บท 54: Courtesy Call
"What???"
"No!!!"
The brothers roared in unison.
The Emperor straightened his spine and sat up on his golden throne.
"That is an order, Leo."
He turned back to Byron.
"And what are you still doing here? Didn't I just tell you to go call the Court Legislators and Advisors back? Strike at Emporia where they hurt the most. Their money bags."
Leonardo's aqua eyes spilled over.
"Father, I cannot condemn an innocent girl into the hands of the Emporian Kingdom. She has nobody to protect her!" He wrung his hands.
"Emporia will kill her since she has maimed their Princess. Earth will not intervene since she is just a commoner and not one of their Royal Princesses!"
"She has you boys, doesn't she? Don't tell me you Princes aren't as powerful as the forces on Earth and can't protect a single female."
"Father, I am a doctor. I save lives, not send them into danger. I simply cannot do this." Leo slammed his fist into his palm.
The Emperor harrumphed.
"Your brother's safety comes first. He is not just your brother, he is also a Prince of Erenveil. Send her in and retrieve him. Once he is safely on our ship, do whatever it takes to try and rescue her."
"She is my Bride!" Byron roared. "I will find a way to rescue my brother, but not at the risk of harm to my future Wife!"
"I am still the Emperor. You have both been given direct orders from me. I expect them to be obeyed immediately."
"And besides," the Emperor sniffed. "She's not your bride yet. There are still five other Avgo events that must take place."
"Father!" Byron cried. "How can she continue the Avgo Event if she is in the hands of the Emporian Kingdom?"
The Emperor turned back to Byron with a raised eyebrow.
"Might I remind you who Candace Farrah is."
At Byron's confused looks, he smiled.
"She is a legitimate Avgo Female. If she is in danger, the Avgo will protect her."
Leonardo and Byron blinked as they remembered the day of the Avgo Verification event, when all the gemstones protected their charge. The only one who did not get protected was Dahlia Halloway, the fake Earth Avgo female.
"But Olivia Faraday, Helene Cordera, Bethany Dresden, and Valeria Marakesh have all been injured. Why were they not protected by the gems?" Leonardo asked.
"Son, they were all injured by other Avgo females. The gemstones can't protect the Avgo holders from each other. But they can and do protect the Avgo holders from others who are not Avgo females."
"That means she can still be harmed by Helene Cordera!" Leonardo cried.
"Tch. Tch." The Emperor waggled a finger at Leonardo. "Helene Cordera has been disqualified and dropped from the Avgo Event. She is no longer an Avgo Female. In fact, she no longer even has the gemstone."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"But I thought that the Avgo winner goes to Byron and the rest of us Princes get our pick of the rest of the candidates."
"That is true. You boys do get your pick of the remaining females who did not make the cut. But remember, although they are no longer Avgo Females, they're still part of the cream of the crop. They are top of the line women from all over the Galaxy."
He grimaced.
"Except for that fish girl. If any of you boys pick that fish girl, I will disown you."
Leonardo and Byron looked at each other, disgust clearly written on their faces.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about there, Father." Leonardo coughed.
"Hmmm. Good. Now, go carry out your orders." He stared at the two Princes who stood there, frozen with indecision.
"GO!!!" He roared.
======
"He said WHAT???" Dante bellowed, jumping up from his seated position. "I refuse to hand her over to you. I don't care if you are the temp Prime and I don't care if that is Father's orders."
The four brothers, Dante, Leo, Jason, and Jared were seated inside the war room, debating the situation at hand.
"I don't want her to be taken there either, but Father's words must be obeyed or we risk insubordination and mutiny charges." Leo sighed. "He is still the Emperor and his word is law."
"What did Byron say?" Dante's face was thunderous. "Never mind. I know exactly what he said. 'Yes, Father. Yes Father.'"
"That would be Byron." Jason agreed.
"He is such a 'Yes' man." Dante scoffed.
Jared snapped his fingers.
"What if we use our dress dummy and hand that thing over to Emporia? We did that for Earth and it worked!"
Jason shook his head.
"Can't do that, Dear Brother. One of us would have to be there all the time to keep the magic appearance up or the Tiny Dancer dummy turns back into just a dress dummy."
"Oh. Right." Jared scowled and sat back down.
"We have only 20 hours left. We have to start heading there soon because it takes two hours to reach the rendezvous point that they have designated."
Dante slammed his hands onto the table top, making two huge hand-shaped dents into the wood. Along with the large black burn hole in the wall that he had just created that morning, it looked as if an actual war had occurred within the war room.
"Brother, you need to control yourself. You've killed a tree outside and one of the walls inside this room." Jared grimaced. "Looks like you need to replace this table too."
"Aaaaaaaarghhh!!!"
Dante gave a roar and slammed his right hand down with force. It broke the table apart, sending Leo, Jason, and Jared scattering back to avoid being hit by flying pieces of the broken table.
"You're right." Dante snarled. "It does need to be replaced." He kicked the broken table for good measure, sending it slamming into the opposite wall with a THUD.
"And I am going to repeat this one last time. I am not handing my future wife over to you. Period. End of story."
Jason and Jared looked at each other and shook their heads.
Dante had always been unnecessarily brutal in his reactions to news he didn't like. It had always been aimed at inanimate objects but still, it was terrifying at times to watch.
"Brother Dear." Leonardo shrugged. "Whether she is your future wife or not is still debatable. Meanwhile, your current Father has issued an order to save your current Baby Brother from a bunch of thugs."
"I will send my entire private military force there and extract Slate myself." Dante said between gritted teeth. "But I am NOT going to send Candace to them."
Leonardo shook his platinum blond head with regret, his droopy aqua eyes mournful and apologetic.
"You don't understand, Brother. I am not asking you. I merely came by as a courtesy to let you know we will be taking her."
He snapped his fingers. One of his aides who was standing behind him spoke up.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Is the Earth Avgo Female onboard the ship yet?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Leonardo nodded.
"I would love to stay and chat with all of you, but duty calls and I am down to 19 hours to deliver the bounty and retrieve our brother."
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SerafinaF
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