Chapter 34
Unknown League Sanctuary – Mountainside, Far from Gotham
The wind howled outside the stone temple, cold and sharp. Snow drifted through broken windows.
Talia sat alone in the sanctum, surrounded by relics of an empire that no longer listened to her voice.
Her fingers were stained with ink and ash.
The fire in the brazier beside her burned low.
The courier had come silently, bowing without words, offering only a single envelope sealed with wax — no crest, no League mark, no threat.
Just a name.
Talia.
She had known.
Even before she opened it.
She had known it was from her son.
She didn’t tremble as she broke the seal. Talia al Ghul never trembled.
But her hands paused for a second too long before unfolding the pages.
And then… she read.
Slowly.
Twice.
A third time.
By the end, the paper crumpled slightly in her grip — not from rage.
From the force of her restraint.
Her breath hitched only once, barely audible.
“I still carry pieces of you with me. I always will.”
“I’ve found a new family.”
“I will always love you, in the way that only a son can love his mother.”
That line shattered her.
She sat back against the stone wall, the letter clutched in her hands like a memory she couldn’t stop reliving.
She closed her eyes. And for the first time in years, she whispered his name aloud —
“Peter.”
Not the weapon.
Not the heir.
Not the sword she forged in blood.
Just her child.
And Talia al Ghul — daughter of Ra’s, queen of nothing, mother of ghosts — pressed the letter to her chest and wept.
Alone.
The League was gone. The legacy broken.
But in her hands, she held proof of something greater than any empire.
He lived.
He chose his own path.
And he still loved her.
Even after everything.