Above the bright blue skies of Lucas' Island, a battle raged on overhead. It had been ongoing for five solid days, with plenty of casualties on both sides.
Sometimes, tiny streaks of burning meteorites streamed across the sky, indicating that some small spacecraft had exploded and flamed on impact of the atmosphere.
At other times, the explosion could be seen, especially at night, as a tiny unspectacular blossom of fireworks.
On the idyllic island, however, it was tranquil and lush and peaceful and warm.
The sun still shone. The flowers still bloomed. The birds still sang. And the waves still rolled with an endless undulation onto the powder white sands of Lucas' Island.
It may seem to have been grossly unfair that Lucas got to lounge around a tropical paradise accompanied by their beautiful wife while the rest of the men were in the thick of warfare, but the truth was far more precarious and strategic.
Lucas had been charged with a very important task—that of protecting their Queen while the Warrior Princes fought the dangerous battles in deep space.
Ever since the Royal Palace had been attacked by visuals gathering pods, the entire royal family had been secreted away to various locations in and around Erenveil.
The island that seemed almost deserted was actually manned and guarded around the clock with covert military aircrafts and spacecrafts. Candace's location was a deep secret that only the Princes and a few high level people knew.
Under the cloak of military anonymity, nothing marred the perfect sleepy days and the intensely erotic nights. Sometimes, it was the other way around, whereby the days were intensely erotic and the nights were perfect and sleepy.
Irregardless of the time of day or night, it always started and ended with Candace.
Lucas was starting to gain his confidence in his abilities to be her perfect lover. Having never had a lover, she was his alpha and his omega.
He threw himself wholeheartedly into the task of loving Candace, tailoring his lovemaking and fine-tuning it to her exact needs. For him, there had been no other woman and there would be no other woman.
It took him two days to be comfortable lounging around with her wearing nothing but a smile.
By the third day, they actually found it strange to have to put on clothing to emerge from their private beach and have a real sit-down dinner while their attendants ran about serving them.
After those fully-clothed dinners, they were more than relieved to shed their clothing and once again, cuddle in each other's arms and chat about nothing at all, or nap, or make lazy love that could end in an explosive orgasm.
Or not.
Lucas was amazed to realize that it didn't really matter what they did. He was ludicrously happy as long as she was by his side.
Now that he had gotten this comfortable around her, he felt his confidence swelling up like the tides. It was as if he could just be himself and she would still love him anyway.
Candace never judged. Never made him feel inadequate. She just accepted him, warts and all. He never had to worry about any of his 'what ifs'.
What if she didn't like the mole on his left hip? What if she didn't like his sense of humor? What if she thought his pink hair was too strange. What if she hated his fashion sense? What if she didn't like the way he smelled? What if his penis wasn't large enough to make her happy?
All these thoughts had swirled around him like a swarm of angry bees, clouding his judgement and making him ashamed of his body and sense of self.
Candace just came in and POOF!!! all those angry buzzing insecurities just shriveled up and dropped to the ground. He didn't know how she did it, but it was like magic.
They were lazing around under a large beach umbrella on a blanket spread over the soft warm sands when yet another meteor shower burst over their heads. It was large enough to be at least one warship's worth of damage.
Lucas immediately sent up a prayer of hope that it wasn't one of their spacecrafts. He prayed that his brothers were unharmed and things would return to normal soon.
Thinking about his brothers made Lucas realize it was the sixth day of his allotted seven days.
He glanced over at Candace.
She was lying on her stomach with her honey blonde head resting on a folded towel, half asleep as she enjoyed the cool gentle zephyr blowing into shore from the distant reaches of the deep ocean.
Lucas' eyes teared up. His time with her was swiftly coming to an end. Tomorrow, he would have to deliver his precious wife over to Jason so Candace could retrieve the Avgo shard from him.
His rational brain understood that it was necessary and that the Avgo had dictated its needs. He wanted this child with everything inside him, and yet he could not help but feel twinges of jealousy.
He reached up with an angry hand, dashing the tears from the corners of his eyes. His quick motion alerted Candace and brought her fully awake.
"What's the matter, Love?" Candace turned to him with her soft hazel eyes.
Lucas shook his head. He couldn't just say that he was jealous of his other brothers.
The person who had every right to be jealous and upset was Dante, not Lucas. If it hadn't been for the untimely meddling of the Avians, Candace would have been married to Dante, the true Crown Prince.
"Something is wrong. I can feel your mood."
Lucas sighed. Why did he think he could hide anything from his wife?
"Today is our last day to be together. I have to take you to Jason's floating island tomorrow."
"It's not the last day. You're my husband. I'll be back in your arms in no time flat."
"We each get one week and then we have to wait six weeks to be together again."
"Only for now, while I gather the Avgo Shards. Eventually, it will not be that long."
Her eyes lit up.
"How about instead of seven days for each of you men, maybe we can cut it down to a couple of days at a time. That way, you will see me two days out of each two weeks."
Lucas nodded, but still seemed a bit upset so Candace did what she always did when he seemed a bit sad.
She began touching him to distract him.