Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Within two hours, Dante and Slate were at the Erenveil spaceport looking out through the large glass windows at the huge deserted landing pad.

"I can't believe all our brothers missed her so much that they left to go be with her and the two of us are still stuck here, doing busy work." Slate murmured to Dante.

"Somebody has to keep the lights on." Dante rubbed his tired eyes. "If you and I weren't here to keep the place up and running, there wouldn't be much for our wife to return to."

Slate sighed. "You're telling me. I'm trying hard not to get involved in all the border skirmishes between the birds and the bugs, but it's like wild fires. You put one flame out and another pops up!"

"But look at it this way, we'll look good by saving Marakaran so that we can throw a crazy amazing wedding that will make our wife happy." Dante smiled.

"Yeah. That's all that matters. As long as Candace is happy, I'll do anything for her." Slate grimly agreed.

Dante's eyes narrowed even as he scanned the skies looking for signs of his bride's ship.

"We need to choke the weapons coming out of Haribou and we need to do it quickly. It's what's feeding the flames."

"Yeah. I haven't had the chance to talk with Jason yet." Slate scratched at the beginnings of a shadow growth of beard. He hadn't had a chance to shave this morning and was starting to look a bit grizzly. He hoped Candace wouldn't be turned off too badly.

"Hmmm." Dante harrumphed. "I don't even know if Anaïse Paroles is still interested in Jason, especially since he rejected her proposal and threw her off the Raptor 650 the day she came to visit him."

"No way to know unless we try. Father did have a good plan. If Jason can infiltrate and staunch the flow of weaponry all over the galaxy, it really would stop all the fighting once everyone runs out of ammunition."

Slate laughed. "Jason ditched Father's plans without hesitation."

"Yes. We're basically going back to doing what Father had suggested, but the difference is—Jason would only be pretending to be interested in Anaïse Paroles, whereas Father really wanted him to marry the girl."

"It seems rather cruel to lead her on like that just to take advantage of her affections." Slate muttered.

"All this killing of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire between the bugs and the birds that's currently happening is far more cruel." Dante shot back. "Haribou is playing both sides, causing strife all over the place to sell weapons to everyone. Nobody wins but them."

"I know Dante. I've seen the injured within Leonardo's hospital ships. Kids, infants, young mothers, old people. They had nothing to do with any of this but they are the ones paying the price." Slate shook his head.

"Still, Anaïse Paroles is just a Princess of Haribou. The real culprit to all of this is her family. I wonder if we can somehow get to the family without making her a target."

"The quickest easiest way to get to the family is going through Anaïse Paroles. She's the obvious gateway. It's far too hard to reach them any other way."

"What about reaching them through heads of states?" Slate suggested

"Nope." Dante shook his head. "They don't care about positions of power. They only care about wealth and the amassing of that wealth via warfare."

"Bastards." Slate threw back.

Dante raised an eyebrow. "But look at it this way. They're really just a one-trick pony. Their only industry is warfare. That's what keeps their lights on. If they have nobody to sell their weapons to, they quickly become insolvent."

Slate nodded and sighed as he caught sight of the ship that had finally appeared from the skies above Erenveil spaceport.

"Looks like we have to try number 31, the Beauty Routine* to win this war." He shook his head. "Jason is not going to like doing this."

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As Candace stepped off the ship, the first thing she saw were two male bats flying towards her. She quickly made her way down the steps and ran towards them.

"Oh my gosh! You guys actually came all this way to meet me!!!" She cried as she jumped up at them.

Dante and Slate smiled and swooped down, catching her body as if she was prey and they were raptors. With her secured between them, they rose up into the deep blue crystal sky.

"Aaaaaahhhh!!!" She shrieked with exhilaration. "Don't drop me!!!"

Slate and Dante both laughed. There was no way they would ever let go of such a tasty morsel as their wife.

They flew her around for a couple of rounds before bringing her back to the rest of the brothers still standing around on the landing surface.

Byron laughed. "If you two are done clowning around, let's go inside and have a burger. I'm famished."

"Are you telling me space food doesn't agree with you?" Slate snickered.

"Warrior rations are super yummy and all that, but you know there is nothing quite like a big sloppy burger from Erenveil." Byron responded with vigor as they all trooped into the the spaceport building with their full entourage of attendants and guards.

Over burgers and fries, the brothers chattered amicably between themselves as Slate and Dante doted on Candace, feeding her morsels of food from their own plates.

They were still trying to catch up on all the fun times that the away team was having when an alert sounded. It was Poppy.

"Candi!!!" Poppy called out, waving her hands enthusiastically.

Candace laughed. "Where are you? When can we meet?"

"Tell your men to bring you to Marakaran. I'll be there for the next couple of weeks!"

"Wow! What's in Marakaran?"

"My Dear," Poppy crinkled her eyes. "Nobody told you that is going to be the site for your wedding? We're all getting things prepared for you there!"

"Oh haha!" Candace laughed. "I'm sure we're going to be headed there quite soon. Lucas and I have been shooting some commercials for a possible amusement park to be located there."

"You don't have to play it down." Poppy laughed. "We all know it's CandyLand and my brother named it after you."

Dante grinned mischievously even as the brothers roared with laughter.

"Well, gotta go! I have to get things set up on my end." Poppy waved.

"We will be there as soon as possible." Candace waved back.

"Then I'll be seeing you when you get here. Don't let my brothers bully you too much!" Poppy threw a kiss at Candace and signed off.

"So when are we leaving for Marakaran?" Candace asked, looking around at all her men.

"No time like the present." Slate clapped his hands and two attendants appeared through the entrance in front of them. Between them was a huge white box with a large pink bow. They came and ceremoniously placed the present in front of Candace.

"What's this?" Candace's eyes grew large.

"Open it and see!" The men all chorused around her.

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* From the 'Art of War' by Sun Tzu.. Strategy 31 involves using beautiful men and women to infiltrate and confuse the enemy.