Page 96 of Heir of the Beast

“I know. Pierce is beside himself right now.”

“Sold into slavery?” I squeak. “Sex slavery?”

“Probably.”

“Mort, I will not be a sex slave,” I hiss, tears welling in my eyes.

“You can exit the game if you wish, but you will never see Apollo again.” Mort gives me a sad look and shrugs. “I told you there is bad blood here.”

“Will Apollo die?”

Mort is typing again. “It’s hard to say. Apollo seems like a fellow who does not give up easily, so I think there is a chance. I think vengeance alone might keep him alive.

“From what I hear, Apollo has never shown so much fury. Some worry that the beast within him will take him over from the unhealthy rage he displayed.”

She shook her head. “Too much power for a mere human, if you ask me. I will get an update soon on his health from Pierce.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “There’s nothing Pierce can do?” I ask, praying there is something, anything.

“He is working on it.”

We hear voices, and Mort jumps up and shapeshifts into a butterfly within seconds. The large latch opens with a suction sound, and a man walks in.

The man is tall and, surprisingly, not as ugly as I assumed.

He has jet black hair and a beard, with silver rings in his ears. He is dressed in nice black clothing and a large gun on his hip. His chocolate brown eyes survey me, and I tense.

“So you’re the woman that has two kingdoms at odds,” he says, and sits next to me on the small cot.

“No,” I say as I feel myself shake. “When you take a princess, this sort of thing happens, or did no one tell you that before you decided to abduct us?”

He laughs. “Sharp tongue.” He smiles at me, and I shiver. “I would have slapped you for that comment, but I need you looking your best. I have some high bidders. Very exciting.”

“Queen Irena paid you to do this? Why her own daughter, then?”

He looked like he was thinking in a mocking way. “Queen Irena, you say? What a worthless bitch—had one job to do and fucked everything up. Well,” he winks at me, “I guess I have you to blame for that one.”

I take a breath, trying to scoot back on the bed. “How did I ruin your plans? Or do I even want to know?”

“Well, let’s just say that Princess Laura was supposed to be married to Apollo, and that was Irena’s sole job.

“You were supposed to be killed long ago when Apollo was apparently showing interest in you. Any distraction was supposed to be taken care of immediately by Irena.

“Princess Laura seemed like she would be easily manipulated through mind control, thus giving me all power over her.

“Of course, Apollo would be killed after their child was born, but now that can’t happen because of you. Now we will take Garthorn by force instead of the nice way.”

“Apollo is dying. How are you going to get his child?” I ask, seething.

His jaw flexes, and he looks like he is keeping his anger in check. “I am working on that part. He was never supposed to get bitten—you were!” He surprises me by yelling, his face reddening.

I flinch. “What is the point if he dies?”

“There is a lot that I can benefit from taking over Garthorn. I am the rightful heir, in fact.

“The Garthorn family stole this land from my family long ago, and now I’m taking it back,” he says, with a smile and a simple shrug.

“Who are you that you can do that?”

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