Her Royal Guard

Chapter 7

"Dara! Why do I always have to wake you up on important days? Get your butt down here now!" Scarlet bellowed from the kitchen.
Upstairs in her bed, Dara's eyes popped wide open in fear. Because who wouldn't be scared shitless when they saw a crazy, broom wielding half Puerto Rican chick coming after them in their dreams. Looking over to the clock Dara shrieked when she realized she'd have to be ready in 10 minutes avoid being late. At least I had packed all my stuff before, she thought as she ran to her bathroom. Exactly nine minutes and forty eight seconds later, Dara was ready and going downstairs when she heard Sera's voice.
"No offence Miss Scarlet, but if she's not down here in the next ten seconds I'm gonna-"
"You'll do what? Huh, Sera?" Dara asked laughter evident in her voice. Giving her best friend the sweetest smile she could muster, Sera replied in an overly sweet voice, "Oh nothing much. Just drag your lazy ass down here in whatever state of dress you're in... Among other things."
"Now children, behave yourselves. You have an important performance today. I can't believe my girls are dancing for such an important person."
And there she goes again, Dara thought.
"Okay we gotta get outta here. Bye Miss Scarlet, we'll see ya later. I'll make sure to tell Stefan to video it so you can ser it too!" Sera announced, pulling Dara out of the house with her.

To say the campus concert hall was grand would be the biggest understatement ever. Describing it's beauty would be futile as the true sense of its decor cannot be simply described using words. The design was simple yet beautiful. The ceiling was a brilliant shade of rose gold with a magnificent sun shaped chandelier above the stage. From experience Sera and Dara knew that at night the roof took on the appearance of clouds during a sunset.
The seats were arranged in two areas. Those closer to the stage and those behind the low wall. Obviously those unlucky fellow stuck behind the wall were civilians while the closer chairs were for the more famous guests.
"Okay chica, they're starting now. We should go change."
They both headed off to the changing rooms to do the last touches on their makeup and costumes. At random intervals loud cheering could be heard with the music being played. After the final round of cheering, the announcer's voice came to them through the speakers announcing that the belly dance duo would be performing next.
"Ladies and gentlemen,  welcome to the stage, Cilosias!"
Applause followed them onto the stage and as they took their positions. From the first beat, Sundara was lost. The dance consumed her, the beat of the drums moved her. Before she knew it the first song had ended and they had started the second. It was  slower than their first dance but the moves were still tricky. Glancing over at Sera, Dara noticed that she too looked to have lost herself in the dance. When they both did abdominal trembles the crowd cheered. It was a hard move to perfect even more so to do in sync with a partner. Dara noticed Sera was no longer lost towards the end of the song.
By the last strain of the music they both fell to their knees, bent at the waist with their hands outstretched before them on the floor. Expecting Dara's solo song to start, they lay there waiting. When the crowd went eerily silent, both girls looked up to see what had happened. The both gasped as they saw the sheikh approaching the stage, his expression unreadable.
The girls shared a momentary look of fear, thinking they may have messed up somehow. The Sheik was accompanied by none other than Riahd whose face was an expressionless mask as well. Afraid of even speaking, the girls stared as the sheikh approached. When Dara felt a hand on her shoulder indicating that she should stand she looked up and froze at what she saw. Riahd and the Sheik shared a deep resemblance with the sheikh being the slightly older version of the two. Looking across at Sera she saw the same awestruck expression on her face.
"Anhad." Not understanding what was said, Dara looked to Riahd who smiled at her.
"He said stand, Nuri."
Dara rose shakily and thanked God that her nervousness didn't show.
"You dance beautiful, like alghawia." The sheikh's broken English sounded rough yet beautiful to her. She looked down and saw Sera still kneeling and looking extremely scared.
"Where did you learn dance?" The sheikh questioned. He frowned when he noticed Sera still kneeling and put his hand out to help her up.
"Alraqs alkhasu bik hu alkamal." Riahd was about to translate when the sheikh shook his head, telling him not to. "I must be accustomed to English.  You dance perfect, beautifully."
"Thank your Highness, but we had one more dance to do." Sera injected, trying to keep her voice and face emotionless.
"You do not need last performance.  I already know how beautiful you dance together. I have idea, I hope you say yes." The sheikh's face lit with at whatever he was envisioning.
"You would teach dance to girls in my foundation?"