Anya turned to him. She didn’t look angry or confused. She looked cool, which was almost worse.
“You shouldn’t hurt people or torture them,” Justin continued, even though he was terrified. “That’s not how a good queen should act.”
“What would you know about it?” Anya snapped. “You wouldn’t be a good king right now. You don’t evenwantto be king.”
“Because I know myself. I know I wouldn’t be good at it, but I still wouldn’t torture people. Why were they here, trying to free prisoners? Why do you have so many prisoners in the first place? Is it because you don’t like that they stand up to you? Someone clearly needs to.”
Justin didn’t like the way Anya was watching him, but he’d gone too far to backtrack. He couldn’t, even though the way she was watching him made him want to.
“You’re too human,” she said.
Justin blinked, not knowing what to make of those words. “What do you mean?”
“You were raised in the human realm by your father. Of course you don’t understand what’s needed here. You’ll need to spend more time in our realm before you can see that, but maybe we can speed up the process. I need someone who will work with me, not against me.”
“I’ll never work with you. I don’t think that what you’re doing is right.”
Anya turned to the guard. “Take him to the dungeons. Put him in with Mynor.”
Justin took a step back, but the two guards who’d followed them from the office stepped up. He bumped against them, then quickly moved forward.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Since you know Mynor already, maybe spending time with him will make you see that this is necessary,” Anya said. She sounded concerned, but Justin knew better. She didn’t care about anyone but herself. She wanted Justin to be afraid. That was why she was putting him in a cell with Mynor.
“I haven’t done anything that would warrant being imprisoned,” he insisted, even though he knew that wouldn’t change anything.
“Standing up to me is reason enough. You’ll stay there until you come to your senses. I’m sure that Mynor will help you see the truth.”
Justin didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t fight the guards, so when one of them grabbed his arm, he allowed himself to be dragged away. He stared at Anya for a while longer, but she dismissed him without a second glance.
Justin had fucked up. He’d wanted to help people, and now, he was the one who needed help.
Chapter Eight
Mynor sucked in a breath when he heard people coming. Part of him hoped he’d finally see for himself that Alphan was okay, but another part of him prayed he’d never see Alphan again, considering where he was. He needed Alphan out there, safe and happy, not in here, sharing a cell with him.
Or worse, dead.
Mynor had no idea what had happened, who had screamed or why, but he was terrified. He got more nervous the closer the footsteps came, until he felt like he was about to crawl out of his skin when they reached the outside of the room he was in. The door was still open, and he watched as the first guard stepped in.
Justin was right behind him. Mynor blinked, sure he wasn’t seeing that right, but he was. Two more guards stepped into the room behind Justin, and it was clear that the three of them were framing him as if expecting him to try to escape.
That didn’t make sense. Why was Justin in the dungeons? Why were the guards with him? Why were they treating him like a criminal? He was Anya’s son. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
Unfortunately for Mynor, one of the guards was Pythom. He showed Mynor his teeth as he stepped up to the cell, gesturing athim to move back. “Don’t try anything because it won’t end well for you,” he said.
“What’s going on?” Mynor asked. He obeyed, though. He didn’t have a choice. He wanted to avoid another beating if he could.
“You’re going to have a cellmate for a bit,” Pythom said with a grin.
He grabbed the key hanging from the wall and opened Mynor’s cell. For a moment, Mynor thought it was a trap, although he didn’t understand how it would work. He didn’t honestly believe that Justin would be locked up with him, but as soon as Pythom opened the cell, the other two guards stepped forward to push Justin inside.
Justin batted their hands away and glared at them. He was smart, though. He didn’t refuse to walk into the cell. Mynor doubted the guards would beat him up the way they’d beaten him, but he didn’t know what was going on, so he might be wrong.
“Why is he here?” he asked Pythom.
Pythom smiled again as he slammed the door shut and locked it. “Like I said, you’re going to be cellmates for a while. Anya thought it would be interesting, and I’m sure you were bored. If anything, he’s pretty.”
