"Lucas! Byron! Leo!" She gasped and jumped up off the seat.
They all beamed bright smiles at her.
"You make such a beautiful bride!" Lucas laughed as he reached out for Candi's hand and dropped a kiss on her forehead. Then he gently pushed her back onto the seat.
"Stay in your seat, Sweetheart. We're moving very quickly at this moment." He kneeled down in front of her and carefully strapped her in.
"You are so beautiful, but this dress is so big, you barely fit into this seat." He grinned as he tucked the voluminous folds around her so the straps and harness would fit around her.
He turned his bright amused amber eyes towards Slate.
"Were you going to elope with my bride, Slate?"
Slate grinned cheekily.
"I have always been just the delivery service and personal bodyguard that everyone calls on to transport the Princess around. I feel so used and abused."
The men roared with laughter. Wasn't it Slate who had insisted on personally doing those duties?
An alert sounded, interrupting their lighthearted banter.
Slate turned back to the screens in front of the chairs.
"Uh oh. Looks like we got company." Leonardo chanted as a dozen pods rose up from the ground and came streaming at them.
"Have a seat and brace yourselves. I'll just chat with them for a bit." Slate waved a hand as three more chairs appeared from the floor.
The Princes took their seats and harnessed themselves down.
One more wave of Slate's hand resulted in a virtual monitor that appeared.
A winged trooper's face came into focus.
"Donovan. Stand down." Slate called out to the man.
"Your Royal Highness. With all due respect, you must return the Princess Candace Farrah. The wedding is about to begin and everyone is waiting for her."
"I said STAND DOWN!" Slate snarled.
"Yes Sir." He nodded and gave a signal.
Immediately, the battle pods fell back. They looped around and returned to the Royal Palace.
"Does that mean you just committed high treason, Slate?" Byron chuckled.
"Against who? Father? Lucas?" Slate gave a wry smile. "I am the Prime Warrior. I act independently of Erenveil's throne and lawmaking body."
That was true. Candace remembered him saying something about that to her in the past.
Lucas grinned. "I hereby formally forgive you, Brother, for flying off with my almost-bride."
"Don't forget I'm flying off with you as well."
"She's the real treasure. I'm just the afterthought." Lucas laughed.
"So where are we heading off to, Brother?" Leonardo asked as he settled onto his seat.
"When you told us to come with you, I wasn't expecting a heist with such high value." He turned to Candi with tender aqua eyes.
"I have to take her to a safe place. The Earth delegates are in an uproar and they want to exchange her for the fake Avgo woman Dahlia."
"Over my dead body." Lucas snarled. "That woman is so disgusting I would never allow her to touch me."
Byron laughed. "Did you do anything with her?"
Lucas shot him a disgusted look.
"No. I mostly acted as if I had some kind of sexual hangup about doing anything with her before marriage. That kept her off me for the most part."
Leonardo and Byron roared with laughter. Lucas had to be their least sexually hung up brother. He had more partners throughout his illustrious career than anyone they knew.
As the brothers chattered back and forth, Candi sat back and watched the sky change quickly from blue to violet to black.
They had broken through into deep space.
She was about to connect with Dante to let him know she was on her way out into deep space when the alert sounded, signaling them of an incoming call.
"It's Father. Want to talk to him?" Slate asked as he glanced at the monitor in front of him.
"Sure." Lucas rose from his chair and stood next to Slate. "Put Dear Old Dad on so we can all see him and speak to him ourselves."
Slate's fingers flew across the panel and the Emperor's face appeared onscreen, his violet eyes charged and stormy.
"Hello Father," Lucas called out, his deep amber eyes crinkling with mischief.
"You rascal," he frowned at Slate. "You're one of the grooms men. Why are you running away from your duties?"
He turned to Lucas with a dark scowl. "And you. Aren't you supposed to be down here to attend your own wedding? Or did you just jilt your new bride?"
Slate rolled his eyes and widened the screen so that Candace, Byron, and Leonardo were also included into the visual call.
"We're all here Father." Leonardo called out.
The Emperor huffed and puffed as he stared at all their mischievous twinkling eyes.
"I can't believe you all ran away. What the hell am I going to do with all the wedding guests and wedding presents and wedding food???" He roared, his face turning beet red.
Byron smiled. "Use it, Father. Marry the Empress Anastasia. She never got an Avgo wedding even though she won the Avgo. All she ever got from you was a legal document stating that she was a legal consort."
The Emperor's violet eyes lit up. This was a smashing idea!
But first things first. He still had to pretend to reprimand them.
Scowling with everything he could muster to appear angry and upset, the Emperor growled at his sons.
"Do you know what the ramifications for disrupting an Avgo wedding will be? You will all go down in historic infamy! All Avgo events and weddings are documented very thoroughly as part of Erenveil history!"
He paused and shook his head. "We are going to look like such chumps." He sobbed even as the brothers snickered amongst themselves.
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I honestly would have never believed it." The Emperor rubbed his eyes with amazement. "Are all you boys eloping with her at the same time???"
Lucas laughed. "Why, yes! That"s exactly what we are doing, Father."
"I was merely jesting." The Emperor cleared his throat. "Whoever heard of one Prime Avgo Female with four Erenveil Princes?"
"Ummm. I think you forgot a few more." Leonardo grinned.
"That's right." The Emperor pounded his hands together. "Have any of you heard from Dante and the twins?"
Slate nodded. "I got word that he and the twins are heading this way. We'll rendezvous with their pod within the next few hours."
The Emperor nodded, relief shinning in his face.
"Good. I'm relieved to hear that Dante and the twins are returning to us."
"Yes Father. Poppy secured their release."
"That girl…I have to make it up to her some day, when she is willing to talk to me again." The Emperor sighed.
"Just so my mind will be at ease," The Emperor rubbed his nose. "Where are you kids headed?"
"Nirovium." Slate responded without skipping a beat.
The Emperor's eyes widened with startlement.
"That noxious planet out in the wilds? There's hardly any civilization there. What will you do for supplies and entertainment?"
Candi laughed. The Emperor sounded as if he was talking about some cabin in the woods that was barely accessible.
"It's not that far from the nearest portal hop, Father. We're really only three hours away from you."
"But still. All my kids have left me!" The Emperor pouted.
"You still have Lyra, Ariana, Daisy, and Poppy."
"Thank Heavens for little girls," the Emperor nodded.
"I guess this means I can send the Earth delegates home, now that you kids have all eloped."
He shrugged and scratched his forehead as if he was a helpless old man.
"I have to admit, the Earth delegates have been such a pain in the royal ass. But they can't insist that Dahlia woman marry someone who's run away, and they can't insist that Candace be returned when even I have no idea where you kids have run off to."
All the men laughed. The Emperor was more than capable of scorning delegates and sending them packing.
"I'm curious though, Candace." The Emperor scratched his head. "I know you're wearing a replica Avgo gemstone around your neck, but do you still have the real one, even though you've been named the winner?"
Candi blinked. She honestly didn't know the answer to that.
"Avgo, come on out." She called.
Instantly, the gem popped up, twirling and twinkling its pink radiance throughout the room.
Everyone stared with mesmerized eyes. No matter how many times they had seen the gem, it always managed to take their breath away.
"I thought that with the Avgo finished, the gemstone disappears." Candi murmured as she reached out to touch the Avgo sapphire. It nestled in her hands, warm and vibrant.
"It leaves you when its job is done. That's all I know." The Emperor shrugged.
"So that means its job is not done yet." Slate mused.
The Emperor shrugged. "I'm sure you kids can figure this Avgo gemstone out between yourselves, but more importantly, what are your near future plans?"
"We have a war to fight, Father." Slate responded as if it was just another Tuesday chicken dinner.
"As soon as Dante and the twins meet up with us, we will put into place the next phase of our plans."