Mynor’s eyes widened. Surely Pythom couldn’t be implying what it sounded like he was implying. Did he really think that Mynor would be stupid enough to hurt Anya’s son? Was that what Anya thought, too? Was it why she wanted Justin here?
Mynor glanced at Justin. His shoulders were hunched, and he was huddled into himself, still standing by the cell door. He didn’t try to push it back open or to beg Pythom to let him out. He looked scared, but also defiant.
“I’m sure you two will have a lot of fun together,” Pythom drawled. “But I have work to do.” He leaned closer to the bars. “Keep the blood to a minimum.”
Mynor gaped as he watched Pythom turn and leave the room. Pythom gestured at the other two guards to follow him, and they did, never once looking back before the door slammed shut behind them. They were really leaving Justin alone with Mynor.
Mynor waited until he couldn’t hear the guards’ footsteps anymore to turn to Justin. He was still standing there, and since Mynor didn’t want to scare him more than he clearly already was, he kept his distance. “What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?” Even though they’d only talked once, Mynor kind of liked Justin. At the very least, he didn’t want Justin to think he would hurt him.
“I guess it depends on what you mean by okay. I’m stuck in a cell.”
“Why?”
Justin’s shoulders slumped. “I think my mother is trying to scare me. I stood up to her when she ordered her guards to torture the new prisoners, and she didn’t like that. She said I was too soft.”
She was right, but that wasn’t what Mynor found the most interesting in what Justin had said. “New prisoners?”
“They tried to free the ones already in the cells.”
Mynor’s heart raced. “Do you know who it was?”
Justin’s expression went soft. “One of the guards said that your associate got away. They captured other people, but I think he’ll be fine. Anya wasn’t happy about that.”
Mynor had to lean against the bars because his legs threatened to buckle. “That’s good.”
“It is, but do you think he’s going to stop trying to free you?”
Mynor barked out a laugh. “Never. He won’t stop until I’m out of this cell.”
“That’s good, then.”
“It’s not. I don’t want him to get hurt.”
Justin finally stepped away from the door. He looked around, but there was nowhere for him to sit. Eventually, he moved toward the closest wall and slid down, sitting on the cold ground. “I understand,” he said. “I wouldn’t want my brothers to get in trouble or hurt, either.”
“He’s not my brother.”
“Something tells me he might as well be. If he’s willing to risk getting captured to get to you, I’m sure he cares about you.”
“He does. We care about each other.” Which was why Mynor hoped that Alphan wouldn’t come back. It was a miracle he’d managed to escape a second time. Mynor doubted it would happen a third time.
He looked around the cell. He wasn’t sure how long Anya would allow him to live since he wouldn’t do what she wanted him to do—scare Justin. He definitely wouldn’t touch Justin in the way Pythom had implied.
That probably meant that Anya would have Justin moved soon, or maybe she’d finally get bored with Mynor and would have him killed. Justin’s presence here didn’t change anything for Mynor.
But it changed everything for Justin.
Justin didn’t wantto be here. He wanted to go home, but his situation had gone from complicated to impossible. How was he supposed to find someone who would open a portal for him from here? He was at Anya’s mercy, which meant it didn’t bode well for him.
He couldn’t help but wonder what his brothers would think. Would they even realize that he was gone? He was sure they would eventually. They wouldn’t know where he was, though. They wouldn’t know how to reach him.
They wouldn’t know they needed to save him.
“Tell me about your associate,” he said.
Mynor pushed away from the bars and went to sit on the other side of the cell. The place wasn’t big, but it was big enough for both of them to have a little space, which was probably a good thing.
“Why?” Mynor asked.
