Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

When Dante called an in-person meeting of all the brothers, everyone dropped what they did and rushed to Dante\'s Moon to make the meeting.

The Princes of Erenveil arrived one by one, alone and unaccompanied by any attendants or servants.

Jason and Jared were the first to arrive. They had a shorter distance to travel since they had been floating their island immediately underneath Dante\'s moon the entire time. They had wanted to be near Candace should she need them, so it was a quick transport pod trip straight up.

They were standing around the tropical garden tiki bar having Mai Tais and chatting quietly to themselves when Lucas appeared.

"Yo, Bros." Lucas called out.

"Wow. You\'re looking mighty ragged lately," Jared noted Lucas\' non-movie star looking face with the blonde evening shadow starting to grow around his mouth and on his jawline.

"Since when did you let your blond roots show?" Jason gave a wry grin at the slowly fading pink streaks in his blond hair.

Lucas grimaced. "Ever since Dante took me off the movie set I was working on, I\'ve just been loafing around." He blew strands of pink hair from his eyes.

"That\'s because you have another acting gig." Jason laughed. "How\'s the bit part of acting like Dahlia\'s boyfriend going so far?"

Lucas\'s amber eyes deadened just a little.

"If it wasn\'t for the fact that I\'m a very good actor, she\'d have realized just how bored I am to be around her. That woman has just about as much personality as a toad. She\'s just as ugly too."

Jared clicked his tongue. "Tch-tch. Has she come around at all to favoring you over Big Brother?"

Lucas nodded as he accepted a piña colada from the attendant at the tiki bar.

"She\'s starting to warm up to me. Unfortunately, she\'s also gotten the strange idea in her head that once Candace wins first place, she can marry Byron and keep me around as her no-tell lover."

The twins laughed again. Poor Lucas.

From around an Areca palm, Leonardo was the next to arrive. He looked tired, as if he hadn\'t slept much.

"I swear," Jared took a sip of his Mai Tai as he looked Leonardo up and down. "You two look like wrecks."

Leonardo called for a mojito from the bar attendant and turned back to the brothers, rubbing his head with frustration.

"I\'ve been running into some snafus. Do you know how hard it is to tell head physicians that they have to now change over and be warship Captains?"

"I cannot imagine." Jared shook his head. "If I told my head fashion creators to change into warship Captains, I think they would sew my mouth together."

Leonardo rubbed his tired eyes, barely hearing what Jared was saying to him.

"I also have the added problem of needing to find a place to move all my patients. There are some who are about to die and some who are waiting for invasive medical intervention. What the hell am I supposed to do with all of them?"

"More will die if you don\'t successfully turn those hospital ships into warships." Byron\'s voice could be heard as he approached the tiki bar. "Make me a jungle bird," he called out to the attendant at the bar and turned back to the group of brothers with a grimace.

"I wonder why Dante\'s called this meeting, and why we have to be here in person. Isn\'t a visual call good enough?"

"If I have to fly all the way back from from Laroche Gardens, you can make the short trip from the Royal Palace." Slate said as he strode up.

"Ah. You actually managed to retrieve the butterfly." Leonardo greeted Slate with a slap on the back.

"It wasn\'t so much a retrieve as it was a trade." Slate sighed. "I made an offer the Captain of the ship couldn\'t refuse."

"And that was?" Leonardo asked.

"I traded three of his young children for one butterfly."

"Ho ho!" Byron laughed. "Are we using children to fight our wars now?"

Slate shook his head. "I don\'t use children to fight wars. I was simply giving them a free ride to their father\'s ship. They were quite excited to see him, and also had fun as they got to ride a real warship. They were treated very well on my Raptor 653."

Leonardo handed him a mojito.

"No thanks." Slate waved a hand. "I don\'t drink."

"Since when?" Leonardo raised his eyebrows in surprise and drank the mojito himself.

"Since I\'m on duty twenty-four hours a day now." Slate sighed and turned to the tiki bar attendant. "I\'ll take a lemonade."

Dante was the last to appear. He walked alone into the tropical garden, wearing his bat suit, his spiky blue hair no longer as spiky now that he was growing it longer.

"I swear, you\'re looking worse than Lucas or Leonardo. What is up with you men?" Jared shook his head. His fashion sensibilities had been seriously perturbed by his brothers\' increasing grunginess.

"I just canceled the remaining Avgo Events." Dante announced without preamble.

He reached the tiki bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila. With a quick twist of the cap, he took a good swig of the golden liquid before slamming it back on the bar.

Jason grimaced. "I was going to order a margarita for you since I know you like tequila, but never mind that now."

Slate stared at Dante.

"Was it because of the failed assassination attempt this morning?"

"Wait. What???" Leonardo slammed his rock glass on the counter.

Slate turned his bright blue eyes at Leonardo.

"You didn\'t watch the Avgo Event this morning?"

"I was in the middle of an emergency surgical procedure. I just barely got out." He ran a weary hand through his blond hair.

Byron\'s eyes were on fire. He\'d barely managed to contain his anger but now it was back, stronger than ever.

"Six assassins infiltrated the Avgo Event this morning. They cornered Candace right on the Avgo platform."

His red-brown eyes smoldered with intensity.. If he found out the person responsible for this, he would kill them with his bare hands.