Chereads / The Eagle and the Owl / Chapter 3 - Chapter 03

Chapter 3 - Chapter 03

The next time Owl came to she was in a dark room. She was lying down on some kind of a mattress and was relieved to see that her strength was back. She quickly sat up and squinted her eyes, hoping to make out something in the room despite the overwhelming darkness.

"Shall I turn on a light?" A familiar deep voice questioned.

She snapped her head in the direction she thought the voice came from, trying to make out a silhouette.

The light suddenly came on and she jumped; the man who'd spoken to her was sitting right next to her, legs crossed and smiling.

"You!"She exclaimed, practically throwing herself off the bed, almost stumbling to the ground.

General Eagle raised a brow at her passionate display, before rising from the bed himself.

She had to look up at him, he was a good two heads taller; it was intimidating and even more so since she was barefoot.

"Where am I?" She questioned him, her body tense, ready to attack if need need be. She was giving him the meanest look she could muster, hoping to show him she was not someone to mess with.

He didn't answer her, instead he crossed his arms and gave her body a once over.

"Feeling better I see," he finally commented.

"Who are you and where am I?"She tried again, her patience thinning as the man continued to stare at her.

"You are on my ship and," he stepped forward, his gloved hand shooting out to grab her arm. "We are married."

"Liar," she shot back, trying to pull her arm out of his grip. "I don't even know your name!"

"You were attacked by a Rebel group and are suffering with temporary memory loss," he explained, pulling her towards him despite her resistance.

"My name is Eagle, don't you remember?"

Owl stopped struggling, she could feel the panic starting to rise in her chest. She looked up at Eagle and realised she did know him. His eyes, nose, mouth everything looked familiar and yet she couldn't place him.

Was he telling the truth?

"I-I don't remember," she mumbled, closing her eyes at the growing pressure in her head.

The large hand that settled on her head was almost too much for her to bear.

"Take it easy," he soothed, "it'll come back to you slowly."

She didn't trust him, something about him put her on edge, but right now he seemed to know more about her than she knew herself.

"So," she began, clearing her throat, looking up at him boldly. "You're really my husband?"

Eagle was smiling at her warmly, his hand had moved from her head to her shoulder and she watched, fascinated as he lifted one of her wavy locks and brought it to his lips.

Owl was sure her face was as red as a tomato.

"Fine whatever," she stepped away from Eagle, trying to put some distance between them.

"So then, who am I?"

The man chuckled as he watched her look everywhere in the room except him. It was so amusing to Eagle to see Owl in such a vulnerable state, he almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"You're the daughter of one of the most prominent men in our Empire," Eagle revealed, the lies pouring from his mouth like melted butter.

"Sadly," he continued, " your family home was attacked a few months ago, all members were killed, thus as my wife I had you moved to my ship as quickly as possible despite you being a civilian."

"W-Wife," she stammered, blushing.

"Yes, wife," he confirmed, enjoying her unease.

"But I don't even know you!"

"Careful darling, you're starting to sound like a broken record."

"And believe me Owl, you know me very well," he added, before taking a step to the side, clearing her path to the exit.

"I am not your enemy Owl."

She watched him wearily as he motioned her toward the door. She the took a few steps forward, before turning her head to see if he was following her, he wasn't. He was still smiling at her though, which made her uneasy about what lay behind the closed door.

However before she could even take another step, the electronic doors opened themselves, revealing another tall man behind it.

"General Eagle," the arrogant looking newcomer began, completely ignoring Owl, "You missed the meeting."

The sound of booted footsteps alerted Owl that Eagle was approaching her.

"Ah General Tiger, my dear Owl needed me," he answered.

General Tiger's eyes slid from Eagle to a wide eyed Owl.

"Dear?" Tiger questioned, before slowly stretching his lips into dark smile.

"I see."

Owl took a step back as the one named Tiger extended a hand toward her, but nearly jumped when her back bumped into Eagle.

A pair of steady strong hands settled on her shoulders preventing her from moving away.

"Owl, this is General Prince Tiger, third in power to the Emperor." Even as Eagle introduced the man to her all she could hear was the word 'Enemy' in her head.

"I don't like you," she blurted out, before slamming her hand over her mouth.

Two things happened, one Eagle's hold on her tightened, painfully, and two Tiger's smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed.

"Are you sure it worked Eagle," Tiger questioned.

Eagle forcefully spun her around before grabbing her chin and yanking her face up. He looked into her eyes for a moment, searching for something. For that chilling instant Owl thought he was going to hurt her but then, just as suddenly, his grip on her loosened and he did not stop her when she dashed to the other side of the room.

"No it's fine," Eagle assured confidently before turning to his friend,"she probably just doesn't like you with or without her memories."

Tiger's eyes were on Owl, who was glaring at them from a distance.

"Well, it's mutual."

Eagle smiled, it was rare for Tiger to be personally interested in anyone and yet the fact that he came to see them was proof that he was concerned for his friend.

"You're a fool Eagle, wasting your time on such trash."

"Hey, mind your words."Eagle warned.

"Oh please, she's only a human after all."

The dangerous look Eagle sent his way had Tiger rethink the next words that came out of his mouth.

"Fine, I won't say anything more than this.

"No, perhaps you shouldn't," Eagle agreed.

Both watched Owl as she continued to glare at them from the other side of the room.

"Owl darling," General Eagle spoke gently, as though he was coaxing a spooked animal out of its hole.

"Come here, no one is going to hurt you."

Owl snorted and crossed her arms, clearly showing him she wouldn't be fooled twice.

Tiger placed a heavy hand on his friend's shoulder. "Shall I leave then? My presence seems to be undermining your cause."

"Give it time Tiger, she will warm up to you as she will to me."

"Are you sure about that? She seems quite determined to the opposite," Tiger sighed.

"She has no choice."

"Yes...Yes I suppose with you at the helm of this 'private' mission, she really doesn't."

With a final look at Owl, Tiger turned to leave. He had no idea why his brother was interested in this troublesome woman but he was going to very well make sure

she didn't get between Eagle's duties and his brothers.

Once Tiger left the room, Eagle turned his complete attention back to Owl. As much as he enjoyed 'playing' with her, her mistrust of him was beginning to irritate him.

He was only second to the Emperor and had very little experience of not being immediately obeyed and yet Owl seemed to test his patience at every turn.

He smiled to himself, in the years since he had last physically seen her, this aspect of her had certainly not changed.

He raised a hand toward her before giving her a command. "Come here, my dear."

"Sorry, nope!"

He lowered his hand and began shrugging off his uniform jacket . Once he was done, he slowly made his way to where Owl was plastered against the wall.

"Owl, you need to have a rest. Come to the bed and sleep."

"Are you crazy!" she exclaimed, walking backwards along the wall as he approached her. "You think I'll sleep in your bed."

"No of course not," he sounded amused. "As much as I enjoy your most expressive face, I'm not in the habit of frightening defenceless women in that way."

"T-then what do you want?"

"Simply come to the bed and have a rest."

"Are you going to leave?" She asked hopefully.

"I will," he confirmed. "But only once I see you in the bed, under the covers."

She seemed to want to melt into the wall as he finally reached her, but was shocked when he simply passed her and made his way to a metal rectangle near the bed.

He opened it and pulled out a cold bottle of some kind of a drink.

He turned back to her and motioned to the bed with his eyes.

Owl thought about resisting some more, but she was starting to feel a little lethargic again and she would rather faint on the bed than on the floor. She had nowhere to run to in her state anyway.

She eyed him wearily as she approached the bed and sat down on the edge. He came to her and held out the drink.

"What's that?"

"Your medication."

"I don't wa-"

As she opened her mouth to speak, he grabbed her chin and tilted some liquid in. Before she could spit it out, he closed her mouth with the palm of his hand forcing her to swallow.

"What," she rasped. "What did you give me!"

He smiled as he sealed the rest of the drink shut.

"Something to help you really sleep."

" Y-You," she started to say, but the black dots in her vision started to increase and spiral into a point and then everything went black.

Eagle picked Owl up, shoving the covers aside and slowly laid her down. He pulled the covers over her, up to her chin and once more placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.

"Next time you awake Owl, I promise we'll have a real talk."

He straightened himself, grabbing his uniform jacket and made his way out of the room without a single look back.

The doors locking automatically behind him.

-O-