Seconds to Midnight: A Maiden of Midnight Prequel
Zeella- Day One

Zeella- Day One

There was an air of celebration around Lilith as she skipped around my desk, throwing her arms around me and singing, “Oh, Zeella, thank you!”

Her gratitude threw me off. There was nothing for her to be thanking me for. This was what the Manor had been working toward ever since its conception.

Once Desterium gathered everything we needed for the End of Days Ritual, which had been so helpfully laid out for us by Joseph, we would set it up under the guise of working to sacrifice Seth, and then throw her in. We had allied with Revala, searching their vaults for any sign of the Sacreds or the Legacy Blades, only to come up empty-handed. Whatever obsession Joseph had with them wasn’t connected to the End of Days prophecy, so Desterium was being sent out.

By the time she realised we had betrayed her, it would be too late. She would be bound to Lazarus, the Dark God of Daemonium.

Once he was bound to her and summoned, we would sacrifice Seth, and continue on with our previous plans.

Desterium and Lazarus would fight another World-Killer and Nazareth. Anyone with any connections to light, such as the Sun Palace Faery Princess, was being scrutinised in case they were to be my daughter’s rival.

Once Desterium won, Eden would be returned to us, and my daughter could be killed.

It was a simple plan. Desterium was arrogant enough that she would never see our betrayal coming, and once she was bound to Lazarus, and realised the new power she had, she would forget the transgression and be loyal once more.

After all, my daughter craved power above all else. How much more power could you gain than becoming a Goddess?

The Manor would rise with her. Once Lilith returned to the Garden of Eden and snatched Adam back into her clutches, we could continue rising above all else, undefeatable with a God and a Goddess at our backs.

“You are certain Desterium is loyal?” Lilith eyed me warily, peeling away from the hug to do so, “We cannot risk losing her.”

“Desterium already hates the Nephilim, and she hasn’t stepped foot in The Borderlands yet. She has her own motives for agreeing to the mission so easily, I am sure, but she will be loyal.”

“Good.” Lilith smiled at me, pouring two glasses of wine, handing one to me, leaning forward with her own and crooning, “Because if she is not loyal, I shall make you kneel and watch her kill you.”