Page 82 of Heir of the Beast

“You are messing up my life! I am a princess here about to marry the man of my dreams! My other life back home sucked and I won’t let you take this away from me!”

A maid comes rushing in, and I think it’s her agent. Laura looks like a bull who is ready to charge at the slightest flash of red.

“Laura,” her agent says. “Come with me and we will figure out a plan.”

“A plan?” I ask as I look from Laura to her agent. “Can someone tell me what’s going on?!”

Laura takes a loud inhale and exhale, adjusting her dress and hair.

“I know what you did with Apollo last night—with an engaged man! I have won, Viola! We are to be married and you are messing it up!” She takes steps toward me.

“We are in love, and I don’t need you trying to break us up!”

“Laura, this is a competition for three months. We are almost in our last month here! Just because you have an engagement doesn’t mean you’ve won,” I say through gritted teeth.

She shakes her head. “I know men. He is in love with me. But men are all hot-blooded, and when you flaunt yourself in front of him, he goes with his animal instincts. Any man would!

“You’re just a whore! Fairy Godmother Inc. needs to stop hiring sluts and they might finish a lot more missions! Any sweet words he might tell you to get into your panties are lies.

“That’s why I still have the marriage proposal. You are only good enough to get his lust, not love!” She is turning an alarming shade of purple.

I am getting pissed now. Her ego is surpassing her pink, sparkly brain.

Mort comes charging into the room and glares at Laura, then the other agent. “Leenie. Pierce says break it up, this is a violation of code B-5.” Mort glares at the agent.

“You should know this. Laura, if you cannot contain yourself, you will be ejected from the game. This is a competition, and if you cannot handle that, then you may use all of your lifelines and leave Delorith.”

Mort smiles. “You may not under any circumstance bring the Fairy Godmother into any heated discussion. Pierce says this is a warning.”

Mort glances at the agent. “Leenie, you need to log on and Pierce will have a word with you.”

She hisses at Mort and leaves.

Laura is mentally slaughtering Mort to pieces with her death stare. “Of course,” she grits out. Laughter bubbles out of her throat as she glances back at me.

“If this is competition, then I’m your worst nightmare,” she threatens. “If you do not back down from my~ fiancé~ then I will make your life a living hell.”

“Laura,” Mort warns.

“Goodbye, Viola. I have a lovely carriage ride with ~MY ~fiancé this morning.” She beams. “He found me and presented me with gorgeous flowers.

“It shocks me how beautiful this world is, so different from our own. It was all quite romantic—I am even blushing thinking about it.

“He is just so strong and handsome, and when he kissed me, I felt an electric current between us. I really think he is taking things slow with us, trying to do it right.

“We are really getting to know one another before we make the physical connection. I think this next month we will take the relationship to the next level.” She laughs as if she is reliving the bliss of it.

“So, I am sorry for the drama I caused, but I just want to warn you that he only sees you for your body, as any hot-blooded male would.

“He wants more from me, and I don’t want you hurt, despite how much I dislike you. Men will say anything to get under a woman’s skirts. It’s just a means to an end for them—it means nothing.”

My mouth is hanging open.

Mort walks up to her. “Leave.”

Laura nods and dusts something off her puffed sleeve. “Heed my warning, Viola,” she whispers, pausing at the door. “Breasts are just breasts, and a vagina is just that, but the heart is so much more.”

After she leaves, deafening silence drifts around us.

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