At the brothers' sudden clamor, the Emperor held up a hand.
"Wait—wait. I understand all your concerns. I know that three husbands is a bit much for one woman to handle, so I am trying to talk reason to her."
The Emperor rubbed his brows in a show of fatherly concern.
"I know you all are men and have certain needs that must be fulfilled. One wife between the three of you cannot work. She cannot possibly take care of each of you in the manner with which you are entitled and accustomed to."
Dante, Byron, and Lucas looked at each other. Entitlement was not something they had ever thought about when they spent private time with Candace. It had always been gratefulness.
They had always felt grateful that she was willing to be with them.
As far as being accustomed to something, Lucas had been a virgin before Candace, so there was nothing for him to be accustomed to.
As for Dante and Byron, although they were no virgins, they were so overworked that they barely had time to think about much other than their jobs. To be with Candace, they had to schedule time out of their busy day to be with her.
The Emperor saw the three men looking at each other and drew a fatal conclusion. He pursed his lips, driving home his point.
"Unfortunately, she is not listening to reason so I am hoping you boys can talk to her."
Byron smiled at Candace. "What's the matter Love? Is Father not amenable to adding the other brothers to the marriage decree?"
Dante rubbed his chin, pursing his lips. "Hmmm. Whatever shall we do?"
"I wonder if we could do some magic parlor tricks to fix this." Lucas waved a hand into the air.
She laughed. They were such clowns.
"I told Father he had to retract all the marriage decrees for wives and royal consorts or I would shop around for a new Emperor from one of the dragons in Avalia." She turned a serious gaze at them.
"Ouch!" Lucas plunged a make-believe knife into his heart. "That's too painful to even contemplate. I thought you loved us!"
"I do!" Candace insisted. "I want all seven of you because my child needs all seven fathers, but your father is dead set against it."
Lucas turned to the Emperor. "Father, I have a great idea!" He held up a hand. "Why don't we just add all the brothers into the marriage document—"
"While at the same time remove all the legal royal consorts you have lined up for us." Dante added with a glint of steel in his deep green eyes. "I don't have time for any of them. As it is, I'm struggling to make time to be with my wife."
"But boys! You can't just have one wife. How is she going to be able to handle all you lusty men???" The Emperor sputtered and chuffed.
Lucas shook his head. "I've had the best, I don't want the rest."
"Had the—had the best?" He turned to look at Candace. "You've slept with my boys already?"
Candace grinned and nodded, crossing her fingers behind her back. She hadn't quite gotten to Leonardo and Byron just yet, but that would happen soon.
"But how are you going to know which of these boys are the father of your child?"
The brothers roared with laughter. They had tried to explain it to him, but he obviously wasn't quite understanding how the Avgo child was created.
"Does it matter, Father?" Jared laughed and dropped a kiss onto Candace's head. "That child will have seven fathers because we are all her husbands."
"You boys don't care about having your own children?"
Jason sighed. "Father, the child that my wife will carry IS my child. It is going to have my unique genetic characteristics."
"Likewise." Jared chimed up.
"And mine." Byron spoke up.
"And mine." Dante grinned.
"That's going to be one lucky spoiled child of mine." Lucas smiled with warmth.
The Emperor shook his head. This was not going to work for him.
"All it would take is a genetic scan and you all will know who the father of the child is…with the exception of the twins of course, since they have the same genetic markers."
"Hmmm. I can't wait for that moment to happen because I can already guess what the scan will reveal." Lucas laughed.
"Yeah. The child with seven genetically identifiable fathers." Byron grinned with pride.
The Emperor shook his head.
"It's not just who the father of the child is, it's also the number of heirs you will have. You boys need more heirs. If that one child dies, then you will be heirless."
"I'm sure we will have more than one child with Candace." Dante handed a sheaf of documents to the left side with a whispered order for his aides to do something with them.
"No no." Emperor Rex harrumphed. "Even if I add all seven of you boys onto the marriage decree, I will still insist on each of you taking on at least one or two other consorts."
Byron turned to his father and shook his head. "We really don't want any consorts, Father. We just want Candace."
The Emperor scowled. "I called you boys on to help me convince your wife to drop the idea of adding the other brothers onto your marriage documents and you are not helping me but encouraging her incorrigible behavior?"
"Incorrigible behavior?" Candace blinked. "Would you prefer I continue to sleep with all your sons without giving them a chance to get married?"
"No!" The Emperor hemmed and hawed. "I prefer that you sleep with only your husbands!"
"And what, pray tell, is the difference between three husbands and seven husbands?" Candace touched a fragile finger to her mouth.
The Emperor glanced at Candace. What was she getting at?
Candace leaned in. "Other than the fact that I have legitimized all seven of your sons as possible future emperors."
She inhaled with luxurious satisfaction. "Think of it this way. If one of your sons prefer not to be Emperor, another son could come up and share the position without having to go through all the usual rigamarole."
The Emperor's eyes glanced at Lucas. This was the son most likely to step down and continue with his wildly successful line of work.
Of all his other sons, Slate would probably fill in perfectly as the third Emperor, but he was the youngest. There was no way…
"No. I have already talked with the Kings of the various worlds and have promised them marriage positions for their daughters. I cannot go against my word."
"It doesn't matter what you do, Your Majesty." Candace rested her head on her hand. "I will simply revoke your decree with one of my own."
"What???" The Emperor turned bloodshot violet eyes at her.
"You heard me." She stretched her lips into a snarky smile. "The moment I legally became the wife of your three sons, which was…" she turned to look at Dante.
"It legally happened yesterday My Love." Dante gave her a reassuring wink.
"As of yesterday," she chuckled softly. "I became the legal Empress."
Emperor Rex's eyes bulged from his sockets, but Candace was already moving onto the next point in her discussion.
"I don't have any desire to take up the mantle just yet because I would rather you and Empress Anastasia remain Emperor and Empress for awhile longer, but if you continue to insist on ruining my married life, I will have no choice but to force your retirement."
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