Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

All the men looked at her with varying degrees of surprise and not a small bit of apprehension.

They couldn't very well tell her that they had just drawn lots and picked days to sleep with her. That just sounded so sordid and strange.

But then again, they couldn't NOT tell her.

Lucas began stammering, his face red as a strawberry in June.

"Well—ummm. We—ah. Hehe." He laughed.

"We were just wondering how you are doing?" Leonardo responded gently. "You've been sleeping a lot these last two days."

"Not that you couldn't sleep if you wanted to!" Jared injected.

"Absolutely, this is your home. You can sleep as much as you wish!" Jason grinned.

"My—my home?" Candace looked around at the men. What in the world were they thinking and what were they up to?

"Are you men trying to say that this ship will be my new home in the future?" She laughed. "Or are you politely telling me that I'm homeless?"

"That's not what he meant, Love." Slate waved a hand. "This is just the warship I live on when we're having a bit of conflict in the galaxy. It's not really our home, but of course, you can stay here as much as you wish."

"Ugh, you guys are killing me." Byron stood up and reached out to gather her into his loving arms.

"Listen Darling. Not only are you NOT homeless, you have so many homes to choose from that you would need attendants to help you travel from one home to another throughout the galaxy."

The men laughed and nodded. This was true.

What Crown Princess did not travel with an entourage of attendants to take care of her every need?

Leonardo nodded. "You have seven men who love you dearly. I can guarantee that you can have the pick of any home you wish that we own, and if your little heart is set on living in any world that we didn't already own a home at, we would make sure there was a beautiful home for you to claim there."

They all nodded again.

"But here's the best news. You don't have to pick any of ours, even though they are yours for the taking, because—Ta Da!" Byron waved a hand.

Appearing in front of her eyes was a roundish, bumpy, lumpy clod of brown dirt.

Candace blinked.

"What's this?"

Byron smiled. "This, My Love, WAS Peoria, one of the moons of Coraline. We have tractored it back to Erenveil and it's now your very own moon. You can name it whatever you wish."

"My—my moon?" Candace rubbed the back of her neck. Were they politely trying to get rid of her?

"What am I supposed to do with it?"

The men laughed.

"You decorate it however you wish, and then you can live on it." Slate proffered.

She frowned. This didn't sound quite right.

"Does, umm. Does the King of Coraline know you took his moon?"

"Oh yeah." Slate grinned. "His only request was that we treat his people well."

"There are people living there?"

"Of course." Dante crossed his arms across his chest. "You saw how many people it took to keep my moon running at peak efficiency."

Candace rubbed her eyes with tired hands. She didn't want to live all by herself on a moon out in the middle of deep space, where she knew nobody.

"Couldn't I just stay with one of you men? I don't take up much room and I won't make any demands." She murmured.

They blinked with surprise at her words. She sounded less-than-thrilled to be getting her very own home world.

"Besides, it all sounds so costly." She looked at all the men. "And I hate to say this but I'm super poor."

"What are you talking about, Sweetheart?" Lucas turned to her with huge amber eyes.

"I mean—I don't have any money." She muttered, blushing.

It was true.

From the moment she had arrived on Erenveil, the men had taken cared of every need.

Candace had never thought of the fact that she ate three meals a day and had clothes to wear, but did not have to buy any of that.

For a moment, the men were silent. Candace looked up to see that it wasn't because they didn't have anything to say.

It was because they were trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

"Little Tiny Dancer." Jared reached out and held her hand. "Why are you even thinking about how poor you are? Haven't we dressed you well enough Darling?"

"What?" She blinked.

"Each outfit you own is worth a lot of money. All the pearls and gems that are embedded into the rare and costly fabrics…you have been wearing a fortune on you, every single day." Jared smiled.

"I—I didn't know." She mumbled, scratching her head.

"Sweetheart," Jason wiped a tear of mirth from his eyes. "You have so many pieces of gold jewelry that I hand-made for you myself. Do you know how much each piece costs?"

She shook her head.

Jason laughed. "You have a huge trunk full of tiaras, hair clips, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings. You even have anklets and toe rings. Each of those pieces are embedded with huge rare gemstones that are worth a fortune each."

All the men looked at her with adoring mirthful eyes.

It had never occurred to them that she thought she was poor. Had there ever been anything she wanted or needed that they had not provided for her?

"I know you all take really good care of me. I do know that, and I thank you." She blushed. "In fact, I honestly wouldn't know what to do with—with Erenveil money even if I had some."

Byron nodded. "Your level of wealth is beyond the need for piddly money, do you understand that, Darling? You own entire worlds."

"I do?"

"Well, at the moment, you own several moons." Byron ticked off on his fingertips.

"I do?"

"Yes Darling. There's Slate's moon. That's yours." Byron glanced at Slate for confirmation.

Slate nodded. "Absolutely. It's even been named after you. Candace's Moon."

"And you also own Dante's Moon, although it's still named 'Dante's Moon'." Byron held out a second finger.

"I will rename it Candace's Moon as well, since it is where all her things and her library/museum and her dance hall resides." Dante asserted firmly.

"And you have this third moon that we took from Coraline. This one is also going to be called Candace's Moon."

Leonardo grimaced for a moment.

"Hmmm, it's going to get confusing if we don't differentiate it. We might have to do a Candace's Moon A, B, and C."

"Or 1, 2, and 3." Jason laughed.

Byron shrugged. "It truly doesn't matter where you live Love, because at the end of the day, you will see all of us come back to you wherever you are, because as I said to you earlier."

His eyes grew serious. "Where you are is home."

They all nodded.

"I'm—" Candace shook her head. "I'm just a little overwhelmed, and frankly, I'm also a little confused."

She frowned. "Who am I supposed to be married to?"

The men roared with laughter. They couldn't blame her for being confused. It was all VERY confusing, even for them.

"Well, I have some good news." Byron smiled. "I have a document that shows you're married to me."

"And me!" Lucas chirped.

"And me." Dante added with his deep gravely voice.

"What?"

"Yes Darling." Byron laughed. "Father added all three of us onto your marriage certificate because we have, all of a sudden been placed into a triad Crown Prince situation."

Candace squinted. "Is that even legal? A woman being married to three men at the same time?"

All the men laughed.

"Who do you think makes the rules? If the Emperor says it's legal, who's going to argue with him?"