Mano a Mano

"She did what?" Candace jumped up from her seated position at the card table.

Her sudden movement knocked everything into a jumbled mess, sending all the kings and queens and jacks and aces flying up into the air, joined by the red and black numbered gangs.

Lucas' amber eyes were no less shocked. He'd heard about his father's long-term neglect of the Royal Consorts.

Even his mother had complained to him about it once in awhile, but what could anyone do? The Emperor stayed with whomever he wished and lavished attention on whichever wife he wanted. It was his prerogative as a multi-wifed man.

Slate's face reddened. "She and the Grand Duke of—"

"No, no Baby!" Candace waved a furious hand. "No need to repeat this to me. I heard you the first time."

Candace thought for a moment and slapped a hand to her forehead.

"You're telling me this for a reason."

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers.

"You need me to go to her and find out what's going on, right?"

Slate furrowed his brows. He truly needed her help, but he knew she was waiting for Jason to come and pick her up. It was evening of the day that Jason was to spend the week with her.

But Slate's mother and sister were in trouble, and Candace was his wife. If he couldn't ask his wife to help him in such emergency, who else could he ask?

"Where exactly is she located?" Candace asked.

"If you take a fast warship, you can reach her in three days."

"Do we have fast warships?"

Slate gave her an exasperated look. "I have nothing but fast warships."

"Can I borrow one?"

Slate shook his head. "You're my wife. Anything I have is also yours. But what about Jason?"

"He's supposed to be coming to Lucas' Island to pick me up." Candace pounded her fist into the palm of her other hand. "He can just tag along while I take care of the situation and lend my support to Mother Gwen."

Slate and Lucas looked at each other with knowing eyes.

Jason was not going to be happy to know that he had been relegated to second position on his week of all weeks, to deliver his Avgo.

Unfortunately, family emergencies crop up, and it was never at convenient times. As his wife and Gwen's daughter-in-law, Candace was in a unique position to be able to make a difference and help out in this situation.

Slate nodded. "I'll contact him and have one of my warships pick him up. Get yourself ready. The ship will be coming in about an hour."

True to his word, one hour later, a transport pod landed on the beach.

Candace gave Lucas one last lingering kiss and waved goodbye to him.

His eyes lost their shine as he watched his wife turn towards the transport pod and run through the golden sands, into the waiting arms of a tall splendid green hair Prince.

Wait a moment. Lucas rubbed his eyes.

What was Jared doing here?

"Where's Jason?" Candace had also noticed the switcharoo twin.

Jared laughed. "What kind of a greeting is that? What am I, chopped liver?"

"No, no!" Candace grinned. "I'm happy to see you too, but this week is Jason's week. I was just surprised he's not here."

Jared pointed upwards. "He's waiting for you up on the warship. I volunteered to come down to get you."

"Are you coming along?"

Jared pursed his lips. "My wife is going on a business trip through dangerous pirate territory. Try to keep me away."

==================

Inside the war room of the Draken Claw, Erden had just gotten word from Slate that his father wanted a face-to-face conversation with him.

Erden was expecting that. The Erenveil royals weren't mortal enemies of any sort and had always been neutral allies in most situations involving altercations between the pirates or other rogue factions that sought to bring chaos to the civilized parts of the galaxy.

They could mostly talk things through and come to a mutually satisfactory agreement.

Unfortunately, at this point in regards to his Gwen, it would be something akin to, 'Say what? You want this huge ten karat diamond back that you left unattended on the table? hmmm. Let me think about that…'

"Put him through." Erden barked at the attendant as soon as the man poked his head in through the doorway to alert the Grand Duke of the incoming 3D call.

He had promised Gwen that he would protect her. This would be his first battle.

Within a few minutes, the 3D surly face of the Emperor appeared in front of Erden.

The Emperor was a strikingly handsome man with long dark hair and striking violet eyes. It was easy to see where Slate got his strong rugged looks from.

"Grand Duke Erden of Avalia." The Emperor enounced each word of Erden's title as if it was something that came out of the litter box. "What, pray tell, do you think you're trying to pull?"

So it was going to be like that, eh?

Erden crinkled his eyes. It would have been difficult for him to respond to the Emperor had he come tearful and regretful, asking for his wife back with sincerity.

But this? This show of blustering braggadocio was something that Erden could deal with in very quick order.

"Emperor. It's good to finally meet you face-to-face. I look forward to this impromptu mano a mano."

"There will be no 'mano a mano'. All you need to do is simply take a step back from my wife. I will send a ship to pick her up and take her home."

"Aaaah. I'm afraid I cannot do that. You see, she has agreed to be my wife. From the point that she accepted my hand in marriage, I am now the home that she will return to."

"That's preposterous!" The Emperor scowled. "She cannot marry you. She is already married to me!"

"She left you, Emperor. Just accept it. You have half a dozen wives. Why would you bother yourself with one woman?"

"Oh? And how many do you have?"

"None yet." Erden gave the Emperor a steady gaze. "I've never been married, Emperor. Gwendolyn will be my first wife. I hope she goes easy on me, our first time." He smiled with anticipation.

This seemed to cause the Emperor even more of a bellyache.

"Stay away from my wife, Erden. You do not want to mess with me. Do you know who I am?"

"Ummm. You're her ex-husband?"

"Arrrgghhh!" The Emperor growled. "I am the Emperor of the Erenveil Empire. If you want what's mine, you are going to have to fight tooth and claw for her."

"Hmmm? And pray tell, what will you do? Send her son to take her back?"

Erden gave a tiny satisfied smile.

"I'll have you know, Slate was the one who asked me to shelter and protect her, since you were unable to protect her at all."

"How dare you!!!"

"Where were you, Emperor, the day that your palace was attacked? If I hadn't been there, Gwen would have been seriously wounded or worse."

The Emperor gritted his teeth. On that day, he had been trying to get Anastasia to safety. She had been first and foremost in his mind.

Once he had ensured that Anastasia was in a safe place, he had gone back to look for his other wives but had not been able to locate Gwendolyn. It rankled him that it was this man who had come to Gwen's rescue.

"Rescuing my wife from an unexpected dangerous situation does not equate taking her away to another world! I will not let this slight go unpunished. I will make you regret you ever met her!"

"I look forward to crossing swords with you, Emperor Rex." Erden exhaled with anticipation.

The Emperor roared with rage and pounded on the throne console, abruptly disappearing from sight.

Erden's smile evaporated.

He was under no illusion that the Emperor would strike back at him in some way. The wily bat was more than capable, even without Slate, to find a way to deal with Erden.

But he found himself looking forward to dealing with the Emperor. There was a huge difference between himself and the Emperor.

Other than Gwendolyn, Erden didn't have much to lose.

The Emperor on the other hand, had an entire galaxy to lose.