Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

All eyes shifted to Lucas.

He stared back, morosely twirling his golden pink locks, his exquisite handsome face downcast, his pink mouth sullen.

"You must still do what you need to do. That threat was from Emporia, not Earth, and the two are not related." Byron insisted. "We have to take care of that part of the problem as well."

Lucas nodded grudgingly.

Leonardo waved a hand for attention.

"Byron. I\'m going to head back to Erenveil and join you. My fleet of starship hospitals and magic healers can join the battles if you need a team of healers."

Byron nodded.

"Good idea, Leo. Let\'s pray we don\'t need to use your doctors and healers for anything worse than a paper cut."

Leonardo hardened his aqua eyes. "You know my staff are all trained warriors as well. If things turn ugly, they can fight just as well as any soldier."

Lucas gasped.

"I thought that was just a rumor." He touched his fingers to his mouth. "You have a private militia too???"

Leonardo turned and gave Lucas a desultory stare.

"Never mind." Lucas waved a hand. "I didn\'t hear that from anywhere. I don\'t know anything about this."

He turned to the twins.

"What about you guys?"

"What about us?" Jason asked.

"We don\'t have a private military." Jared responded. "All we have are fashion shops across the galaxy."

"No," Lucas shook his head. "What I mean is are you going to head over to Dante\'s Moon to help him protect Candace?"

"Good idea." Dante turned to the twins. "You guys coming?"

Jason nodded.

"We thought you\'d never ask."

=====

The Emperor was livid! Of course he was livid!

How dare Mortimer Cordera kidnap his youngest son and hold him up to get their hands on a mere Earth girl? Did that mean that the Earth girl was worth more than his son???

Preposterous!!!

"Father," Byron announced. "I am going to take over the Prime Warrior position until Slate can return and take up his position again."

"No!" The Emperor harrumphed. "You are the Crown Prince. That position is one that must be protected and cannot be threatened. You have six other brothers but there is only one Crown Prince."

"And besides," the Emperor turned to look at Byron. "You cannot take a rank that is lower than your current one."

"But Father, we need to fight against this atrocity coming from Emporia!"

He gave Byron a steady glare.

"In most instances, it is far easier to fight from your Crown Prince throne."

"But we need someone who can take command of the vast fleet that has been under Slate\'s control!" Byron insisted.

"Hand it over to Leo." The Emperor waved his hand.

Leonardo, who had barely stepped into the conference room almost ran back out again when he heard his name being bandied about so carelessly.

"Leo!" Byron strode over and latched onto the man in the white and gold Royal Physician robe. His long blond hair streamed out loose and unfettered in the light like a golden waterfall, framing a classically beautiful male face with aquamarine eyes.

"Father. Brother." Leonardo greeted them as he walked in.

"Leo." The Emperor tapped Leonardo\'s shoulder. "Take over the Prime Warrior position and go pick up your brother. Make sure you count all of Slate\'s fingers and toes. I want him back in perfect condition."

"Father," Byron interjected. "I can go and find him."

"Sure you can, but we don\'t need to." The Emperor turned his back and walked over to the throne.

"I hope you boys don\'t mind. My back has been hurting me and I need to sit down and take a load off." He groaned as he sat down on the gold throne with its thin red cushion.

"Ughhh." He spat, muttering to himself. "Been sitting on this cushion for so long that it\'s getting thin and ragged. It needs some new stuffing."

"What do you mean we don\'t need to find him? He\'s missing!" Byron roared, trying to steer him back to the conversation at hand.

The Emperor gave him a barely veiled look of disgust.

"I swear, at times like these, I wonder if you\'re really able to take over the throne. Your brother is not missing. We know exactly where he is."

"We do?" Both Brothers turned and stared blankly at the Emperor.

"Of course we do. Didn\'t we get the ransom note? He\'s obviously in the hands of the Emporian Kingdom."

"Father, you are stating the obvious. I want to go there and extract him. We need exact locations from our intel people there."

"Not enough time to extract anything from any intel, Son." The Emperor leaned back against the throne. "While we\'re here dallying and chattering about nonsense, we\'ve wasted an entire hour already."

"We need to come up with a plan." Byron slammed his fist into his palm. His face contorted with frustration.

The Emperor slumped to one side, propping his head up with his shoulder.

"Byron. You\'re still dressed in Royal Robes. Go reschedule Court Session."

"But Father!!!"

The Emperor held up his hand.

"The 290 ships of fuel that were supposed to be delivered to Emporia—kill that order. And while you\'re at it, call back the 384 ships of food that are two days away from Emporia and tell them we will return their money as soon as we get the Prince back."

Byron took a deep breath.

"Yes, Father."

"Also," the Emperor stopped for a moment. "Tell them we are no longer interested in buying tellurium from them. We can get it elsewhere."

Byron\'s eyes flared and then he nodded.

"Yes, Father."

"Oh. And tell them since their Avgo Female has been disqualified, they have been given 24 hours to withdraw from Erenveil space."

Byron\'s jaw dropped.

"What happens after 24 hours?"

"After 24 hours, any Emporian citizen who remains on Erenveil will be exterminated." The Emperor\'s eyes hardened.

Byron took a deep breath.

"Yes, Father."

The Emperor turned to Leonardo.

"Leo. You\'re the temporary Prime Warrior. Go to Dante\'s Moon and take the girl.. Bring her to Emporia and trade her for your brother."