He ushered her over towards the red bridge and left the brothers standing by the edge of the pond.
They stood there, respecting his need for privacy to talk to his consort but could not walk away, just in case Mother Fatima needed their support.
Alone with his third Consort, the Emperor turned to her.
"What is going on, Fatima? Why is Ariana—"
"I don't know. I was not expecting it." She turned back to him with daggers in her eyes. "But don't you dare treat her as if she has done something wrong. That girl jumped into the water to save her sister!"
"I am not talking about that and you know it. Of course she did something heroic by saving Daisy from the water, but why did she turn into a mermaid, Fatima. Explain that to me."
Emperor Rex's face was starting to turn red. He began breathing heavily, the smell of alcohol flooding the space between them.
Fatima narrowed her eyes. "I don't know. It's not as if I understand genetics very much."
"But the genetic outcome of the blood bats is not hard to grasp. We are on the throne for the single reason that blood bats breed true! What do you think will happen to the throne if we do not breed true?"
Fatima closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh.
"Rex, she is a ten-year-old Third Princess. Whatever happens to the throne is not going to have anything to do with her. She has absolutely zero impact on your precious royal lineage."
"That's not what I mean, Fatima! Everyone knows that blood bats breed true. Do you know what happens to children that don't breed true?"
Fatima winced. What was he trying to tell her?
"They are cast out as illegitimate because OBVIOUSLY they are not the children of the reigning monarch blood bat!"
"Are you telling me that you are going to cast my daughter out as illegitimate?"
Rex's violet eyes grew red as his fangs began to grow. Fueled by the abundant amount of alcohol he had imbibed with the rest of his sons, he was starting to lose control of his own rage.
"Tell me the truth, Fatima. Who is Ariana's father?"
Fatima looked at him and began laughing. Even as she laughed, her eyes grew cold.
"Wouldn't you like to know." She spat at him.
With a roar of rage, Emperor Rex reached out and slapped Fatima's face. His razor sharp bat claws dug into her cheeks and ripping them to shreds.
"Aaaaaahhhh!!!" Fatima screamed in horror.
Her cheeks were slashed into bloody ribbons.
Suddenly, from behind, Slate tackled his father down onto the grass as Leonardo ran to Fatima and began frantically trying to heal her face with his own energy.
"Fatima!" Anastasia ran towards them and placed herself in between the Royal Consort and Rex.
She had seen the struggle from within the room that the girls were in and had run out, leaving Theodora inside, tending to Daisy and Ariana.
Turning to Rex, she cried out in outrage.
"Are you out of your fucking mind??? What is wrong with your ass???"
"Stay out of this Anastasia!" Rex roared with rage.
"I most certainly will not!" Turning to Slate, she pointed at the Emperor. "Take him away!"
==============
As Slate escorted his father back to his Raptor for temporary restraining and questioning, Leonardo took Mother Fatima to one of his own ships, the Alpha Fuchsia Hospital.
It was a stroke of luck that Leonardo had sent the command only a day ago for the ship to accompany him while he was down on Marakaran and it was currently hovering above the paradise world.
He needed all his equipment and staff to do the kind of emergency treatment that was needed on her face.
Everyone trooped back to Candace's suite of rooms.
The Princes huddled around Candace on the large sofa sectional while Anastasia and Theodora sat with their arms around Ariana and Daisy on the large bed.
Ashwyn and Mattheus sat on the divan opposite the Princes and Candace, looking on as Poppy wore out the carpet in front of them, pacing the floor and trying to make sense of the entire situation.
How in the world did a happy joyous occasion such as a family wedding turn into such a hot mess?
She had always known Father was a royal pain in the ass about certain things, but this took the cake. There was no excuse for his actions. Absolutely none.
He had tried to rip Mother Fatima's beautiful face off with his bat claws! And for what?
FOR NOTHING!!!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
"We need to call Mother Gwen." She spoke up suddenly.
"I agree." Dante second her announcement.
Within minutes, Mother Gwen's face appeared on the virtual monitor, hovering above them.
She was smiling broadly, expecting this to be a happy group call in regards to the wedding, but her eyes grew serious, seeing everyone's unsettled, dismal faces.
"What's going on?"
"Mother Gwen…" Poppy took a deep breath. "Father has gone ballistic. He just slashed Mother Fatima's face to ribbons."
"WHAT??? Is he a mad dog???" Mother Gwen jumped up, her face pale with rage.
"Tell me exactly what happened." She commanded.
Quickly, Poppy recounted what she knew, and the brothers filled in what she missed.
Gwen rubbed her face.
"Oh my God."
Suddenly her head snapped up. "Do not allow Fatima or Ariana to go back to the royal palace. That man has lost his privileges to be with her!"
"How far away are you, Mother Gwen?" Byron asked.
"Lyra and I are on our way there. We should be back in Erenveil space within twenty-four hours."
"Come straight to Marakaran." Dante spoke up. "We will meet you at the space port."
Once they got off the call with Mother Gwen, Poppy plopped herself down next to Mattheus and Ash.
"I'm so worried about Mother Fatima." She murmured, covering her face.
Beside her, the two men rubbed her shoulders and sat in silence, lending her their unspoken support.
"She is in the best of hands." Lucas consoled. "Leo will ensure that she will heal up nicely and won't have any issues."