ANSEN GREY ALDERIGDE has never felt this much power coursing through his veins.
He held the three amulets close to him as he watched the broadcast of the king's birthday-turned-coronation on the old television in the bedroom. He grinned as his brother lost everything of his - his kingdom, his land, his power. Pheon was never worthy of any of it. It all should have been his.
He couldn't have been more prouder when he saw Vera Carmicheal walk down the aisle. He had he doubts, of course, when he sent Vera to the castle months ago. She made it clear to Ansen that she never wanted to become queen. Yet, on the night it all mattered, everything she went through with the royal family was worth it.
The crown glinted in the light as soon as it was placed on her head. She looked regal. Powerful. It was exactly what Ansen had wanted for her. She was never just meant to control the games from behind the stage. She was always meant to be in the spotlight. He knew that. She knew that. He knew that Vera would follow his orders. She always did.
Ansen looked around the room. He got up momentarily to place the three jewels in their containers. He began turning around, looking for the little one. "Lilith, love, where'd you go? Don't you want to see the coronation?"
She crawled out from behind the curtain, clutching her doll. "Here, daddy." She glanced back at the window, where the swirls in the sky remains. Lilith still got amused by the smallest of things. Ansen didn't like it.
"Come here, love."
The girl walked slowly as she walked towards her father. Her arms still wrapped around the doll - no, it was a bear. A teddy bear. The very same one Vera loved to sleep with when she first got to Fox Grove. She loved it to death, and the same went for Lilith.
Even with her father's want to hold her, she sat feet away from him. Her eyes strayed from the lights in the window to the image of Vera on the television screen. The little girl watched with awe.
"Don't you want to join her?" Ansen knew his daughter recognized the face on the screen. It didn't matter how many cracks ran through it, she recognized the eyes. "Don't you want to play princesses with her again?"
Lilith hesitated, but nodded. "I like playing princesses."
"I know you do."
He moves in to pick up the toddler, but she ends up cowering away. There was fear in her eyes, a new emotion. Curious, Ansen thought. His daughter shouldn't be afraid of him, of all people.
"Something wrong, love?"
The girl looked unsure before answering. It was the same look he saw on Vera throughout the years. Lilith spent too much time with her, he concluded. Vera had a job to do for him, and it wasn't to babysit.
Lilith eventually realised her father wasn't going to leave her alone until she said, or showed, something. She lifted her nightgown, showing the bandage around her little thigh. "You hurt me, Daddy."
"No, love. I didn't hurt you," Ansen assured his daughter.
He went to touch the white cloth, but she pulled away. "You hurt me like you hurt Mommy."
Ansen shook his head. "No, Lilith. My sweet Lilith. I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you, Lilith. One day, you'll realise how much I care about you. How much I cared about your mother, too. I did it out of love."
She rubs her eyes of tears, hesitating. But ultimately, like always, she crawled over to her father, letting him wrap his arms around her. It wouldn't be long until she falls asleep, and then Ansen can carry out the next part of his plan.
She closed her eyes, getting comfortable by using her father's thigh as a pillow for now. Ansen ruffled the little girl's hair, watching as she fell asleep. There were so many nights like this that he had with Vera. Where she slowly drifted to sleep in Ansen's arms.
As the infant drifted, he couldn't help but think about what she said. No, he didn't hurt his daughter. He never hurt Vera. Everything he did to her was out of love. She didn't realise it yet, she didn't realise that everything he did to her... she wanted all of it. She just needed a little more time to understand it.
But he couldn't blame the infant for thinking that she was in danger by her father. She has yet to realise what love was.
You know what they say-, he thought, looking back at the screen. Vera turned around and stormed into the palace, the heir of Auxillium following her. Her beauty still radiated with every step.
Ansen got up, carrying the infant in his arms..
-like mother, like daughter.