Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Justin had no idea how long he’d been stuck in this cell. It could have been months, or maybe weeks. It could have been just a few days.
Well, that wasn’t true. Initially, he’d attempted to keep up with the days.
He’d counted how many times he saw the sunset outside the cell window.
He’d stopped counting after twenty, when it had been evident that he wouldn’t be getting out of there anytime soon.
He wasn’t sure how long ago that had been, though.
Initially, he’d expected Anya to leave him in the cell for just a few days, maybe a week.
She’d wanted to scare him by sticking him in here with Mynor, but the joke was on her because Justin liked the demon.
There wasn’t anything else for them to do but talk, and that was what they’d been doing.
At this point, Justin suspected that Mynor was the person who knew him best in the world.
He’d told him things he had never said to any of his brothers.
Anya came once a week to try to convince him to change his mind.
She failed every time. She also hadn’t sent anyone to hurt him, which was good, but it made him wonder if she’d forgotten about him.
Maybe she was too busy squashing Alphan’s rebellion.
Justin hoped the demon wouldn’t get caught, but he was glad because it meant that Anya was focused on something else.
Unfortunately, that didn’t help him. He couldn’t get out.
A few days after he’d arrived, he’d been desperate enough to try pulling at the bars of the window, but they hadn’t budged.
Leaving any other way was impossible because of the guards, so there was nothing Justin could do.
He hated that. He had hope that Calyx would eventually realize something was wrong and would find him, but so far, it didn’t look like he had.
It was hard to hope—almost as hard as it was not to.
“I don’t understand why Yancey got so angry,” Mynor said. He was frowning.
They were sitting next to each other. In the first few days, Justin had kept some distance between them, but that had quickly stopped.
The cell was cold, especially during the night, and they didn’t have blankets.
After two nights of having to listen to Justin shiver in his sleep, Mynor had flopped down next to him and pressed his body against his without saying a word.
Justin had never been afraid. He’d never wondered what Mynor was doing or why.
He’d accepted the comfort and warmth, and since then, they’d been growing closer to the point where Justin had told Mynor about the fight that had caused him to make the stupidest decision he’d ever made in his life.
He sighed and pressed his shoulder harder against Mynor’s. “It’s just how Yancey is.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Your mother decided what to do with her belongings before her death. If she’d wanted Yancey to have the house, she would have left it to him.”
“I know that, you know that, and Yancey knows that. I don’t think he’s actually angry at Calyx. I don’t think he’s angry at Caitlin for leaving the house to Calyx, either. I think he’s pissed because she’s gone, and this is the only way for him to let that emotion out.”
“But why would he take it out on Calyx? The poor man lost his mother, too.”
“Yancey has never been great with feelings. Most of us have problems with that, actually.” It probably came from their past. Justin had been lucky because, even though he’d lost his father, he’d known him.
He’d known he was loved. His father hadn’t abandoned him.
He’d died. The same couldn’t be said for his brothers.
He imagined it would leave a wound that might not heal.
Caitlin had tried, but losing her had sent all of them spinning.
“But he risks losing someone else who’s important to him,” Mynor pointed out.
“He’ll only realize that when he comes close to losing Calyx. You don’t know Calyx, though. If there’s one of us who will always be there for the others, it’s him. Even if it takes Yancey ten years to finally apologize, Calyx will welcome him back into his life. It’s just the kind of person he is.”
“He loves you.”
“We love each other.” And Justin might never get the chance to tell his brothers that.
He bumped the back of his head against the stone wall and glanced at the window. “I know you already said there’s no way out, but you really can’t think of anything?”
“If I could, I wouldn’t still be there,” Mynor murmured. “I’m really sorry you ended up here with me.”
“Not your fault.”
“I thought Anya would have gotten you out of here a while ago, honestly. I’m not sure what she’s trying to do.”
“I’m pretty sure that she’s forgotten about me.”
Mynor hummed. “That might not be a bad thing.”
For either of them. No one had come in to hurt Mynor since Justin had been left in his cell.
The guards still came to bring them food, but they mostly ignored them.
One of them kept looking at them with something lecherous in his expression, but while it gave Justin the creeps, the guard hadn’t tried hurting them.
There was no way to know how long that would last. There was no way to know how long it had already been. All Mynor and Justin could do was survive and wait for Anya’s next move.
No matter when it came.
“Dinner’s here,” Pythom declared with a shit eating grin.
It was enough to tell Mynor that something was up, but he didn’t know what that something was until he realized that Pythom only had one tray. He pushed it through the opening in the door, then stood there, waiting. Justin had gotten up to grab the food, and he frowned, looking down at it.
“There are two of us,” he said.
“Are there?” Pythom asked.
He had never hurt Justin the way he’d hurt Mynor.
Mynor hadn’t expected him to. He also hadn’t expected Pythom to be so disrespectful since Justin was Anya’s son, but maybe he’d taken the way Anya was treating Justin as a go-ahead to be a dickhead to him, too.
After all, Justin was a prisoner right now.
He might continue being one for a while, depending on what Anya decided to do with her son.
Justin looked at Pythom as if he were an idiot. To be fair, he was. One didn’t need to be smart to be a prison guard.
“There’s me and Mynor,” he said slowly. “That’s two.”
Pythom seemed to realize what Justin was thinking because he scowled. “I know there are two of you,” he snapped. “I thought it would be fun to only give you one tray. I wonder which one of you will be starving today.” He leaned closer to the bars. “My money’s on you, little boy.”
He stepped away and turned toward Mynor to wink at him.
Mynor just stared. Arguing wouldn’t help him or Justin.
It wouldn’t help anyone. Thankfully, Justin seemed to realize it because he didn’t say anything else.
He watched as Pythom whistled on his way out of the room, waiting until the door was closed behind him to sigh.
“You should eat the food,” he told Mynor.
Mynor rolled his eyes. “Or we could share.”
“I don’t think Pythom wants us to share.”
“Is Pythom here right now? More so, do we care about what he wants?”
That got a smile out of Justin. “We don’t. You’re bigger than me. It takes more food for you to survive.”
“I’ll be fine with half the food. Is it at least edible this time?”
Justin grimaced. “Well, there’s no mold.” He sat down, keeping the tray steady, and peeked back at it.
They’d been eating a little better since Justin had arrived.
It was clear that Anya wanted him to decide to stay, and he wouldn’t do that if he were starving.
That didn’t mean they were eating like Anya or even the guards ate, though.
They didn’t have a lot of food, and what they did have was scraps from the kitchen.
Still, it was better than nothing or than what Mynor had been given before, so Mynor wasn’t going to argue. He also wasn’t going to starve Justin.
He moved to sit next to Justin, peeking at the tray. He snatched one of the two pieces of bread and gave it a bite, humming when he didn’t almost break a tooth. “The bread is mostly fresh.”
Justin snorted. “It’s the mostly that worries me.”
“You got used to eating with Anya. You’re not going to get that kind of food here.”
Justin picked up the other piece of bread. “That’s fine with me. It was a little too much, to be honest. Nothing like what I’m used to.”
“But you’re still used to something better than this,” Mynor said, gesturing at the tray.
“Caitlin was a good cook. Calyx is, too, and they always fussed over the rest of us. They made sure we had enough to eat, things like that. It was probably too much since we’re all adults, but I miss it. I miss them.”
From the way Justin talked about his family, it was clear that losing them was causing him pain. Mynor couldn’t do anything about Justin’s mother, but he hoped to reunite Justin with his brothers eventually. He wasn’t sure how he’d do that, but he’d find a way. Justin deserved it.
What Justin didn’t deserve was to be stuck here with him. Neither of them deserved to be in the cell.
Mynor had initially been wary of Justin, but he liked him.
He didn’t think that Justin was here to spy on him or that he was working for Anya.
No, he was too good and sweet for that. He was here because he’d stood up to her, and it had been the wrong choice.
He didn’t belong here. He’d never find a way to go home if he stayed stuck in this cell, and Mynor had been thinking about how to get both of them out.
There was only one way he could think of, unfortunately.
“You know that we’re not getting out of here unless your mother says we can, right? ” he asked as they ate.
“I’m aware,” Justin said. He sounded confused.
“Maybe you should accept her offer, then. She’ll get you out of here.” There was no way for Mynor to leave, but Justin? He had a chance.
Justin blinked and lowered his food. “Are you telling me that you want me to start working with Anya?”
“It would be better for you than being stuck here.”
“Would it be? You know what she’d make me do. There’s no way she’d let me leave this cell without proving myself to her. I don’t know exactly what that would entail, but it wouldn’t be anything good.”
“I agree, but it might be the only possibility you have.”
Justin shook his head. “As much as I hate being here, I’m not compromising. I’m not doing her bidding. Besides, I’m sure my brothers will eventually realize I’m gone, and they’ll find me. It’s just going to take them a little time.”
Mynor understood why Justin felt this way, so he didn’t push. He wouldn’t give in to Anya, either, if he were in Justin’s place. He didn’t like that he couldn’t do anything for him, though. “I guess you and I are stuck together, then.”
“I guess we are,” Justin confirmed. “Is that a problem? Do you want this magnificent cell all to yourself again?”
“Yes, I’d rather sleep with the rats than with you.”
Justin grinned. Just like Mynor, he was filthy.
They both smelled, but that didn’t stop Mynor from wanting to reach over and kiss Justin.
He didn’t. He was pretty sure that Justin would be fine with it from the way he watched him sometimes, but he couldn’t give this kind of ammunition to Pythom and Anya.
They were waiting for Justin and Mynor to do something wrong, to reveal a weakness, and that was what this would be.
If they showed their jailers that they cared about each other, they’d be separated.
No, it was better to keep their distance as much as they could. Maybe one day, in another life, they could be more than cellmates, but for now, they couldn’t afford for anything to change.
It was one more thing that Anya was taking from them. Mynor really hated her.