Sour Candy | T. Drake ✔

[29] The Successor

She had successfully disarmed her trainer Udit within ten minutes in the next training session.

Talia sat back with a triumphant smile on her face, watching the girl fight gracefully. It was evident that she had definitely gotten better at wielding a sword and was showing progress.

That meant it would be soon enough that Talia would get to see her plan reach completion.

The training lasted longer that day with Mona able to disarm Udit over and over again. With each time she disarmed him, he would strike even fiercely but the child tolerated it, knowing her target.

When at last she was allowed to retreat to her room, Mona was thoroughly exhausted and collapsed on the plain bed, sleep overcoming her soon after.

She hadn't even changed out of her training suit as she drifted off to sleep exhaustively, unaware that Talia had followed her to her room.

The woman's sharp emerald eyes softened at the sight as she cautiously sat down beside her sleeping figure, taking off the shoes and the heavy belt from the child's waist. Her hand brushed back the brown tresses from the girl's face, looking down at her innocent yet fatigued features.

Her fingers gently rested on her forehead, reflecting on the fact that her features in no way resembled her sister Nyssa. Unlike dark curls, tanned skin and fierce emerald eyes, the child had soft brown tresses, a pale complexion and bright blue eyes.

It was no wonder she had taken after her father.

In a sense, it was better that Mona didn't look like her mother or else she would have reminded Talia much more often of her sister who had stood up against her for the rank of the Demon Head. If that had been the case, it would have been very difficult for Talia to let her live for so long.

But as she was so different from Nyssa, Talia had decided to give her a chance even though she had her doubts that the girl could be a threat if she chose to rebel against her as well. However, so far Mona had been rather obedient and she had not regretted her decision of sparing the child.

She had spared her because she had wanted to use her as a pawn in the lethal game of chess she was devising to ensure that her power and rank remained only within her hands. But as time was passing, she was finding herself conflicted towards Mona.

Was she really a pawn she could easily forfeit in the game or was she slowly becoming something more? And worse still, was forfeiting her going to be as easy as she had thought?

There were times when Talia felt an inexplicable tenderness towards the girl. Times such as the current situation when she would remind her of her only son that she hadn't laid eyes on in so long. 

And whenever she would remind her of Damian, it would make her somewhat reluctant to keep going with the motive she had in mind for the girl. No matter how unbelievable it seemed for a heartless woman like her, deep down there was a yearning to lay eyes on her son again, to embrace him and to bring him back home. 

With Mona around, that yearning had gotten stronger because she was a constant reminder of how things could have been if Talia had never let Damian go to his father. If she hadn't left him with Bruce, Damian would still have been with her, training to be a better warrior just like Mona was undergoing currently. Seeing her get trained reminded her strikingly of the times she had trained Damian herself.