Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
The sound of a door opening woke up Justin. He didn’t think much of it, knowing that Mynor would say something if it was important. He felt Mynor move next to him, but he kept his eyes shut, clinging to the dream he’d been having.
It was nice. He and his family were having Christmas dinner, and Caitlin was there. Yancey and Calyx weren’t fighting. Shelby kept teasing Justin about his new boyfriend.
“Justin,” Anya said, shattering Justin’s peace.
Justin’s eyes flew open. He hadn’t expected his mother to come down here. She usually did so once a week, but recently, she’d started skipping a week or two. It was like she knew that she wouldn’t be able to convince him, no matter how many times she tried.
And she had tried.
Justin groaned and sat up. He didn’t get to his feet.
He didn’t see any reason to, not when he already knew that she was here to convince him to see things her way.
He wasn’t sure why she believed she could do it, even though he’d been here for months.
Would she ever stop trying? It might be a bad thing for Justin if she did.
Maybe she’d decided to get rid of him or something.
Maybe she wouldn’t want a son who didn’t want to follow in her footsteps.
“You should let him out,” Mynor said.
Anya wasn’t looking at him, but she heard him. There was no way she hadn’t. She didn’t react at all, but Justin frowned at him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“You don’t belong here,” Mynor said. “You should accept her offer.”
Justin understood what Mynor was doing, but he couldn’t let it stand.
He pushed away from the wall and got to his feet, wincing at the pain in his back. Sleeping on the cold floor never got easier. “I’m not accepting anyone’s offer. I’m not hurting people. You two can stop thinking of ways to change my mind because I won’t.”
Anya nodded. “That’s what I thought, although I hoped that giving you one last chance would help.”
“Why would it? You want me to do something I find horrifying. You might not think much about hurting people, but I’m not like you.”
“You’re my son.”
“Only biologically. I still don’t understand why you wanted a child with a human, but I’m starting to believe it was an accident.
You left as soon as you could. You didn’t want anything to do with me or my father, and I wish I hadn’t changed that.
I wish I hadn’t come here.” The only thing it had given him was pain.
Well, he’d also met Mynor, and he was glad for that, but since they were both stuck in a cell, he couldn’t say that he was happy.
“You won’t ever change your mind, will you?” Anya asked.
“I don’t think so. I refuse to be like you.
I refuse to hurt people. Maybe if you change completely, I might consider it, but we both know you’re not going to do that.
You’re not the queen because you want to help people.
You’re the queen because you’re helping yourself, and you don’t see anything wrong with that. ”
“I hoped you would, so I wouldn’t have to go through another pregnancy, but maybe this is for the best. You’re only half-demon.
I don’t think anyone would ever respect you.
Well, Justin, I hope you enjoy your cell.
You’ll never leave this place. I should have known that you’d be too much like your father. ”
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 plan to 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.
Justin beamed. “Good.” He looked around the cell. “How does it work, then? What do I do now that I’m being summoned? I can still feel the pull, and it’s weird. It’s kind of making me queasy.”
“I’ve never been summoned before, but you need to wait until the portal opens. You could also try to resist the summoning, but the pull is going to bother you. If you resist, eventually, the human’s magic won’t be enough to continue, and they’ll have to give up.”
Justin shook his head. “Calyx would never give up. Besides, I’m not planning on resisting.”
Mynor didn’t say anything. It was clear that Justin wouldn’t even consider the possibility that this had nothing to do with his brothers. Mynor understood. He wanted to believe it was them. He’d just have to be careful for both himself and Justin.
Justin clung to Mynor’s hand and stood at the center of the cell, looking around. He was frowning, which was cute. “So, where’s this portal?” he asked.
Mynor couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t wait to get to know Justin outside of this place.
It felt like something—or someone—was pulling Justin along. He was pretty sure that if he didn’t start moving, he’d get dragged, and that wasn’t something he wanted to experience, so he was glad he’d convinced Mynor to come.
He was pretty sure he heard someone say his name. He thought he recognized the voice, but he didn’t want to hope, even though there was only one person who could do something like this.
A portal wavered into existence in the cell.
Thankfully, it wasn’t on the ceiling, but for some reason, it hovered above the floor, which meant they’d have to climb into it.
Justin was pretty sure this was the first portal to the underworld that Calyx opened, so it made sense that he wasn’t quite sure how to do it.
Luckily, it had worked, which meant that Justin and Mynor were about to be free.