to try and keep her balance. Runihura stood unaffected in the center of the boat watching her struggle. Wind yanked at Amunet's hair but left Runihura untouched.

"I'm sorry," Amunet found herself saying. Tears streamed down her face as she gripped onto the railing desperately trying to keep from falling into the water.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, mother."