“So what do we know about this guy?” Pythom asked.
“Only that it looks like he’s half human.”
“Anya really has a human child?”
“You know how people say that she spent some time in the human realm? I didn’t believe it, but it looks like I was wrong.”
“Yeah, but still. Having a child with a human?” Pythom shuddered dramatically. “Can you imagine having sex with a human?”
Mynor stuffed a bit of bread in his mouth. He’d never thought much about the human realm. Nothing that happened there was his business. He’d been more focused on life in Hell under Anya’s rule, but maybe this was something he could use. He didn’t even care if this guy was actually her son. What mattered was that she said he was.
Except that Mynor couldn’t do anything about it because he was stuck here. Who could he tell about Anya’s son? No one but the guards, and they already knew. They’d beat him if he attempted to talk to them, and while he knew that his body wasn’t quite there yet, he wasn’t sure how many more beatings he could take.
“So what’s going to happen now?” Pythom asked.
The other guard shrugged. “Who knows? She acts like she wants to keep him here, but I don’t know why she’d want to keep a human. She’s already ordered a suite cleaned up and prepared, though.”
Mynor tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling again. Of course she had. If this guy was her son, he was probably as cruel and evil as she was. That wouldn’t be good for anyone involved except Anya herself.
Mynor had never considered taking her head on. It would have been ridiculous because he wouldn’t have won. She was too powerful, and even if she weren’t, she had too many people on her side, both because they feared her and because of the power and riches she offered to those who pleased her. She didn’t have an heir, though. Mynor had thought that meant that once she was dead, there would be no one to take her place and continue her reign of cruelty.
He’d been wrong. She did have an heir. Mynor didn’t know anything about the guy, but if he was here for Anya and if she’d welcomed him with open arms, there was a good chance she would groom him to take her place. Then they’d have to deal with a second monster even after the first one was gone.
If they ever managed to get rid of the first one.
There was nothing Mynor could do from where he was. He couldn’t even warn Alphan. He knew that Alphan was working on finding a way to get him out of there, but this was getting more dangerous by the day. If Anya really had a son, she’d doeverything in her power to keep him safe. The palace had been a fortress before, and it had been a miracle that Alphan and Mynor had managed to get in. They wouldn’t get a second chance.
That meant that Mynor would be stuck here. He’d probably die here.
He groaned. He’d known this was a very real possibility, but deep inside, he’d hoped. Now, that hope was gone. The only thing he could do was try to survive as long as possible, but what was the point?
Mynor wasn’t sure there was one.
Chapter Four
The palace was alive with gossip about Anya’s newfound son, but Mynor couldn’t care less. He stared out the tiny window of his cell, watching as yet another patrol walked by. It was the third one in the past hour, which meant it would be impossible for anyone to get into the palace, including Alphan.
The problem was that Alphan might decide to try anyway.
Mynor was more worried for his best friend than he was for himself. He already knew there were no chances that he’d survive his captivity. He was making his peace with it, and that was okay. The problem was that Alphan would never accept that.
They’d grown up together in the same building. Their mothers had been friends, and they’d raised them together. Mynor and Alphan had spent their childhood running through the alleys between buildings, playing in their building’s hallways, and driving their mothers nuts. They’d been best friends almost since they’d learned to walk, and that friendship had only become stronger over the decades.
They’d both known it would be dangerous to go against Anya, but they’d agreed that someone needed to, and since no one else was doing it, they’d taken it upon themselves to defy her. It wasn’t like they’d fought her personally. They’d just liberated abunch of people she’d imprisoned for the stupidest reasons, like being in the way when she passed by them on her way to the palace. Or speaking too loudly in the market. Or having a face she didn’t like that particular day.
That wasn’t the only thing Mynor and Alphan had done, though. For the past few years, they’d been running an operation. Alphan would case the wealthy houses, mapping out which belonged to which of Anya’s supporters and which had the best security. Mynor handled the distribution of goods and had built a network of demons who would take the stuff they stole and get it to the families who needed it most. They’d been good at it. Mynor wondered if Anya had already found out that they were the ones who’d been breaking into the wealthy houses in town and stealing everything they could get their hands on to distribute it to people who needed it.
Not that Mynor thought that Anya knowing would change anything. She was going to kill him, no matter what he’d done. The daily interrogations had made her intentions crystal clear.
He just didn’t know when she’d do it.
He understood why she hadn’t yet. She’d been distracted by her newfound son, and it had given Mynor a period of respite, but he wasn’t sure he wanted it. Every day he stayed alive was another day for Alphan to cook up some stupid rescue scheme. He’d always been the impulsive one, the one who acted first and thought about consequences later. It had been helpful when they were robbing houses, but it was going to get him killed in this situation.
Mynor was surprised Alphan hadn’t tried to get to him yet. The extra security was probably the only thing stopping him, but Mynor knew that Alphan would eventually find a way around it. He always did. That was the problem.
There was nothing Mynor could do to stop him. Even if he died tomorrow, Alphan would still show up next week lookingfor him. No one would tell him that Mynor was gone. He’d get himself killed for no reason, and Mynor couldn’t stand the thought.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing he could do about anything. The walls were made of stone, the door was bars of solid steel, and even if he could somehow break free, where would he go? The guards would find him before he could get out of the building.
