"You can't keep dancing with the devil and wonder why you are still in hell." - Unknown.
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Irene was stunned. She didn't know what to think or believe. Did she really make him into a bad grandfather? Did she go that far with her hatred?
Maybe she did.
She was still burning with hatred. This man had once been her everything. She had no one but him. No parents, no siblings, no children, nothing. And she couldn't even blame him for losing all of that since she was part of it. She fell for him and she payed for it dearly.
With him, she had been both happy and sad. She never had a moment of full happiness. How could she? Her own blood and flesh was out there and she couldn't see him or hold him.
And then, after many years of pain, they were all reunited, but that happiness only lasted for a short time. Lothaire wanted suddenly to go back to his world, and he wanted them to follow him.
Why?
He had left all that behind, and they had lived a peaceful life. Why did he want to go back and be the devil again? That is not who she wanted him to be. She didn't want to tell her children and grandchildren what their father or grandfather did. She didn't want to call him the devil, and she had already paid for her sins. She didn't want to sin anymore. The price was too heavy.
Now she wanted to lead a good life and be a good example to her family. She was proud of the good man her son had become; she wanted him to be proud of her as well. Therefore, she didn't accept Lothaire's offer, but she had asked him to stay.
She was even willing to forgive him and forget that he approached her with the intent to experiment. To create an unique offspring because she believed him when he said he fell in love with her despite his previous intentions. But his love wasn't enough to make him leave his mission for her.
How foolish and desperate she had been. Even after admitting that he deceived her, she had believed everything he had said and even expected and hoped he would stay with her.
Both Love and hatred had blinded her, and she seemed to be the only one confused. Lucian hadn't even been surprised when his father wanted to go back to being the devil. It was almost as if he had been able to see through him, knowing that he couldn't change his nature easily and maybe that was why he never got close to his father.
But Heaven loved her grandfather.
Did she really make grandchild hate her grandfather?
It seemed like she did. Irene didn't know if Lothaire ever tried to manipulate their son, but he never forced him. So yes. Maybe she made assumptions and let hatred misguide her, but that didn't make him right. She might have made him the enemy in her mind, but he made himself on in reality.
"I was wrong. I shouldn't have let our fight come between you and Heaven. Heaven should have been given the choice to make a judgment for herself. But now… now after what you did, I am not sure if she will ever call you her grandfather again. Do you even love your grandchild? Do you have any love for her in your heart to blame me for making her hate you? Did you have any love for her to begin with? Because if you loved her, if even a little part of you loved her, no matter what I did or said, you wouldn't do this to her."
Lothaire narrowed his eyes. "I love differently. Can you say I never loved you?" He asked.
Irene shook her head. "I don't know you anymore. I can only speak from what I see and you hurting our grandchild, that can't come from a place of love. If people we love can hurt us like that, then we don't enemies."
"Heaven is hurt now, I know that. But she won't be later. She will like being with me because she will have the freedom she never had here." He explained.
Irene glared at with fury. "How will she be free? How will she be happy? You are taking her away from her mate. Do you know how hard that is? Do you think she will just forget and be happy?" She was yelling now.
"Yes, she will. With time she will forget."
"She won't." Irene shook her head. She knew very well that even when you hated your mate, you could never forget them.
"How do you know?" He asked.
Irene just stared at him, not wanting to reply. "Did you forget me?" She then asked.
"How could I?" He smiled. "I think of you all the time. It makes me sad that none of you wanted to come with me, but now I will have Heaven. A piece of us and she looks just like you."
The way he looked at her reminded her of old days. When he looked at her with so much love and tenderness.
"Can't you just leave her? I… I will come with you instead. I know I am not a good ruler, but I am capable of many things."
He laughed while shaking his head. "No. Unfortunately, I can't. I want Heaven."
He couldn't let her know that it was her he wanted. He had to insist to have Heaven, and he was going to have her. If Irene ever found out that it was her he wanted, then she would try something foolish. He wanted his mate alive, safe and by his side.
Irene took a deep breath to calm down. "Why? She doesn't want to be with you. I am telling you I will come with you, willingly."
He walked up to her, his hand itching to touch her face and before he knew he was caressing her cheek. "You can come with me if you want, but I still want Heaven."
"Please." She whispered, her eyes tearing up before she closed them. "Please leave her alone. Whatever it is you want from her, I will do it for you."
Lothaire took a step back before he did something foolish, like pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. The right thing to do would be to go back home and act as if he didn't care, but he wanted to be with her a little longer.
"I don't think we have anything else to talk about and I need to go back." He said.
Her eyes widened. "No! I am not done talking. I am begging you. Please, don't do this to her. What do I have to do to make you stop?"
"There is nothing you can do."
"Wait!" She grabbed his arm, walking closer. Almost too close before she looked him in the eyes. "For the love and bond that we once shared, can't you do this one thing for me. It is all I ask."
No! He couldn't give in. He shouldn't.
"Please." She grabbed his other arm.
He looked at her. She was a beauty so breathtaking she even tempted the devil himself. But temptation was his thing, and if she thought she could win against him, then she was wrong.
Lothaire leaned down and kissed her. She stiffened but didn't pull back. It was only a brief kiss, a taste, and it left him burning to have more. But he couldn't.
This was a game, and he couldn't lose. A taste right now would confuse her more than a proper kiss. A taste would remind her of what she could have and make her long for more.
"I can't, my sweet." He whispered and then left her.