Barbatos's heart

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Wendy was happily humming to herself as she colored on the floor. The king had her playing in the throne room with books, blocks, dolls, anything she wanted. It was pretty cute to see and Wendy was happy but I knew him better than that. He was up to something and I didn't like it.

After the king had taken Wendy, he made sure she got cleaned up and had me take her to the kitchen to get a snack. I was surprised he left me alone with her since she was my daughter, even if I was under his spell and "didn't recognize her." Of course, at the same time, he was pretty cocky when it came to his magic so he probably didn't think anything of it. It was the perfect opportunity though, just the thing I needed to hatch a plan with my little genius. "Alright, my little poppy, listen to daddy okay?" She nodded. "Zeb is bad." - "No bad, nice pap-pap Eb" I gritted my teeth as she said those words. "No Wendy. He is pretending. He is mean and he made mommy sick. He put mommy and your uncles in time out, a reeeeeally long time out. He is just pretending to be nice so you will like him, kind of like Uncle Solomon. He seems nice but you don't like him very much do you?" Wendy shook her head.

"The good news is, you can still play and have fun, just make sure ...pap-pap... Zeb.... doesn't take you anywhere alone. Okay?" - "Okay daddy." She responded. "Can you do all of this? Can you help your uncles, mommy, and me?" She thought for a second but then nodded. "Yeah!" I hugged her tight and thanked her. "Oh, one more thing, this is ths most important thing. Can I trust you?" I whispered. Wendy loved hearing secrets. She nodded enthusiastically. "We can't tell pap-pap Zeb any of this. I have to listen to pap-pap Zeb, just like I did with Uncle Didi. You can't tell him that I am helping mommy or anyone else. I have to still pretend to be bad so don't say anything to anyone. Promise?" I held out my pinky to her. She smiled and took it. "Pwomise." She whispered. I made her a pb&j sandwich and then returned her to the king. "Ah, Wendy! Look what I got for you!" The king beamed as he held out a big plush bear. Wendy squealed and ran over to take it. It made me sick to see the bastard acting like that, although he really wasn't that bad with Diavolo growing up. Come to think of it, he was a pretty good father until Diavolo started to rebel. Still in all, she was my daughter and it pained me to see her being manipulated like that when I couldn't do anything about it.

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It was mid-afternoon and I was cleaning the hall when the king approached me. "Barbatos, clean up the throne room. Take all of the child's toys and put them in her room. After you do that, I need you to call the chef and set up the banquet hall. I have a very important guest coming and I need tonight to be perfect. Keep the child locked in her room and keep her quiet". I did as he said and took Wendy to her room. I told her she needed to be a good girl and play in her room for the night. She didn't protest and asked one of the king's maids to play house with her. She had always been an easy baby and thank goodness for it.

I finished the dinner preparations and was about to go check on Wendy when I heard a very familiar voice and bumped into the one whom it belonged to. "Aurelia?" I gasped. "Do I know you?" She asked. In that moment I realized I had slipped up. Luckily, the king was a few feet behind her and didn't catch it. "No, my lady. I apologize. It is just... Zeb speaks of you often." I recovered. "Ah, Barbatos! This is Aurelia. She is here in Devildom as my very special guest. I expect you to treat her like the queen she is...or will be." I looked down and happened to notice the engagement ring on her finger. It took everything thing in me not to break my composure in that moment. I looked over to Aurelia and realized her eyes were glazed over and she seemed different, happy but different. It made sense though, since King Zebediah was no longer masking himself as a younger demon. Although he was a "silver fox" as Aurelia would put it, I wouldn't expect her to stay after she found out he had been lying to her or the obviousness of him trying to take over Devildom. He was brainwashing her just as he had been brainwashing me.

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At first, I wasn't sure about telling Diavolo the news about Aurelia being in the castle or his father's engagement to her. However, Diavolo had always been one for competition and if Aurelia was the prize, I knew he would fight harder than ever. His face seemed to sink as I told him the news but he understood that she was under a spell now and it wasn't her anymore. I think that helped him, but at the same time, I knew it still hurt. "I will break him. I will break him and release everyone under him." Diavolo's eyes seemed to gleam in the light. This is what we needed. "How is Wendy?" Elaina asked anxiously. "The king is taking good care of her." I said. Elaina looked shocked and frantic. "I'm keeping a close eye on her, Lainey. She is safe. Right now she is playing with Aurelia." It made Elaina feel more at ease but the sooner we could get rid of the problem and get our daughter back, the better.