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Describing her as a mere tempest would fail to do her justice.

It might not seem apparent initially but Veruna was one of the most ferocious members of the League, second only to Talia Al Ghul.

She was brutal on the battlefield and even more so when training the troops to be prepared for anything that might rise during a battle. Making her the commander of Talia's troop meant that she got to exercise that brutality much more than often.

It did not bother her that many of the assassins saw her as a favorite appointed by the Demon Head's daughter. She only focused on her duties and took the tasks to completion, no matter what obstacles she had to face.

And as she had taken the responsibility of leading Talia's troop, she had made it her priority to train the assassins under her to the best of their ability, even though it wasn't an easy task.

Talia watched down from the turrets of the base that offered a clear view of the central courtyard where Veruna was holding a training session. The woman had remarkable command over her surroundings, making it very evident that she was at the head of the troop.

Right then Veruna had made the assassins line up and told them all to go up against her one by one. The target was that they had to disarm her within a minute or else they would fail and require further training.

Talia's emerald eyes had an excited gleam as she leaned closer to the rails, observing the fight going down below.

One by one the assassins were going up against Veruna yet neither of them had been able to disarm her. She was clearly much better than them and that was a given for she had trained alongside the Al Ghul heir herself.

Even though Ra's Al Ghul had not been in favor of Veruna being taught by the same instructor as the one he had appointed for Talia, his daughter had used that silvery tongue of hers and gotten her way in the end.

As a result, only three women in the League were able to fight to that excellent capability.

Talia, Veruna and Nyssa.

Nyssa was Talia's half-sister and had just joined the League. But she had been sent to the secondary base at Cape Town to manage things there while Talia and Ra's stayed at Nanda Parbat.

By then, more than half of the troop had already gone up against Veruna yet returned defeated. But she did not show any sign of weakness as she seemed prepared to face the rest.

A slight smile played upon Talia's lips as she knew exactly why Veruna had chosen that strategy for the first training session. It was clear to her that Veruna was giving the rest of the assassins proof that if she had been selected to be their commander, it wasn't due to her being the favorite of the Demon's Head.

She had shown them clearly that the reason for her receiving that title was that she was better than all of them and deserved it. Seeing Veruna stand undefeated would make them accept that fact.

But then something happened and Veruna's calm seemed to have evaporated. Talia leaned closer to see what had just gone wrong.

It seemed as if one of the assassins had said something that had offended her but as Talia was not in the courtyard, she couldn't hear it. Veruna's sword had landed at the man's throat after disarming him and it seemed as if the blade would slice through.

Talia knew she should intervene and stop her from hurting one of the troop's men. But she also knew that there must be a reason for Veruna to lash out.

The woman was always extremely calm and composed. If she had reacted as such, it meant something had gone terribly askew.

Intoxicating Desires | T. Al Ghul ✔Where stories live. Discover now