Intoxicating Desires | T. Al Ghul ✔

[14]

It was dark in the room and silent until Veruna spoke up, gaining Saahir's attention, "you forgot your promise."

He was lying at her side and both of them were sharing the blanket but upon her words, he tilted his head slightly towards her, "what promise?"

"You had said you would tell me about your country."

"Oh," a soft sigh escaped him, "I forgot..."

"If you're not sleepy, you can tell it to me now. You said you would keep your promise."

He paused, "that's all very well and I have no issue in telling you right now. But are you not going to go to sleep?"

"I don't fall asleep in any place other than my own room. Though you will be surprised to know that comfort has nothing to do with it," she added, knowing what his remark would be otherwise, "this bed you've made here is much softer than the one I am used to."

"Oh, so the League has equal treatment for both male and female assassins, that's interesting," he replied and it was then she realized that they had never really brought up the fact that he knew she was a League member beforehand.

"You know I am from the League?"

"I've seen your armor, madame. I can hardly mistake that."

"Stop calling me madame," she remarked, looking up at the dark ceiling made of the same wooden planks he had been nailing together when she had reached the hut.

"So you want to know about my country..." His voice was soft as he started, a hint of nostalgia and melancholy lacing his tone ever so slightly, "it's been years since I left my homeland and came wandering here to Amma and the twins. Fate sometimes has a lot of surprising things in store for us. Five years ago, I wouldn't even have dreamed that I would be here at this moment, telling you about the country I was born in."

She knew he had a habit of weaving his words into a story and it was one of the many things about him that had lured her in. Saahir could be an excellent storyteller, she thought, though she knew the story he was going to tell was every bit as real as the time they were sharing together under that wooden planked roof.

"I am from Persia and I came here during the war," he resumed, "the cloak you are wearing right now, was given to me by my father and he tied it around my shoulders himself the day I had left my country forever. He was hoping that I would return home soon. Victorious. Leading my army back with our flag flying high to show that we had been triumphant. But fate had other plans."

She was listening to him very closely, connecting his words to the questions she had regarding him. If he came there during the war, it meant he had been on the opposing side of the League. And by the way he had just put it all, it seemed as if he had been leading an army.

An army that was supposed to go against the League of Assassins in battle.

"I led my troop into battle but we were not prepared for the harsh weather and the brutality of the League of Assassins. We tried our best to stand our ground but Ra's Al Ghul's men tore through us as if we were nothing but a flock of pigeons. In just a few months, the army of thousands that had come with me was reduced to just one person."

"Then what happened?" She asked when the pause became slightly longer.

"Haven't you guessed who I am by now, Veruna?"

Hearing him say her name for the first time made her heart flutter slightly. The way it had left his lips felt so natural as if he had voiced it out a thousand times before and for a second the words asked before that seemed to have faded in the background.