Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

What was he talking about? Only Winner?

Candi followed the royal family to the dining table and sat down where the twins placed her. Lyra and Daisy promptly sidded up next her and became her best buddies.

Ariana followed behind the Empress, sitting next to her and across from Candi. The girl continued to gaze at her with shy light brown eyes, even as she held onto the Empress' arm.

The Emperor sat next to the Empress, chatting about court things that Candi didn't understand.

The Princes never really sat down anywhere. They moved about, serving the family the meats and grilled vegetables and corn cobs as they were coming from the grill cooked to perfection.

Of the servants, there were none. The Princes had sent them all away, insisting on being the ones to serve the family with their own hands.

They weren't hurting for food at any rate. The men stuffed their faces as they stood around the grill talking about whatever it was that royal Princes wearing tight colorful swim shorts talked about.

"So, my dear Candace," the Emperor said as he munched on the grilled corn on the cob. "Have you thought about what you will showcase for your next Avgo Event tomorrow?"

Candi shook her head. She hadn't even thought about what the next event was supposed to be.

"Your Majesty, I—"

"Ack! Don't call me that. It makes me feel like I should put on my work robes. Call me Father. You might as well get used to it since it looks like you're going to be married to one of these bums."

He pointed at the seven tall Princes who were still at the barbecue grill talking and laughing to themselves.

"So tell me My Dear." He chortled. "Which of these gutterpups of mine have you set your sights on?"

"It's a little early yet to be talking about choices, Rex." The Empress laughed a light tinkly laugh. "There are still four Avgo events left, and if she wins, it will be Byron she marries."

"Right, right." The Emperor chuffed, patting the Empress on the shoulder with his greasy food-stained hand. "At this moment, she is far far ahead of the others which means she's getting closer to becoming the Crown Princess."

The Empress gave Candace an excited smile, even as she surreptitiously wiped her shoulder with a napkin.

"Have you had a chance to take a look at your rankings for the Brilliance and Intellect Event yet My Dear?"

"Not yet, Your Royal Highness." Candi looked down at her hands. She hadn't had a chance to do anything, as the Princes had been dragging her from one place to the next.

The Empress smiled. "You are doing a fantastic job. Keep it up my dear and you will definitely win First Place prize."

"Yes! Haha!" The Emperor banged on the table with his fork and knife. "Speaking of whom—", he hollered towards the barbecue grill.

"More ribs, Byron! Stop eating them all and bring some here to the table. Your future wife hasn't even had a piece and the seven of you have eaten most of them!"

The Empress closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You've eaten the entire plate of ribs that the boys brought to the table. If Candace didn't get any, it's because of you!"

"Oh hush. There's plenty more. They just need to cook faster!" He laughed to himself and took the last rib on the serving plate.

From the grill, Byron brought another platter of ribs to the table.

"Who's been eating up all the ribs that I made for my future wife?" He pretend-scowled as he picked up a juicy piece and placed it on Candace's plate.

"Your Father," the Empress laughed.

Byron tossed his red head and sniffed.

"You're getting too fat, Father. Save some for the children." He poked at Ariana's thin frame. "Look how skinny your kids have become!"

The young girls giggled at their brother's foolishness.

"Seriously though. I can't believe how far from the pack Candace has pulled just from the one event." The Empress shook her head in disbelief.

"That's because she was the only one who managed not to kill my son!" The Emperor roared. "Do I want a Daughter-in-law who is not willing to live and die by her husband's side?"

Byron nodded with a grin.

"From a total of one-hundred points, she received the entire amount for Brilliance and Intellect."

He turned to look at Candi.

"Let's take a look at the visuals for your scoring, Candace."

He waved a hand and a virtual screen appeared. Another wave of his finger and the visual zoomed in on a bar graph with the original eight names.

There were several names that had a line drawn through them.

Candace's jaw dropped when she saw that Bethany Dresden had joined the ranks of the disqualified and dropped, alongside Dahlia Halloway, Olivia Faraday, and Helene Cordera.

Only Candace, Jenna, Anaïse, and Valeria were left on the scoreboard.

All the girls stared at the monitor with rapt attention. Byron smiled and pointed at the master score chart.

"See there? It is possible to earn 100 points for each event if you win first place. Coming in second gives you 90 points. Third gets 80, and so on and so forth."

Byron turned back and smiled at Candace.

"Since you won First Place in the Brilliance and Intellect event, you got the full 100 points for that competition. Add that to your previous score of 190 and your new grand total is 290 points."

He turned back to the scoreboard and pointed at Jenna's score.

"Jenna went into this event at a healthy 180. Not running away and trying to solve the issue earned her 50 points."

"Unfortunately, she failed to keep her Prince alive," he raised an eyebrow and tapped at his chest. "That would be me, so she doesn't get the full amount. 50 added to 180 equals 230."

"She's getting farther and farther behind you, Candace." He smiled at Candi.

"And what of the others?" Lyra asked.

"Aside from Jenna, who received fifty points, the others got nothing." Byron indicated the scoreboard with his finger.

"Nothing?" Lyra's eyebrows rose.

Leonardo chuckled.

"Well, one of them got less than nothing. Bethany got tossed from the Avgo Events, Anaïse is stuck at 170, and Valeria is still 160."

He shook his head. "In my opinion, she should have been tossed from the Avgo Events when she couldn't even bring her lion head back from the forest."

The Emperor leaned forward, cackling with hilarity as he eyed the selections on the table.

"I'm glad that ugly molting red bird got thrown out." He reached for a large slice of watermelon.

"I couldn't believe she took one look at Lucas' ugly mug and ran away. Hahaha!!!"