"Oh? Are you not happy with being married to three men at the same time?"
The Emperor sighed and thought about his own situation. He only had four wives and was in danger of losing one of them.
"I can see why you would feel overwhelmed," he nodded with understanding.
"But let me assure you that my three sons will have other consorts to take care of. They won't be mobbing you if that is your concern."
Candace stared at the Emperor. Was that what he thought she meant?
He truly was clueless.
"I'm not worried about that. My biggest concern is that you have left out more than half of my husbands on the marriage document."
"What???" The Emperor blinked in surprise. What was this girl getting at?
Here he was, thinking she was protesting having to marry three men at the same time! He was about to appeal to her emotions and talk her into accepting all three of them since he knew she was genuinely fond of them all.
"You have Dante, Byron, and Lucas, but you forgot Leonardo, Jason, Jared, and Slate. Please add their names to the marriage document."
"But—but—" The Emperor sputtered. "You can't be serious! You want to marry every single son of mine?"
"Why yes." Candace gave a sickly sweet smile. "Yes, I do."
"That's preposterous. I have already drawn up documents to have the twins married off to two of the other Avgo contestants. They will make good wives for Jason and Jared."
"Please retract those documents." Her smile grew even sweeter.
"Impossible. It has already been sent out."
"Retract the documents or I will refuse to marry any of your sons." Candace's face was gentle and sweet and so full of serenity.
"WHAT??? You cannot refuse a royal decree!" The Emperor scowled.
What had happened to this sweet gentle girl he had met prior to the conclusion of the Avgo Events? Who was this little witch???
Candace smiled again, showing perfect even white teeth.
"I am the Prime Avgo Female. I can marry whomever I choose. I am choosing all seven brothers."
She leaned closer to him, with wide innocent hazel eyes.
"If you fight me on that, then I will choose none, and you know what happens when I choose none." She gave him a terrible warning look in those big beautiful amber eyes of hers.
"You—that's not possible! You cannot do that!" The Emperor sputtered, feeling his blood pressure rise. What was this girl, a devil woman?
Candace narrowed her hazel eyes and flicked back her long blonde hair.
"I just did. Retract all marriage documents regarding ALL the brothers, including any royal consorts you may have snagged for any of them."
She stared at him with cold intent. "This is not a request, Emperor."
The Emperor swallowed a huge lump lodged in his throat. She had suddenly turned into a fierce warrior woman holding the upper hand and he was the one on the ground looking up at her.
Not good.
"Wait…I have an idea." The Emperor held out his hand.
He had to stall for time. Once the marriages that he had arranged for his other children go through, there would be nothing more that she could do.
He could then perhaps make amends by offering her other interesting propositions. If she truly wanted that many men around her, he could line up a hundred handsome bat males for her to choose from.
Candace sat there with the twins, their faces expectant.
"Obviously, you feel the need more than three husbands. I respect that." He snapped his fingers. "I could have a large number of other suitors you could choose from—"
Jared and Jason started laughing. Tears began streaming from their faces.
They were shocked, but more than that, they were tickled to death! It was hilarious that Father was actually thinking about setting up a harem full of men for Candace just so she would agree to his terms of marriage.
They turned to look at Candace with newfound appreciation. Since when did Candace get so powerful?
"That's not necessary, but I thank you for the thoughtful gesture Father. I simply want all seven brothers named into the marriage document."
"All—all seven?"
"Yes. All seven." She began holding up her fingers, one at a time. "Dante, Byron, Lucas, Leonardo, Jason, Jared, and Slate. I don't want any others."
The Emperor shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not going to be possible."
Candace shrugged. "Then I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to marry any of your sons." She looked away without remorse.
"I'll be in Dragon space soon. Maybe they will have some handsome princes I can choose from."
"No wait!" The Emperor scratched his head. "Let me call the three Crown Princes up. I'm sure they will have something to say about this."
Of course they would. The Emperor sniffed.
Dante and Byron were none too pleased when he set up Royal Consorts for them. They would most definitely not be happy sharing their wife with four other brothers.
It didn't take long for Dante, Byron, and Lucas to pop up on the visuals monitors.
The men perfunctorily greeted the Emperor but were genuinely ecstatic to see their wife.
"You're looking good Love!" Lucas beamed at her, his heart in his eyes.
Don't cry. Don't cry.
Lucas admonished himself, pulling out every acting trick in the book to seem happy and cheerful.
"Aaaah Woman. I miss you so much." Byron sighed and rubbed his heart, where her Avgo shard was still embedded.
He knew that as the illegitimate adopted son of the Emperor, he was most likely last on her list of desired husband material, but it didn't matter. As long as he still owned a shard of Avgo, he would continue to fight for his right to be one of her husbands.
On the last screen was Dante, still working with a group out of sight of the visuals.
"Is everything going well on the Raptor 650? Did you get a chance to check out the dance floor yet?" Dante gave Candace a wink.
"It's a beautiful ship." Candace gushed. "I really love it. Wait—" she held up a hand. "There's a dance floor?"
Dante nodded with a laugh. "When I heard that you were going to be on the ship, I told Slate to install a dance floor. I hope it's big enough, comfortable enough, the lights are adequate and the music good."
Jared and Jason beamed at Candace's excited face.
"She loves this ship so much that, guess what? We will order another one and live on it permanently so when she's with us, her home will be on a ship like this."
Dante smiled. Each of the brothers were bending over backwards to make her happy. She was their uniting force, and what was so amazing was that they were all so happy when she was around.
The Emperor clapped his hands for attention.
"Boys. Boys. I called you to talk about Candace, not to gush on her."
He leaned forward, into the visuals, his violet eyes large and insistent.
"She is insisting on adding all seven of you brothers onto the marriage documents!"
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I am super sorry my readers. I got really sick last night (fever, chills, nausea, dizziness) so I only have one chapter prepared. When I get a little better I will make it up to you. ❤️