Mother Knows Best(book 1)

Chapter 12

You don't know me, you only know what I allow you to know

-Curiano.com

             Her child had eaten.

            And Lilura could feel it in her chest that he did.

       She hurriedly unwraps each layer. She forced food down her throat without really tasting it. It kept the gnawing pain of hunger away and kept her from fainting. Lilura seized the drink, bringing it to her lips, and drunk it down in thick gulps. Her throat cried out in gratitude as the drops chilled her entire body.

        Judge Smoothers opened the door again. He smiles as he lets the door slam shut behind him. "You've finally eaten. Has your stubbornness left you?"

           Lilura suppresses a sigh and dips her head. "And your guilt, has it left you?"

      "The food is gone now, I'm sure you knew it would leave. But I saw no child by the cornfield. I saw no one come to get it, yet it is gone now. Lilura, what games are you up to?"

           "A mother protects her own, even with her life. It is a sacrifice any sensible mother would make. For how can one live, while her own is dead. It is a miserable life, your honor. A very miserable life. Plus, my child is all I own now. I have no husband, no sensible man, nothing."

              "And you will do anything to keep your child alive?"

      Lilura nods slowly. She expected that to be more than obvious. She had murdered a man--no, two, and judged a child to death. Lilura had offered what she needed to survive--even it being her own body. Her child was hers and no one, not a single sensible man, could take that away from her. And to give up where her child lays, would be her biggest sin. A sin to her child and to herself.

             "Is that. . . why you killed mine... .?"

             Lilura remained silent. Her eyes soon gripped onto remorse. Judge Smoothers drew near to her, and she had expected him to strike out of anger, but instead, he dropped to his knees in front of her. He was now sobbing painfully in her chest. His howls of misery worsened, the pain overcoming him like crashing waves and stripping him off every pride he could have. He was humble then. He was angry still. He was broken. He was. . . sensible. Judge Smoothers voice cracked, and he choked on sobs. Every now and then, there were minutes for recovering breaths, following by more deep howls. He was a parent like herself, who would do everything for his child. And she had stripped his away. Judging it to death. Lilura frowned.

She was no better than him.

In fact, she could no longer blame him.