Chapter 2 : Burn her

Sarah sat on the side of the bed where Isabella was sleeping, she dug through the items in the baby basket and sorted them out, there was a fair amount of baby clothes, a little blanket, and one slightly charred teddy bear. The woman dusted the ashes off the teddy and placed it next to the sleeping child.

"I may not give you a life of luxury little one, but I will give you a life," she grazed her finger on Isabella's cheek and the little baby smiled in her sleep, she was the cutest baby Sarah had ever seen, why couldn't lady Emilia look past the small visual impairment and appreciate the fact that she had been blessed with such a beautiful daughter.

The woman was startled when she heard an aggressive knock at her door, "Sarah! Open the door!"

The maid was in a panic, that sounded like one of the guards, what did he want here? Was he here for Isabella? She stood up and slowly walked to the door, slowly creaking it open and peaking out.

"Lord Jerad and lady Emilia are waiting for you at the courtyard," the man spoke

"Oh okay, I'll be right there.."

"Now Sarah!"

The woman crept out of her room making sure the guard could not see the little infant who was laying asleep on the bed, and followed him down the hall to the courtyard. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, had they known about the items she'd salvaged from the fire?

When she exited the halls into the courtyard, she could see the lord and lady of the house standing at the center, they did not look happy. The guard who was walking behind her pushed Sarah to the ground roughly, brushing her palms and knees.

"Where is Isabella Sarah?" Emilia asked the woman

Sarah looked up at the woman in surprise, "my lady you told me to take her away."

SLAP!

"I told you take her away not adopt her as your own!" Emilia glared angrily at the maid before landing another slap on her face, "what would you gain from keeping a defective child anyway?!"

Sarah massaged her sore cheek, she was surprised at the coldness in Emilia's voice when she spoke of her own child. Didn't this woman have a soul?

"Go bring her and throw her in the fire with the rest of her things!"

"I can't do that my lady!" Sarah cried out, she clenched her chest and glared at the woman as beads of sweat dotted her forehead, "Isabella is just a little child please have a heart!"

"How dare you!" Emilia was about to slap the maid again when her husband grabbed her hand. Emilia looked at the man in shock, "Jerad?! Let go of me!"

"Stop," the man spoke coldly, "killing a child will attract bad omens to our household."

"So then what do you suggest we do?"

"Let her keep the child, as long as no one in the kingdom knows she's our daughter there's no harm in it." The man looked down at the maid, "from now on, Isabella is yours, the daughter of a lowly maid."

With teary eyes the woman looked up at the couple, "so you'll let her live?"

"Just make sure no one knows of her real identity," lord Jerad added on, "I don't want people thinking my potency as a man is defective."

"Thank you," Sarah spoke between sobs, "no one will ever know."

Emilia looked at her husband and then back at the maid, "well what are you waiting for? Get the hell out of here!"

Sarah wiped her tears from her face and got up, her heart was racing and her head was pounding, her heart bled for little Isabella, maybe it was best that she was born blind, at least she couldn't see the horrors of this world.

As Sarah walked along the halls to her quarters, a hand grabbed her from behind, it was Cacious, one look at her swollen cheeks and bruised palms and knees made him scowl angrily. "Why would they do this to you?!" He growled.

"It's fine Cacious, I spoke out of turn and this is the consequence."

He gently rubbed her cheek making her wince in response, "those monsters, first they ridicule their two week old daughter and now they do this to you just because you have a heart and they don't."

"Forget about Cacious," Sarah responded, "the important thing is that Isabella is safe."

"Yes but for how long?" The man questioned her, his eyes were filled with adoration and sympathy. Cacious had loved Sarah from the first day he saw her, she had recently been indicted as a maid and was carrying a heavy bucket of water to the castle, she tripped and fell and all the bucket's contents drained into the grown.

He had rushed to her side and helped her up, the minute he touched her hand and his eyes fell on her big beautiful green orbs, Cacious knew this was the woman he wanted to marry.

His attraction to her from that day henceforth only grew, and it was so obvious to everyone except Sarah herself, who even once praised him as 'an older brother she never had'.. if he was any other man, he would have dropped his advances but Cacious was a man who went after what he wanted till he got it.

"Are you sure you're up to the task?" He questioned Sarah, "you don't earn much and raising a child is a huge responsibility."

"So you prefer I just toss her out to die?!"

"No that's not what i mean," Cacious responded defensively. He sighed and gazed at the beautiful maid in front of him, the fire in her eyes told him that she was already attached to the baby and talking her out of it was not going to work. "I guess you've left me with no choice," Cacious added on.

Sarah studied the man's face curiously, "what do you mean?"

"Well you can't raise a child all by yourself," Cacious spoke, "so I'm just going to have to help you."

Sarah's eyes went round at the man's words, "no, no you don't have to do that, I can-"

The man placed a gentle finger on her lips, "that wasn't a request Sarah, I'm doing it weather you like it or not."

Sarah nodded slowly and smiled at Cacious, he was always so kind to her, he always talked about how she had a good heart but he was the most selfless person she knew, he was such a good friend.

"Okay, now go in your room and I'll return with some ice for those cheeks.."

"Which ones?"

"The ones on-" Cacious smiled slyly when he caught glimpse of the taunting smile on Sarah's face. Gosh he loved this woman.