Chapter Fifteen
By late afternoon, the house had gone quiet again.
Aiden was shut away in his study, typing furiously. Every so often he would stop, groan at the screen, delete half a paragraph, then immediately start rewriting it.
Kael had learned not to interrupt during these moments.
Apparently, writing involved a great deal of staring into space and looking mildly distressed.
Left to himself, he wandered out onto the back porch. The woods stretched behind the house in an endless sea of green, leaves shifting gently in the breeze. Birds called to one another overhead, and somewhere deeper in the trees a stream trickled over stone.
It was peaceful.
Not the same peace he remembered from centuries ago, but enough.
He lowered himself onto the wooden steps and closed his eyes.
Slowly, his breathing evened out.
The world around him faded until he could feel only the current of spiritual energy flowing through the land.
Or rather...
The lack of it.
He reached inward, gathering what little strength he possessed.
For a brief moment, golden light shimmered beneath his skin.
Then it flickered.
And disappeared.
Kael frowned.
Again.
He tried once more, concentrating harder this time. The warmth returned only to slip through his grasp like water through open fingers.
A dull ache spread through his chest.
He opened his eyes.
"So that's where you disappeared to."
Aiden's voice startled him.
The writer stood in the doorway holding two mugs, one steaming and one noticeably not.
"I made tea," Aiden said. "Then I remembered you don't actually like tea, so... yours is just hot water."
Kael accepted the mug anyway.
"Thank you."
They sat in silence for a while.
Aiden sipped from his own cup.
Kael merely held his.
After a minute, Aiden looked sideways at him.
"Can I ask you something?"
"You usually do."
"You've been... different today."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"You keep zoning out."
"I was thinking."
"You also sat out here without moving for almost an hour."
"I was meditating."
"And now you look tired."
"I am not tired."
"You look it."
Kael let out the smallest sigh.
Humans were remarkably observant when they chose to be.
"I am recovering," he said.
"From waking up?"
"Among other things."
Aiden nodded slowly, accepting the answer but not quite believing it.
"If there's anything I can do, just ask."
For reasons Kael couldn't explain, the simple offer lingered in his thoughts.
It had been centuries since someone had spoken to him without wanting something in return.
He glanced at Aiden.
The human was looking out at the trees, completely unaware that his kindness had landed harder than any grand speech.
Quietly, almost to himself, Kael said,
"There may come a time when I need your help."
Aiden looked over immediately.
"Then you've already got it."
No hesitation.
No bargaining.
Kael looked away before the warmth in his chest could become noticeable.
He told himself it was gratitude.
Nothing more.
Deep beneath that certainty, however, another truth remained.
Somewhere in the world, hidden by his own hand centuries ago, slept the vessel containing the greater part of his power.
Without it, he would never truly become the prince he once was.
And until he found it...
He would remain only a shadow of himself.