Justin sucked in a breath. “What about my father?”
“He was too nice. It’s what attracted me initially. He was different from anyone I’ve ever known here, and I liked that.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough for me to get pregnant with you. I knew it was a mistake, but your father begged me to leave you with him. He took care of me during the pregnancy. He should never have told you anything about me, though. I told him when I left that I would never be back and that I had no interest in him or you.”
“I agree.” But Justin was still glad his father had. He would have always wondered if he hadn’t known, but now, he did. His mother didn’t care about him. She didn’t care about anyone but herself. If he had the opportunity to go back home, he’d do so and would never think about her again.
Anya turned and walked away. Justin watched her, wondering if this was the last time he would see her. She didn’t sound like she was going to order him killed, but maybe she’d change her mind about it eventually, or maybe she’d leave him to rot in here and would forget he existed. Justin disliked both outcomes, but only one would give him a chance to make it out alive.
A strange sensation tugged at his gut. He looked down, but there was nothing there to see.
Mynor was still standing by the bars, staring at Justin. Had he really thought that Justin would accept Anya’s offer? Why?He had to know that if Justin had accepted, they probably would have never seen each other again.
Justin opened his mouth to ask, but the tugging sensation interrupted him. There was still nothing obvious going on around his stomach, so he didn’t get it.
“What’s wrong?” Mynor had asked.
“It’s just a weird sensation. Why did you tell me to accept Anya’s offer?”
“Because it’s the only way for you to get out of here.”
“Maybe not. My brother will get me out eventually.”
“I would love for that to happen, but you have to be realistic, Justin. How would your brother know that he has to get you out of a cell in the underworld? He hasn’t until now. Why would that change?”
The tugging got more insistent and stronger. Justin had no idea what the fuck was happening, but he didn’t like it. “My brothers care about me. I don’t know how long it’s been, but eventually, they’ll realize they haven’t heard from me in a while. They’ll try to find me, and when they can’t, Calyx will use his magic to locate me.” He paused at the insistent tugging. “And what the fuck is that?”
“What are you talking about?” Mynor asked, moving closer and reaching for Justin.
Justin gestured at his stomach. “It’s like someone is tugging on my stomach, almost like they have a rope or something that’s connected to it. It’s weird.”
Mynor stared for a moment. He looked shocked, which wasn’t an expression Justin was used to seeing on him. Justin wasn’t sure he liked it.
“What?” he asked before he allowed himself to freak out.
“I think you’re being summoned.”
Mynor had never been summoned,but he’d talked to plenty of demons who had been. They’d told him all about how it felt, and he hoped he’d never have to deal with something like that. He wasn’t sure why, but he hadn’t expected Justin to have to.
Justin was only half-demon, but it was clearly demon enough to be summoned. The problem was that humans summoned demons for many different reasons, and most of them weren’t good. Mynor couldn’t allow anything to happen to Justin, but would he be able to stop it? How? He’d never tried to stop a summoning. He didn’t know what kind of magic humans used to do it, and he had no idea what to do, but he still grabbed Justin’s hand.
He was freaking out, but Justin didn’t seem to be. Instead, he smiled in a way Mynor had never seen him smile—wide and happy.
“It’s my brother,” Justin said, squeezing Mynor’s hand.
“How can you be sure?”
“I guess I can’t be, but I know it is. Who else would summon me? No one else cares about me.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
Justin shook his head. “You can’t know it’s not my brother. It has to be. Please, Mynor. Come with me. I don’t want to leave you here.”
“I’ll come with you.” Mynor had promised he would when they’d talked about it. It wasn’t only because he didn’t want to be stuck in this cell forever or die at Anya’s hands. He cared about Justin, and he wanted to protect him.
They had no way to know who was summoning Justin. It could be his brother, but it could also be part of Anya’s planto convince Justin to change his mind. Mynor wouldn’t put anything past her, even though he didn’t see how this could work in her favor.
