The Little Wolf

Chapter 9 | The Mother's Pity

The Hound took Lilia down the hallway, to another wing of the Keep. She quickly recognized it as Maegor's Tower, where the Royal Family sleeps. He knocked on the door and waited for someone to come in. She was confused, she didn't know why she had been brought there. All she knew was that she wanted to disappear. She noticed that he had been trying not to hurt her, but it didn't matter how gentle he was, just breathing pained her body.

Joffrey had taken away her pride, her honour, her dignity, she had nothing else left! She was never going to be able to take some of those things back. He broke her apart, she would never be able to forget and just move on!

When the door was opened, Lilia saw the last person she ever thought she would see at that moment. Someone who she never thought would know about this, someone she didn't expect to show her compassion about it.

"Bring her inside and leave us" those were the only words the woman preferred. The woman poured a drink in a cup and delivered it to the Stark girl. Lilia didn't think twice and drank everything all at once, leaving the woman extremely surprised to see that. "I'm a bit surprised that you took everything without asking what it was or worrying about it being poisoned"

"That would be the best thing that could happen to me right now" Lilia commented in a trembling voice, leaving the other woman speechless. She couldn't face her, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't close her eyes without seeing their faces. "But since you insist. Was it poison? Am I going to suffocate in the next seconds or am I going to start cough blood or something like that?"

"No, it was Moon Tea," the woman told her. Lilia froze at the mentioning of that tea. She knew what use it had and it took her a moment to fully understand why she had to take it. "You don't want a bastard growing inside you, do you?"

"Why are you being so kind to me, Cersei? You've made it quite clear that you hate me, so why?" she asked without any ceremonies. She had no time to worry about titles and ways of directing herself to the woman. She had realized that a title didn't protect her from the dangers that common people had to face on a daily basis. The woman threw Lilia a towel and showed her a bath that had been prepared for her. As Lilia tried to stand up, she fell on her knees. The Queen helped the girl up and helped her get inside, which the girl refused anyway since she didn't want to be touched more than necessary, but it was necessary so she had no other choice. She hesitantly got inside, still unsure if allowing Cersei Lannister to help her had been a good idea.

The water was very hot and it burnt her skin, but she didn't mind anymore. She had been through far worse that night, she could handle hot water for certain. However, it still ampliated the pain she was feeling. Lilia knew she needed that bath, she knew that if she didn't clean herself, their dirty hands would mark her body forever.

After a moment where she stood static, Lilia rubbed her body, to try to wash off any trace of those men's hand on her, but she knew she could never do that. Her body looked bad but she felt a thousand times worse and just the touch of her hand on her bruises made her flinch.

"I guess I felt compassion" she explained simply as she drank a goblet of wine. "I tried to talk him out of it but he didn't listen"

"Of course you did" she sarcastically remarked. "Let me guess, this doesn't even bring you a little amount of satisfaction or joy?"

"To be honest, no. It might sound shocking to you, but as a matter of fact, it does not. Sadly" she said quite indifferently. She tried to avoid the girl's body, she didn't want to show her pity, even though her body looked far more terrible than Cersei ever thought her son could leave it. "No one deserves to go through what you had to. Joffrey was blinded by the strange affection he feels for you, I believe. He's not an easy boy, he never was"