Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

"Merde! What the hell is he thinking about!!!" Dante cursed as he thew a sheaf of paper at the attendants who were standing beside him.

They stood there, stoic sentinels, silently maintaining their stony gazes. As Advisors to the Crown Prince, their job was not to advise, it was merely to transmit information from the Emperor to the Crown Prince.

"We are NOT giving the dragons any concessions and we are NOT returning the marsupial ambassador until we get our own political prisoner back from them."

"Your Royal Highness, King Icarus is threatening war if we do not return his ambassador, who I might remind you, is his grandson."

"Well you can tell that old panda we would like our cousin back. He's been languishing in the marsupial jail for two years now."

"Sir. He's in there because he got the marsupial princess pregnant."

"Then allow them to marry! It's not like the man forced himself on her!" Dante yelled at them, throwing up his hands.

The Advisors bit their tongue and tried not to laugh. The marsupial Princess was a stout woman of some heft who had forced herself on the hapless ambassador bat who had been sent there as a goodwill gesture.

The man had agreed to be home-jailed rather than married to the panda princess.

Dante squeezed the space in between his aching eyes. His workload had suddenly doubled with Byron having been removed from his position.

It wasn't as if Dante could just simply dump all his corporate affairs and take over the heavy load of running the Empire. It had all come raining down on his hapless head.

Suddenly, he found himself with barely enough time to sleep and no time at all to spend with Candace.

His beautiful little Candace.

Dante closed his eyes and nearly sobbed. He missed her so much. He hadn't had a chance to even come out and see how she was doing.

He knew that she was working with his brothers to prepare for the next Avgo Event and he didn't want to disturb her, but goddammit, he missed her so much!

Maybe if he called a break.

"Your Royal Highness, here are the documents you asked for." Another aide had come in with a stack of documents the size of a mountain.

"What is this?" Dante glanced at the stack of documents.

"These are the companies that you are in the process of acquiring Sir. You need to sign them for the acquisition to be completed."

Dante sighed. Break time just got cancelled.

With great reluctance, he picked up the top folder.

As much as he would have loved to just rubber stamp everything and push it through quickly, Dante didn't get to where he was without reading through the documents that he signed.

Great wealth was hidden in the details of contracts. The loss of great wealth was ALSO hidden in the details of the contracts.

He had barely gotten through the first couple of pages when a slight flurry of activity appeared in front of his desk.

He looked up, about to snarl at whoever that was disturbing his peace and quiet when he noticed a vision in white sitting at the seating arrangement at the center of his office.

"Candace!" Dante jumped up. In a few long-legged strides, he was beside her. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working with Lucas and the twins on your Avgo Event?"

Candace nodded and reached out, pulling him down onto the seat with her.

"We took a break so I went looking for you. I hadn't seen you in over three days so I was worried about you."

Her eyes wandered over to his table with its tall stacks of documents.

"Looks like you're super busy, but I promise, I'll just sit here, drink my lemonade, and memorize my script. I won't bother you a bit."

Dante leaned into her. "Don't ever say that. You are NEVER a bother."

He cupped her head with his hands and took her lips with his own, drinking in her essence with greed and hunger.

His aides and attendants, all ten of them, looked elsewhere, pretending sudden interest in the wall art and the rug patterns.

"Hmmmm. You taste so good. Like sweet lemonade." He reluctantly leaned back and gazed into her hazel eyes.

"Did you miss me?"

Candace nodded shyly.

He smiled. "I've missed you too. I haven't been able to get away to even see you for a few minutes."

She smiled. "If you can't come to see me, then I'll come here and spend some quiet time with you. We can work together. You do your thing over there," she pointed to his desk. "And I'll sit here and eat bonbons and take naps on the couch."

Dante laughed. Since when did he get so lucky.

"Sir," another attendant had entered his office. "The Galactic Organization is demanding that you approve the petition to allow Valeria Marakesh to take Anaïse's place as the third contestant for the Magic and Illusions Event."

Dante took a deep breath.

"She has been eliminated. Her score is so pathetically low that she will not be able to catch up with Jenna let alone Candace."

"In that case, Sir, we lose nothing to allow her to perform onstage. She won't win any way, but it will appease the Avians."

"Fine. Let her perform."

"Yes Sir. One more thing Sir. Anaïse's people are requesting that in her third place spot, they be allowed a final memorial event for her in lieu of a public funeral for the Princess of Haribou."

Dante nodded. "That is appropriate. Make it happen and give them whatever time they need to do so."

The attendant bowed and left.

Dante turned to Candace. "You will win and be my bride."

Candace smiled. "What if I don't win?"

Dante cleared his throat. "If you take second place, I will simply change the rules to state that the conciliatory prize for the second place winner will be the Crown Prince's hand in marriage."

She rolled her eyes. "You can't do that. You can't just change the rules on a whim."

He laughed. "Darling. Watch me."

They were laughing together about it when an alert sounded.

Dante's brilliant green eyes suddenly narrowed. He waved a hand and a virtual monitor appeared.

"What's going on, Slate?"

Candi turned to stare into Slate's dazzling blue eyes. The Prime Warrior was in full regalia.

"Dante. Two-hundred Avian warships have arrived and are currently in Nymphalidae air space. They are pointing all their arsenal at your mother's world."

"How many ships do we have already there?"

"We have 180 ships in and around the vicinity, ready to defend the Empress' world. Seventy more are coming in from Leo's armada but they won't reach this air space for another two days."

Dante stared at Slate.

"Take down a new decree.." He called out into the room. "Let it be known that the new destination for the Avgo Event, Magic and Illusions will take place on the planet Nymphalidae, effective as of NOW!"