Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Candi stared at him with widened eyes.

"I'm just joking Love." Slate's eyes crinkled with amusement. "That's something you should only say if you mean it, not just because someone else wants to hear it."

"Did you want to hear me say that I love you, Slate?"

"Well, you just did, so I made a mental record of it and now that it's been said," he smiled craftily, "it can't be unsaid."

Candi laughed. He was so easy to be with.

There were no demands and she could just be herself and he would accept whatever and whoever she was as long as she was safe and happy.

For a moment, she wished that her life was uncomplicated and things could go back to being simple again, where her most difficult choice was to have macaroni-and-cheese, or baked eggplant for dinner. Or both.

"Slate. If I don't go to the next event, would the winner be Jenna Natoli?"

"Why would you give up your position? You're the slated winner." He leaned back and looked into her eyes to discern her reasoning.

"I just…Slate, I hate this power grabbing and fighting. I just want to be a normal person, doing the things I enjoy and being with people I love."

Slate sighed.

He remembered Lucas' question at the Royal Ball. It was a brilliant question, and one that mattered the most to all the Princes.

He had asked Candace, if she didn't have to be at the Avgo Contest, battling for the chance to marry an Erenveil Prince, what would she most like to do with her life?

Candace had laughed and answered in such a straightforward manner that it was clearly unmeditated and exactly what was in her heart.

She loved archaeology and wanted to travel far and wide, to get lost in all the far-flung worlds to explore everything to her heart's content. And of course there was her dancing and singing and playing piano.

It was such a simple joyous life she wanted to lead, and yet, the Avgo was forcing her into this role that would restrict her and tie her to the very foundations of the Royal Palace.

Lucas had turned back to the brothers and stated with force.

"There you are, Brothers. If you cannot provide this woman with what her heart desires, I suggest you leave the line right now, because you're not going to qualify to be with her."

And that was when Slate knew he had to leave the line. Not that it mattered much since he was at the tail end of that line anyway.

He was Prime Warrior of Erenveil.

If he didn't hold the border skirmishes and keep the various factions from fighting, war would erupt everywhere.

Once that happened, Candace would never be able to do all the things she loved to do in all the peaceful areas of the galaxy.

Slate's heart gave a twinge. In doing his job to provide a safe environment for her and the rest of the empire, he had relegated himself forever to being her silent protector from afar.

Candi was chewing on her lip again. It was what she did when she was thinking about something complex.

"What if I don't show up for the next Avgo Event? Could I just forfeit it and go back to being a normal person again?"

Slate shook his head.

"Too late, Love. None of the other candidates have enough points to win even if one of them takes first place at the next event."

"What do you mean?" She asked

"I set the events for you to watch earlier. Didn't you see the scoring?"

Candi shook her head. She had barely made it through Anaïse Paroles' surprising reemergence.

"At the Magic and Illusions Event, you scored the highest points and the judges called the contest because mathematically, you had won."

"I did?" She gasped. "How? I went into a Magic and Illusions event and did ZERO magic. How was that possible?"

Slate gave her a grimace and waved a hand, calling forth the virtual monitor.

Instantly, the panoramic view of a huge stage appeared.

Without preamble or any splashy introductions, Candi's small blonde head peeked out from between the folds of the curtains.

And then she walked out, her steps full of the natural grace that dancers possessed in abundance.

As the music began, she started dancing.

Although Candace had hinted at her dancing abilities in one or two of her previous events, she had never actually performed in front of such a large audience before.

Now, armed with the choreographic mad skills of a mega star, namely Lucas, she was merging not just her classical dance training but also his very modern moves into a dance routine that was at once stunning and historically noteworthy at the same time.

Candi herself enjoyed her own show.

She had actually never seen a display of her own dancing before and if she hadn't danced it herself, she would have thought she was watching some professional dancer out there on the completely empty stage.

It was truly a blank canvas that she had used to paint the scene. Even her own unadorned face and clothing was a blank canvas for the imagination to fill in.

It was such a stunning combination of classical and ultra-modern techniques that people around the galaxy had already begun to study it and incorporating her style into their dance classes and routines.

The visual imagery she evoked was so vivid that as a spectator, Candi could easily imagine it all.

But the biggest surprise was the ending.

The entire audience could see the tiny white form of Candi magically grabbing onto the red bird that was a phantasm of Byron.

Right before their eyes, she began levitating upward into the twenty-foot ceiling, disappearing from sight.

It was the only bit of real magic that had been employed and she had pulled it off in a show stopping spectacular fashion.

Candi's jaw dropped. "Wow. I didn't think I looked like that."

Slate laughed. "You never think you're amazing, but we can all see that so very clearly."

Since this was no longer a live stream, the visual screen flashed the scores for the performances.

First place had gone to Candi for a full 100 points, with second place going to the resurrected Anaïse Paroles at 90 points.

"That last bit, where Byron managed to make it to the stage and pull you up off the stage was pure luck, but it completed the dance with a splash of magic." Slate noted with a critical eye.

"I missed you at that dance."

"I'm so sorry Love." He turned back to her. "There was a flare-up of fighting several hours before the Event. Leo and I were busy playing tag with a bunch of space hooligans who were hellbent on trying to disrupt the Avgo Event."

She whistled. "Do you think they did that on purpose so our space warriors would be diverted away from Nymphalidae?"

"So they could swoop in with a net and catch Dante, Lucas, and the twins? It looks like that's what happened."

"Why was there no guards or warriors left to protect us down on Nymphalidae?" She shook her head in confusion.

Slate's eyes were grim. "When I left to clean out the skirmishes that were blossoming around Nymphalidae space, Dante said he had his people to cover the planet as well as the Avgo Event."

"I don't know what happened after that." He shook his head. "We're going to have to ask Dante when we see him. I was too busy fighting both the birds and the space pirates, even as the Avgo Events were happening."

"Nymphalidae is going to fall, isn't it?" Candi sighed.