Chapter Ten - Amusement

As soon as he entered the room, Starling knew - felt - that something was off with him. Although on a superficial first glance everything would have seemed the same as always with him. His features set in a scowl, his fists clenched by his side, his stance menacing and steady.

Yet when he entered his room and saw her regarding him with a mixture of hatred and suspicion, his artificial scowl vanished, his stance became more relaxed and his lips curved into the smirk, which Starling had long ago come to associate with him, when something unpleasant was going to befall her.

He briskly walked past her sparing her only the slightest of a glance. She turned around, her eyes narrowing with increasing suspicion.

The Dark Ace was apparently in a genuinely good mood.

The Dark Ace was rarely in a genuinely good mood.

It could only mean he had something planned and she would be on the receiving end of whatever he was going to do.

He hadn't uttered a single word, hadn't even made an attempt to touch her.

Starling didn't turn away from his form as he began to undress. He lifted his shirt over his head and merely threw it into a dark corner of his large room.

Over the course of time, Starling had come to notice that he was unable to keep his room tidy himself. It was always a maid, who came here and cleaned his room.

"Instead of just standing there and staring you could come over and take some action, Starling," he said, breaking the silence. His tone of voice only suited his current good mood, which she found highly disturbing.

"Shut up," she retorted.

Her fists clenched in apprehension as he turned to look at her.

"Moody, aren't we?"

He chuckled, unnerving her more and more. He walked over to her and before she could tell him not to touch her with his filthy hands, he brushed past her, went over to his bed and lay down with a tired sigh.

She just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. He closed his eyes and did nothing else.

Did he really intend to sleep just now? Or was it just another way to mess with her?

"You seem to be in a very good mood today," she said, her voice somehow sounding foreign to her ears, exactly like the whole situation just felt foreign and strange. He opened one red eye to peek at her and smirked.

He didn't say anything. The smirk was his answer.

The anger in her surged up, making her long for his neck in her hands, wanting nothing more than to strangle him to death. But she swiftly shook these twisted thoughts away. She had already once led her guard down and she would avoid doing it again. Even though she found it harder and harder to remain calm and collected with him. No matter how much he wanted her to hate him, no matter how much she did hate him, she needed to remind herself that openly expressing this would only serve his amusement.

And she certainly didn't want to amuse him.

But he was really pushing her…

"Would you like to visit your friends?" he asked, surprising her. She looked at him, her eyes widening slightly, not able to hide her surprise. However, the small mocking undertone in his voice didn't escape her ears.

She nodded slowly, not completely trusting her voice and completely distrusting him.

"I'll arrange for you to meet them tomorrow," he said, sounding very casual as if he was granting her one of the many niceties a friend would do so occasionally. "But just so you know, they are being kept in separate cells now with exception of Aerrow and the navigator, though this could have also changed by tomorrow."

Separate cells? This was probably one of the very few smart moves of this Master Cyclonis. This was bad. Having the Storm Hawks all separated made each of them psychologically more vulnerable.

Well, at least she would be able to see them soon.

Her eyes narrowed again.

Why did he offer her to see them? Why would he do something like that? Starling was not naïve enough to accept this as some sort of kindness on his behalf. He was not a kind person! There had to be an ulterior motive behind this.

They had agreed that she would be allowed to see them but it was something that she had wanted. But now it was as if he also wanted her to visit the Storm Hawks.

"What is it now Starling?" he asked, sounding exasperated and tired, "You look troubled."

Her head snapped up, once again surprised by his voice.

"Why don't you just look forward to tomorrow?" he questioned her further.

"Because you offered me to see them," she replied, "I don't think that you did this out of kindness or for my sake in any way."

He smiled deviously and Starling felt a familiar unpleasant feeling in her stomach.

"Come here," he said and motioned with his hand lazily towards his bed, to the free spot next to him.

At fist she didn't move but then she hesitantly walked over to the bed and lay down next to him, expecting him to tear down her clothes in an instant and have his way with her.

But he did no such things. The only thing he did was to wrap his arm around her waist and to pull her close.

"What the…," she trailed off but before she could say anything else he spoke,

"I'm very interested to see you talk with your dear friends, Starling."

"What?"

"I wonder what they will say to you, since I told them about us."

"You…you did what!?" she exclaimed and tore herself from his grasp. She stared at him in disbelief. "You told them?"

He chuckled at her reaction.

"What? You never said anything about keeping it a secret. What will you tell them Starling?"

"No…why? Why did you tell them?" she whispered desperately.

And he laughed loudly in response.