Intoxicating Desires | T. Al Ghul ✔

[23]

Saahir was lighting up a bonfire in the center when the clip-clop of a horse coming up to the clearing made him turn around. Seeing that it was Veruna sent a smile on his face and he came ahead to take the reins of her horse from her, tying it up nearby.

"Long time since you last came here," he remarked, giving her his hand that she took before dismounting. His hand was quite warm as compared to hers and feeling that she might be cold, he had gently taken both her hands in his own, the comfortable warmth seeping through to her as well. 

"Yeah, I've been busy," she replied, smiling at that silent but caring gesture.

"I heard your Lady has come back."

She nodded, feeling the same stiffness in his tone that she had felt with Talia as well each time the woman had asked her about Saahir. "Precisely why I couldn't visit so often. With her gone, I had some time on my hands but now I'm back to doing my usual tasks."

He didn't say anything for some time and Veruna observed the slight furrow of his brow, indicating that he was thinking something. To her, it seemed that for some reason, Saahir and Talia considered each other rivals and that was all Veruna could chalk up to their unease while talking about each other.

For Saahir, she felt it could be that he considered her an active contributor to wiping out his army, hence he was so wary of her. But Talia apparently did not know that Saahir was the Prince of Persia but she was still very hostile toward him.

"Then what brings you here tonight?" His voice shook her out of her thoughts.

"Just... Wanted to see you all," she replied, noticing that he had leaned closer, his brown eyes softly gazing into hers. "How's Amma and the twins?"

He shook his head, "they are all fine but you got late in coming here if you had to meet them. They have already gone to sleep."

"Then the bonfire..."

"It was cold and I didn't have anything else to do," he remarked, pulling apart from her to tend to the fire again. "Sometimes I light up a fire here and think about the old days until I get tired enough to rest."

She came to sit beside him on the rock near the fire and he instinctively pulled her close, his arm wrapping around her. "Do you really miss your people?"

"It's been five years. But yes, I do."

"Then why haven't you even once tried to go back?"

"Because I couldn't. I told you, Veruna. I'm ashamed. My whole army was massacred because of me, how will I face all my people who still think I'm held captive by the League or have been executed? Better for them to think I died in the war than to see that I survived but their brothers, fathers, and sons who fought under me did not."

A heavy silence followed his words until she spoke up, "so you'll never go back?"

He sighed softly, "never."

"I don't even remember who my people were," the words escaped her in a low whisper as if she was scared of voicing her thoughts out even.

He brought her closer to him in a reassuring hug and let her rest her head on his shoulder. She felt that embrace was much needed at the moment. 

Each time they brought up the past ended up on a sad note but it always made them feel that they were not alone. It gave a sense of reassurance that they understood each other's situation because they had more or less gone through the same thing.

"You know, sometimes it feels like you and I are a lot similar," Saahir spoke up, "you also know what it is like to give everything up for someone and stay. I guess that's why you haven't left the League yet just like I haven't gone back to my country. Just like I am staying for Amma and the twins, you are staying for someone too."

She knew he had a fair idea by then that the person Veruna could be staying for in the League was none other than Talia. "I can't leave. I have sworn not to until the very end."

"The very end of what? Your life or hers?"

"Saahir, I don't want to talk about this," she remarked, feeling the coldness of his words contrast strikingly with his warm embrace.

"Alright. I won't bring it up again. Sorry."

A while passed in silence and she noticed the hut seemed in a much better condition than earlier. Saahir had probably been up to repairing it again to make sure it was warm and comfortable for his family.

He saw her watching the hut so he explained, "I found work with a blacksmith in the village. I help him forge weapons and he pays me enough in return."

"That's good. You've fixed the hut up considerably."

"Yes. I'm saving enough to find some accommodation in the village too and when I do, we'll shift there." His words were calm and regulated as he had thought about it enough already, "that way it will be easier for Amma and I'll be able to send these little urchins to school too. You know living in the forest is tough so I'm trying to make things easier for them."

It was touching the way he cared so much for Amma and the kids. But then shifting to the village also meant that Veruna wouldn't be able to meet them often.

The League stayed away from the village as it avoided tussling with the common folk who viewed them as some sort of dangerous people who could hurt them.

"It's good that you all are shifting to the village," she remarked, "but then I'll not be able to visit you at all."

He smiled softly, his fingers entwining through hers, "the village is not far. I could always come back here for you if you want to see me."

She looked down at their hands, thinking that they were worlds apart from each other. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't change their destiny to be together.

He could sense what was going through her mind as he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles delicately.

"If you are ever free to leave the League without having to end any lives, you will always be welcome in our hearts and our home. No matter where we live," he stated but there was a sad hint in his voice, knowing full well that situation could never come up.

Without the end of anyone's life. That could mean only if Talia let her go herself and ensured there would be no consequences. But by then Veruna knew Talia's nature. The woman had gotten too attached to her to let her go.

So no matter what happened, the possibility that Saahir had just mentioned would never come true.

***