Intoxicating Desires | T. Al Ghul ✔

[09]

Dusan had to leave for Cape Town as he couldn't prolong his stay further at Nanda Parbat. He had received Nyssa's letters asking him to come back and deal with an urgent matter that had sprung up in his absence. So he had to leave and decided to bid his farewell to his sister before setting out for his journey to Cape Town.

But Talia was nowhere to be found so he decided to look for Veruna instead. The two would often be together but that wasn't the case at the moment either.

Veruna had just gotten free from a training session with her troop when Dusan found her. But even she didn't know where Talia had gone.

"Is everything alright?" Dusan asked, seeing that her features were set in a worried look.

"I don't really know, Master Dusan," she replied, her voice somewhat perturbed, "I feel like I did something that made her angry."

"And why do you feel like that?"

"She doesn't talk to me anymore," she looked away, trying to hide the hurt expression that was too evident in her hazel eyes, "sometimes it feels like she intentionally avoids me."

Dusan was aware of the reason behind it partially so he tried to reassure her, "maybe she's just burdened. You know her better than I do, she takes her responsibilities very seriously."

Veruna nodded in reply but the frown from her face hadn't faded, making it obvious that she was overthinking everything.

"Did Talia tell you something she might have never said before?" He asked in a cautious tone, knowing that he couldn't ask openly as it would put Talia in a compromising position.

She shook her head, "no. But the last we talked, I messed it up by not telling her what she wanted to know fully. It made her think that I don't trust her anymore." Her eyes flickered with a very resolute gleam as she resumed, "but that's not true, Master Dusan. I trust her and I will not hesitate even for a second before sacrificing my life for my Lady."

He nodded, grasping the situation to some extent, "if you don't mind me intruding, what exactly did she ask from you?"

Her cheeks fired up with color and it could have misled Dusan into thinking that Talia had conveyed her feelings to her. But she spoke up, clearing his suspicion, "she asked me to tell her about a friend of mine. And I didn't tell her in detail because I thought it was unnecessary and well, it's not been long since I have met that person either so... If I had any idea that it would make her angry at me, I wouldn't have done that."

He could piece a few things together and by then he also had a fair idea of where he would find Talia. "Don't fret so much, Veruna. She's not angry at you, I will talk to her and everything will be back to normal. Trust me."

"Thank you," she breathed in relief but then added, "it seems you and my Lady have gotten closer than earlier."

A small smile played upon his lips, "you could say that. Perhaps we finally acknowledged each other as siblings. It was long overdue."

"That's nice... And are you leaving for Cape Town now?"

"Unfortunately yes," he answered, "my other sister has a situation ready to dump over my shoulders. But I'll visit often."

"I'll look forward to it."

He reached out, gently patting her head just like he used to years ago when all of them lived at the same base. "Take care of yourself, child. And don't worry too much, at this rate, your hair will start to rival mine in no time."

The remark made her laugh, seeing that he was referring to the fact that she would go silver-haired due to unnecessarily worrying about a lot. Dusan himself had shoulder-length silver hair that he usually kept tied in a traditional bun with braided strands.