Chapter 8: Watching the Dancers

“He hired dancers! I don't believe it!” Raylene exclaimed above the noise of the music. "The noise is going to startle the horses!” she exclaimed again, but nobody heard her.

“What's going on out here?” she heard her uncle speaking behind her.

“I don't know. It seems as if Raven has hired some dancers to help him celebrate,” Raylene said with a stiff smile.

“Oh, that's quite something,” Sir George remarked as he also watched how the dancers were now surrounding the blue sports car and dancing around it.

“No, it was me who hired them,” Richard said from behind Raylene.

“You?” Sir George asked with his eyes and mouth wide open from shock.

“Yes, I wanted to cheer him up after none of his friends stayed behind to wait for the car,” Richard explained. “But what's the point if his friends are not here to see the dancers live?”

"Exactly!” Raylene agreed. "You should have let me know in advance so that I could move the horses a little bit further from the noise,” she complained.

“Oh, sorry about that. I decided to do this suddenly when Raven told me that he was hoping to do it but that he gave up on the idea,” Richard responded.

"Well, it's really loud. I hope they leave soon. Are they?” Sir George asked, turning to Richard.

“Oh, no. They won't be staying for long,” Richard responded with a quick chuckle.

“You could have told me at dinner,” Sir George chided.

“I wanted to surprise everyone,” Richard responded.

“And just how did you manage to do it? Since when do you know how to order dancers for entertainment?” Raylene asked, turning to look Richard straight in the eyes.

“She helped me,” he replied with a nod in Salicia’s direction where she stood talking to Raven.

“Oh, clever. So you know where to go for help with that kind of challenge,” Raylene said with a teasing smile.

"She's not too bad,” Richard remarked.

“You mean, unlike your brother, you know just how to approach her,” Sir George commented with a smile.

“I hope she's not planning on sleeping over?” Raylene asked with her brows raised.

Richard shrugged at this and looked at Salicia with a concerned frown.

“I hope she doesn't want a return of favors,” he stated with a worried look in his eyes.

“Oh, no. I am getting out of here if that's the case. I need my sleep tonight. I didn't get much last night,” Raylene declared. She attempted to turn around but Richard grabbed her hand to pull her back.

“What's it Rick? I really meant what I said,” Raylene stated with a serious look in her eyes.

“Wait just a little bit longer. The nice music is gonna start now,” Richard declared.

“There's enough space here. A palace has more than enough room for anyone to sleep over,” Sir George declared.

“But Salicia will somehow find her way to visit my suite and try again to coax me into making Raven like her,” Raylene stated with a look of disgust on her face. "Let's just hope that she doesn't sleep over,” she concluded.

Raven waved at them and Salicia seemed to be in one of her nonstop talking moods.

“He might need rescuing,” Richard told himself.

“She just might decide to stay here until the birthday party,” he declared.

"Then she will find out what it means to be seriously ignored,” Raylene responded.

“Oh, she won't be that forward. Besides, her parents won't allow it,” Sir George commented before turning around to go back inside the palace himself.

"Anyway, I just want to go and check up on my horses,” Raylene stated and she began to walk towards the stables.

“I will come with you,” Richard declared quickly.

The two siblings left their uncle behind without saying anything further.

“Finally! I thought that you were never gonna find a way to escape the old man," Richard declared when they had walked a few steps away from the rest.

“Oh? But why would you want that?” Raylene asked in confusion. "We don't have any secrets from him, do we?” she asked.

“No, we don't, but he’s keeping one or two from us,” Richard declared in a suddenly somber tone of voice.

“Well, at his age he's bound to. He has work related secrets, for instance,” Raylene responded with a shrug and a quick glance over her shoulder at her younger brother.

"I understand that, but he has some family secrets which we were not supposed to know about because we’re supposedly too young,” Richard responded in a low tone of voice.

"Family secrets?" Raylene responded with a frown.

"Aha. Exactly that," Richard responded.

"You sound as if it's really confidential. Let me check on the horses first,” Raylene laughed.

“It's actually very serious. It could change our lives and our destinies,” Richard declared.

Raylene decided to look at Richard carefully to see whether he was serious about what he was saying. She was surprised to notice that he actually wasn't joking at all.

“You are suddenly so serious. Did anything happen?” she asked looking at him with her head to the side.

Richard walked a few steps further. He did not seem ready to answer immediately, but Raylene decided to be patient anyway.

“Alright then. Tell me what's on your mind,” she said as she opened up the stable doors, one by one.

“Raven just told me that it's not just the three of us in the family. We're not the only heirs,” Richard declared immediately. He was hoping that the shock effect would work better than taking it step by step.

Raylene stood still in her tracks then.