I totally agree with everything you just said, @KoffeeGirl
The second they met, Cora says “you’re the daughter I would have wished for” (paraphrasing) and I think she saw someone she could finally mold like wanted to with Regina. The problem was that Will still lived. Cora had to kill Daniel in order to bring Regina under her, but in this case, she had to break Ana in a different way–make Ana think that Will didn’t love her in the first place. And then tempt her with the magic.
I know we probably won’t see it, but I’d love to see more of their relationship over the years.
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"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"