Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Dinner was a muted affair after Ray Torra left.

They talked about everything except what was on everyone's mind.

Byron didn't talk much. He sat there in a daze as the conversation rolled around him.

Poppy was kept talking throughout the entire dinner as her brothers asked questions about her life and about herself.

They were making up for lost time since they knew so little about this woman who, until today, was just someone they had considered to be Byron's maternal cousin.

Candi sat next to Dante and Slate, eating whatever they placed on her plate and saying very little.

These two, the youngest and the eldest, were carrying her through the entire meal, allowing her to sit in relative silence and simply being there for her.

She had not forgotten that she had yet to respond to the very public proposal that Byron had given her immediately before the shocking news of Princess Anaïse Paroles' death. It would have to wait until she could get him alone and in private.

They all tried very hard to stay away from the most explosive of the bombshells that had exploded today, but eventually, the conversations began steering back to the Avgo and Dante's role in canceling the Events.

"I've already canceled it. I'm not going to call all my CEOs back and say, Oops!" He held up a hand to his mouth in comedic style, "my bad!"

He glared at them with such an intense look that the men all whooped and roared with laughter. Even Byron and Candace shook with mirth.

"But Brother," Slate said in between gasps of laughter. "I think the only way for us to get to the bottom of who is actually responsible for killing Anaïse after failing to kill Candace, is for us to hold the next Avgo Event."

"Do you honestly think that reinstating the Avgo Events will help flush out the perpetrators?" Dante asked

"Yes," Slate nodded. "And now that we know the threat is real to the candidates, we will be much more stringent with security. I will be there myself to protect her."

"Me too."

"Yes, so will I."

"Count me in."

"That makes seven of us."

All the Princes nodded in agreement.

Candace shook her head.

"I'm absolutely going to fail that one."

"Why???" The twins both asked in unison.

"Have you guys forgotten what the next event is?" Candace stared at Jason and Jared. "It's Magic and Illusion."

They looked at her and shook their heads, not fully grasping what she was trying to tell them.

"Guys!" She yelled. "I can't do magic! I'm from Earth. We don't have magic on Earth!"

For a moment, they all stared at her with shocked eyes. And then again, all the men erupted with laughter.

They slapped each other on the back and guffawed so loudly that their noise startled the servants who were standing around in service.

She turned away from them, the colors of embarrassment high on her cheeks.

Poppy smiled with no malice.

"Candace. I think my brothers know by now that you have no magic, or at least what's understood as magic in our definition as such."

"If they know, then why are they laughing at me? If I try to enter this event, I'll be laughed off the stage." Candace scowled.

"Darling, we are laughing because it's such a stupid event that's not even worth holding." Dante reached out and touched her head. "It's just traditionally been an event that the Avgo women use to entertain the crowd."

Slate smiled. "Remember, this is the top three contestants, gold, silver, and bronze. They are winners already so they can relax a bit. This event is all mostly illusion. It has very little real magic in it because truth be told, the real magic has already been exhibited at the very first event."

"First event? The Face and Grace Sky Walk?" Candi asked.

"No Babe," Slate smiled. "The Verification of the Avgo when you all exhibited magic of the highest most ancient form, the Avgo Magic."

Leonardo smiled. "You actually surprised everyone there by commanding your Avgo to stop the cyclone. At that moment, you no longer had to prove your ability to use magic. You were already wielding it with class and style and everyone could see it."

"I was so proud of you at that moment." Dante touched his forehead to hers. "We all were. At this point, if all you did was walk onto that glass stage and simply took a bow, we'd all cheer and you'd get first place."

Candi chewed her lip and thought about it for a few moments.

"So if I just do some illusion show, I'll be okay and people won't call me a fraud or something?"

"That's right." Lucas grinned. "The Event itself is called Magic and Illusion. Whether you do magic or illusion is not the point. The point is whether you put on a show well enough to entertain people. They already know all of you have Avgo magic."

"Okay fine. I'll figure out something. I think I can do a couple of card tricks…" she muttered even as the men around her laughed.

"So what about the fact that the Galactic Organization has petitioned the Board of Directors to include Valeria Marakesh as the third contestant since we no longer have Anaïse?" Jason asked.

"I think we should allow Valeria to take Anaïse's place." Slate said.

"I think Slate has a point." Poppy leaned forward, her eyes narrowing in thought. "If we include Valeria into the next Avgo Event, we can observe all the known birds and see exactly what will happen when she loses again."

"How do you know she will lose?" Jared asked. "Out of all the Avgo Females, Valeria actually has the most magic skills."

Poppy smiled. "It's as you said. This event is not so much about real magic as it is showmanship and the ability to wow people with the magic and illusion you are creating."

The men looked at her with blank stares.

"You guys!!!" Poppy slapped her forehead in mock distress, even as Candace laughed.

"They don't see it do they?" Candi chuckled.

"Obviously not!" Poppy agreed. "They're dunderheads."

"What? Tell us what we don't see!" Lucas sounded tortured.

"Valeria Marakesh has the least showmanship and stage presence of all the candidates." Candace laughed.

"Bingo!" Poppy nodded. "She is the biggest stick-in-the-mud Avgo female of the group. She is dull and unexciting, and is so boring to watch onstage, it's painful."

Poppy pointed a finger at Candi and gave a big grin. "And what does this event require?"

"SHOWMANSHIP!" Both Candi and Poppy announced.

"Once she loses again, the birds are going to try something drastic to get her back into the running." Poppy pursed her lips with finality.. "What that is, we are just going to have to wait and see."