Seconds to Midnight: A Maiden of Midnight Prequel
Destiny- Day Eighty

Destiny- Day Eighty

“Would pushing Ray Junior down the stairs be worth it?” I mused curiously to Cain and my Guardians, tossing yet another of his letters insisting on our marriage into the nearby fire, not even bothering to break the seal on the letter.

I knew the contents already, thanks to the dozens of others he’d sent since I’d been raised up from the Void. Threatening him was one of the most satisfying things in my life, and knowing that he would die on the trip to The Borderlands made his desperation for our marriage all the more entertaining, no matter how creepy it was.

“Aren’t you killing him in Ordeallan?” Bal’gag reminded with a snort, Nym adding, “Dramatically, too.”

“She’s putting on a show of brutality,” Lydiav informed them with a wink toward me, Cain arching an eyebrow, “Killing Raymondo Junior in front of your targets will remind them that you are dangerous, which is the opposite of what you are meant to be doing in Ordeallan.” I already planned to do it in Lady Merantala’s house, so she and a handful of other Court members would see, and report back on Raymondo Junior’s death. Hopefully it would be a lesson to the rest of the Manor that when I said no, I damned meant it.

Despite my brutality being well known across the Manor, sometimes they needed a reminder of it, especially after my being dead for one-hundred years. My Guardians and Cain did their best to keep my reputation alive while I was, well, not, but if anything was worth doing, it was worth doing myself.

Cain’s eyes slid curiously to me, “I thought you were trying to make Seth into your saviour?”

“I am, but I can’t be pathetic about it,” I pointed out, cracking open the next letter addressed to me from a member of the Caliem Court, reading briefly over it. They wanted my help in settling a debate between them and another Court member- How dull.

That letter followed Raymondo’s into the fire. They should have been honoured I was reading it at all, considering how boring and trivial most of their complaints were. Seriously, who complained to their Princess about a minor dispute? Couldn’t they settle it the way all things were settled in the Manor? With murder?

“Des, this is important. Screwing this mission up would have the Manor coming down on our heads like nothing else.”

“Yeah, yeah, a Severing, whatever.”

Cain shook his head, a solemn look on his face, gazing at my Guardians and I, all of them stiffening when he corrected, “I’m talking war. If we fail this, if we do ANYTHING to screw this up, Zeella and Lilith will wage a war against us. Do you think we can survive a war?”

“We’ve done it before,” I remarked with a frown, thinking back to the Legacy War on Earth, and my cousin sighed heavily, “We were on the Manor’s side. Do you think we would survive fighting against the Manor? Keeping in mind that we would be in a strange land, with no allies, and no supplies? It would be just the four of us against the entirety of the Caliem Manor.” Bal’gag, Nym and Lydiav exchanged morose glances, Cain’s speech upsetting.

“Given enough allies…” I began, only to cut myself off. We wouldn’t survive. Of course we wouldn’t. The Manor was the best of the best. We were unstoppable in every sense of the word. Tapping my hip, I mumbled, “No, we wouldn’t.”

Nodding, he announced, “That’s right, so let’s just focus on doing the mission right. Everything else, even petty rivalries, can come later. You can kill Raymondo Eduardo Junior, but only if you paint him out to be a real threat. Justify it in Seth’s mind, and in the minds of his allies. Remember, we need him to like you. Not fear you, like you. He needs to be willing to protect you, and you don’t have a lot of time to establish that alliance.”

Nephilim were honourable, especially the Nephilim of Ordeallan. It couldn’t be that hard to get him to like me!

Cain was just being paranoid. Once I was in Ordeallan, wearing something pretty, I would have Seth’s devotion. He wasn’t that complicated. He was… like a sheep, or a dog. He wanted attention, and once he had it, would be loyal unto death.

There were only ten days until I would be in The Borderlands, running the mission.

Zeella and the others were handing every contact I would have in Dimension Two, like receiving the blade I would use to poison Seth to make him weaker- which would be hidden in a crate in Karmona.

Lady Merantala would be in Ordeallan, both as a checkpoint so she could report back to Zeella, and for any support I would need- not that I would need any.

Evalin would be pretending to be Seraphina. Our alliance with the Archangels would stop them from tearing her apart.

Everything was going to be fine.

The next ten days would fly by, especially with my training routine taking up most of them, although Cain was forcing me to relax for the three leading up to it, making sure I wasn’t bruised black and blue when I got into Ordeallan. I needed to be looking my best.

Ten more days… Casting my gaze over the room, I tried to imagine myself in a different world, one with a completely different history from Earth and Korath, and tapped my hip.

Soon, it would be a reality, and my mission would be complete. My family would be back together.

Leaning back against the bed, I allowed myself a little smile of success, Cain catching my eye and bristling in delighted surprise at the grin, giving me one of his own, adding a wink to it that made my smile widen.

“Let’s do this,” I grinned, Cain replying, “We’ve got your back.”

I trusted nobody else with the privilege.

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