The rest of the day passed quietly.
Aiden disappeared into his study after breakfast, armed with coffee, determination, and strict instructions not to be disturbed unless the house caught fire.
Kael considered reminding him that it had nearly happened already.
Instead, he let the human work.
The silence suited him.
He wandered through the house for a while, pausing by the windows, listening to the wind in the trees and the distant sounds of cars on the road. This strange age was never truly still. Even in the countryside, there was always a faint vibration beneath the earth, as though the world itself had learned to hum.
Eventually, he climbed the stairs to the room Aiden had given him.
Closing the door, he sat cross-legged on the floor.
His breathing slowed.
The sounds around him faded until all he could hear was the steady rhythm of his own heartbeat.
He reached inward.
Nothing happened.
A slight crease formed between his brows.
Again, he gathered what little spiritual energy remained inside him, guiding it through familiar pathways learned centuries ago. A faint warmth stirred in his chest before thinning into almost nothing.
Too little.
Far too little.
When he had been prince of the naga, his power had filled entire valleys. Rivers answered his call. Ancient wards bent to his will. Lesser spirits fled at the mere hint of his presence.
Now, drawing upon his strength felt like trying to fill a lake with a single cup of water.
Slowly, Kael opened his eyes.
He had expected weakness after centuries of imprisonment but He had not expected emptiness.
His hand drifted instinctively to the center of his chest.
It should have been there.
His core.
Not the organ that kept his body alive, but the spiritual heart of every royal naga—the place where generations of power gathered, where divine blessings settled and ancient magic grew.
He had hidden it himself.
The memory surfaced in fragments.
Dark stone walls.
Torches burning low.
The distant sounds of battle.
His father's voice ordering him to flee.
Then another face.
A human.
Beloved once.
Trusted beyond reason.
The memory broke apart before it could become clear.
Kael closed his eyes again.
In those final moments before his capture, he had made one desperate decision.
He had separated the greater part of his core from his body and sealed it inside an object crafted by naga priests long before his birth. As long as the vessel remained hidden, no enemy could claim his power, even if they imprisoned or killed him.
It had been the only choice.
And now...
He had awakened without it.
A faint pulse lingered somewhere beyond his reach.
Not gone.
Waiting.
He could feel it in the same way a traveler senses home before seeing it over the horizon. The connection was thin, stretched by centuries and distance, but it remained.
His core still existed.
Somewhere.
Kael exhaled slowly.
That explained much.
Without it, his strength would recover only a little at a time. He could defend himself if necessary, but not against the sort of enemies who might have survived from the old world—or inherited its secrets.
More troubling was what would happen if someone else found it first.
A royal naga's core was priceless.
To the wrong hands, it could become a weapon.
To ambitious sorcerers, it could grant unimaginable power.
And if word spread that the Prince of Scales had awakened while separated from his core, every relic hunter, occult scholar, and hidden practitioner with dreams of greatness might begin searching for him.
No.
That could not happen.
He would recover the vessel before anyone learned he walked the earth again.
Outside the bedroom door, he heard Aiden laugh quietly at something on his computer.
The sound carried through the hallway with surprising warmth.
Kael's expression softened.
For now, the human knew nothing of ancient wars or hidden powers. He believed his greatest concern was finishing a manuscript before a deadline.
Perhaps that ignorance was a kindness.
When the time came to search for the missing core, Kael would not allow Aiden to be drawn into dangers left buried with forgotten kingdoms.
The decision settled in his mind with certainty.
He would protect the human.
Whether Aiden asked for it or not.