Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Back on board Dante's Moon, Candi changed into her cat suit and went back to the dance room.

As she was warming up, her mind wandered to the attack that was happening on board Leonardo's ship.

She couldn't help but notice that these attacks always happened wherever she went, and it all started even before she left Earth Space. Even Slate was surprised that they were willing to fire upon his Erenveil Empire craft to stop her from leaving, something that had never happened before.

They wanted her dead.

Then, the moment she landed on Erenveil, again, it was the Earth people who wanted to arrest her and to get their hands on the Avgo. If they couldn't get the Avgo, they were willing to use deadly force to ensure she did not participate in the Events.

This was most likely due to the mistaken assumption that Dahlia's fake Avgo would make it through the Events unchallenged. Slate had to destroy an entire squadron of armed Earth men just to keep her safe.

It was obvious that Earth wanted her dead.

Not long after that, Slate was the one who was targeted and kidnapped, but then in the end, they traded Slate for Candi because it wasn't Slate they were after but her.

This group, surprisingly, wanted her alive.

Then, at the Royal Ball, the shuriken was aimed at her and not any other Avgo Female. Although flying weaponry would not be able to hurt her due to Avgo's protection, the attacker did not know that and tried to kill her anyway.

Someone here wanted her dead.

When she ran after the first attacker, a second attacker showed up and went after her Avgo replica but did not try to kill her.

This guy wanted her Avgo but not her life.

Since she had been assigned as Dahlia's proxy, they no longer had an incentive to kill her, but that also meant someone else was after her Avgo since Dahlia had stated to Lucas that she did not want to be a part of the grueling events, she merely wanted the prize at the end of the rainbow.

It was most definitely an inside job, from what she could reasonably deduct.

It would make sense then, that whoever was after her would have known she was at the Alpha Indigo Hospital. They'd been following her around and most likely had eyes and ears in the highest places.

The only thing that didn't make sense was that the Alpha Indigo Hospital had been attacked during the time when she and Leonardo were not even there. It was as if…

Candi was in the middle of a difficult jump when her mind fixated upon that thought. She completed her jump and then stood, transfixed at the center of the floor, even as the music continued without her.

"Leonardo!" She yelled as she ran out of the dance hall.

Several attendants ran after her.

"Milady, the Princes are in the War Room."

"Take me to them!"

"Yes, Milady."

As they all ran to the War Room, Candi's brains continued to race through all the possible connections.

"Right here, Milady." The attendants showed her the doorway of Dante's War Room.

She ran up to the door and pounded on it.

"Dante! Leonardo!"

The door quickly opened, revealing the two Princes within the room.

Dante moved quickly towards the door and pulled her into the room.

"Darling. What is it?"

"The attack on the Alpha Indigo, it's not me they're after. It's Olivia Faraday!"

She turned to Leonardo. "She was admitted by you to treat her wings the day of the Royal Ball."

Leonardo looked at her.

"We know."

He sighed and stood up.

"Olivia had been a target, even from day one. Insectoids as a group are not favorably looked upon by other groups in the universe. Birds have traditionally viewed insects as prey, even to this day of supreme enlightenment."

"But insectoids are very strong." Candi

"Yes they are. Although they can hold their own when they are within their hive, when they are singled out, as this Avgo contest had done with Olivia, they are easy picking for strong alpha females like Bethany. "

"But Valeria never treated Olivia like easy picking."

"Valeria is of the corvid family. She is different from Bethany who is part of the ibis family."

"Wait. I thought she was a phoenix."

Leonardo laughed.

"They call themselves that because their plumage is red, and it sounds better than ibis, a wading bird, but the woman most certainly cannot be reborn from the ashes. Once she dies, she's dead."

"That's right." Dante nodded. "The Empress is also an ibis. When she was younger, her red hair was much brighter and when she transformed into her bird self, she was quite spectacular."

"Ohhh, so Byron is also an ibis."

"Well, only half." Leonardo smiled. "We Princes are all halflings of one sort or another."

"Is Olivia okay?" Candi turned a worried eye at Leonardo.

"We don't know." He waved once to activate a virtual monitor. "We were going to call Slate and Poppy to get an update when you burst in through the door."

Candi looked away in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry."

Dante reached out and touched her head.

"Don't be. We would have included you in this meeting if it wasn't for the fact that you were practicing for the Avgo Event tomorrow. That's more important than this."

She was saved from having to answer when both Slate and the red haired woman named Poppy showed up on a split screen.

"How is Olivia?" Leonardo jumped in without preamble.

"The Princess has been taken." Poppy responded in the same brusque manner.

"Were there any other injuries?"

"No. It looks as if she is the only one they were after. They were waiting for you to leave the Alpha Indigo before attacking."

Leonardo rubbed his eyes with weary hands.

"Any calling cards?"

"None, but motive-wise, the only person who has a vendetta against her would be the Princess Bethany Dresden." Poppy shook her head.

"Immediately after she was tossed from the Avgo Event, she went after Olivia Faraday with a vengeance."

"Olivia Faraday came to the Alpha Indigo Hospital with an entire entourage of her people from Laroche Gardens. Where were they?"

"They've all been taken as well."

"Who did the extraction?"

Poppy sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

"The Devolu Pirates took her. They were probably hired by whoever wanted her taken from the Hospital."

Slate sighed and leaned back.

"I could send my troops to overtake the Devolu Pirate ships."

"No." Poppy held up a hand and closed her eyes. "Let me handle them. I may be able to get Olivia back without anyone getting hurt."

"Poppy, they abducted her." Slate's voice was stern.

"They're just doing a job. It's not personal."

"That still does not excuse their behavior." Slate insisted.

"I know, but at least let me try first, before you send all your men into Pirate space."

"You have twelve hours to extract Olivia Faraday." Slate informed her. "After that time, I will go in personally and recover her myself."

"Understood." Poppy responded with a stead gaze.

Slate nodded and turned to Dante.

"I need my codes back."

Dante nodded and, with a sigh of relief, tapped a few things on a virtual pad in front of him.

"There you are."

Slate did something on his end and nodded with satisfaction.

"I'm back on track."

"I'm glad you're the Prime Warrior again, Brother." Dante smiled.. "It's good to see you back to full fighting strength."