"The villain plays the victim so well." -Unknown.
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Lothaire was having a good day, sitting comfortably on his throne and sipping his wine while watching everything that was happening with his family through The Eye.
This wasn't the way he had thought or planned on doing things. Manipulation had been his plan, but Heaven, despite her young age, surprisingly had a strong mind. Even stronger than her father's. Getting into her head or manipulating her had not been easy. He knew manipulating Zamiel wouldn't be easy, but Heaven had shocked him and reminded him to never underestimate the enemy.
Usually as the devil he worked with desires. What people truly desired, he presented it to them. But Heaven desired things for the people she loved more than for herself. There was nothing she desired more than the happiness and safety of her family. Those were not dark desires that he could manipulate in a way that was beneficial to him.
Even with Zarin, she had surprised him. While his daughters suggested that Heaven might follow him because of Zarin, Lucifer knew that she cared for her family too much to do something like that. So his plan had been to create hatred between them. If Heaven hated Zarin, then she would be taking a step in his direction. Because nothing good ever came out of hatred. But after everything Zarin did, she was still concerned for the boy. Her love was still stronger than her hatred, and since she refused to hate, he would have to use her love against her. He had already lost his patience, and that never happened.
Lucifer had to admit to himself that Heaven succeeded to annoy him. He never let people control his feelings, but he couldn't help it with her. He was annoyed to the point where it made him angry. He hated how her constant love stood in the way of his plans.
But why bother using the right method now. His new plan would of course make Irene hate him even more, which was why he had been avoiding it, but he would at least get her faster. With time she would adjust to the circumstances and accept him. How long would she fight him if she saw him every day and knew that there was no way out?
Not too long.
He would slowly remind her of all the good days they had together, and eventually she would surrender to him. All women did. All women longed to love and to be loved. He would show her again what love and passion felt like.
A satisfied smile curved his lips when he saw Irene calling him. She was furious, just like he expected. But what would be the best thing to do? Ignore her or go to see her?
He knew she would keep calling until he went to see her.
"I know you can hear me. Show yourself you coward!" She called, which caused him to laugh.
Closing The Eye, he went to see her. As soon as he arrived, he smelled her delicious scent. He could still not pinpoint what she smelled like. It was a unique scent, and it reminded him of their days together.
That until he saw her green eyes, that glared at him with such hatred it could burn his soul. "How could you do that? She is your granddaughter. How can you make her feel like this? Don't you have a heart?"
A heart?
He did have a heart, but she wasn't talking about the physical one. But what did the other one exactly mean? Having a heart was still a mystery to him. How could people have so much heart? And why care to have one?
He ended up like this because he once let himself have a heart and love this woman, and now he was miserable and acting this way just to get her back. Nothing good came out of it. He just made himself vulnerable.
"I don't have a heart and you know that."
The important thing right now was to never let her suspect that it was her he wanted. He had to make it seem like he wanted Heaven and only her.
"Can't you just let her be? You have other children who are willingly staying with you. Why do you have to force her?"
"Because I want her."
"But why her?!" She yelled.
"You have Lucian. Why can't you just let me have Heaven? She is also my grandchild."
"No, she is not because you are not behaving like a grandfather."
"If you hadn't turned her against me, I might have behaved like a grandfather and not like this." He told her.
She looked at him, baffled. "So it is my fault you are behaving this way?"
"It is indeed." He said simply. It wasn't her fault, but he just wanted to say it.
It infuriated her, and he didn't know why he enjoyed it.
"I am not responsible for your behavior."
He looked at her for a long moment. "You are not?"
"No!"
He nodded. "But you made me a bad grandfather in your granddaughter's mind before I became one. I only became what you said I would become. You made her dislike me, you created distrust and distance between us, when I never did anything to harm her. You let the fight between us affect her. You made me her enemy and now you want me to be a good grandfather? Why?"
She opened her mouth but then closed it again. She blinked a few times, her mind going a thousand directions while processing what he said.
"You said you wanted her to rule your kingdom?"
"Did I say I would harm her or force her? Of course I wanted her to rule with me because I knew she would be a good ruler. I wanted Lucian to do that as well. Did I force him? Or manipulate him? What made you think I would do that to Heaven? When you easily made me into the enemy in your minds, why wish for anything different now?"
Lucifer was happy with himself. He knew he got into her head. His words affected her and now she was questioning herself and wondering what she had done wrong?
At least one of them was easy.
"Don't stand in my way now. I will have Heaven no matter what. You wanted an enemy, now you have one."