The Supreme Mage in a Loser's Body

Ch 17 - A Father's Question

Kael looked down at Thomas's hand on his sleeve. His father was waiting for an answer, and there was no anger in his face to make the question easier to avoid.

Beyond the open vehicle door, Evelyn spoke with an officer beside the warehouse entrance. She was far enough away that Thomas did not have to raise his voice.

“I know you've been hurt,” Thomas said. “I know people can change after that. But you told me to move before the knife reached me, and you knew exactly where it would go.”

Kael rested his hand on the seat beside him. He had faced enemies who could tear answers from a weaker mind, yet he found himself less prepared for this injured man asking him to speak plainly.

The truth would give Thomas a name he could not safely carry. Silas had already used him to reach Kael without knowing what the family understood. If Thomas learned about Black Sky Peak, the crossing, and the soul now inside his son's body, there would be far more for someone to force out of him.

It would also mean telling him that Ethan had died.

“After the beating, I started remembering things,” Kael said. “Things I couldn't explain. Then I found I could do some of them.”

Thomas studied him. “The fighting?” he asked.

“That, and what stopped the knife,” Kael replied. “I don't understand everything that happened to me.”

He could hear the careful spaces he had left in the answer. Thomas could hear them too. His father's fingers loosened on the sleeve, but he did not pull his hand away.

“Your mother says you help now without waiting to be asked,” Thomas said. “Maya says you listen to her. I can see those things for myself. I can also see when you're choosing which part of an answer to give me.”

Kael did not try to deny it. A strip of bandage had slipped at Thomas's ankle, and he adjusted it while he considered what he could honestly promise.

“There are things I can't tell you yet,” he said.

Thomas let that answer sit between them. Then he glanced toward the warehouse, where the men who had taken him were being led into another vehicle.

“Do any of those things mean you intend to hurt Elena or Maya?” he asked. “Whatever has happened to you, I need the answer to that.”

Kael met his eyes. “No,” he replied. “I would die before I let someone use me to hurt them. Or you.”

Thomas held his gaze for several seconds before nodding. He seemed older with the strain of the day finally showing, and Kael wished he had enough strength left to do more than stand beside him.

“I believe what you've done for us,” Thomas said. “I'll accept that answer for now. But secrets always collect a price, Ethan. Don't wait until your mother or sister has to pay it before you decide to speak.”

Kael lowered his head. “I won't forget,” he replied.

Evelyn returned before Thomas could say more. She checked that his leg was supported, then told them the vehicle would take him for an examination before bringing them home.

“And Silas?” Kael asked.

“We haven't found him,” she replied. “The rear team is following the route he used. You're both leaving with me.”

Kael stayed beside Thomas during the journey. He answered Elena's call and passed the phone to his father when she asked to hear his voice again. This time, he let them speak without trying to explain anything for either of them.

They reached home later that afternoon. Elena met them at the entrance, took Thomas's face between her hands, and looked at him before allowing anyone to move farther inside.

“They said you're coming home,” she said. “I kept thinking they'd call again and say you couldn't.”

“I'm here,” Thomas replied. “Help me sit before you start checking the rest of me.”

Maya had cleared space in the rear room. She brought a cushion for his leg and the glass of water Elena had forgotten on the counter. Neither asked about the fight while Evelyn helped settle him into the chair.

The examination had found more swelling and bruising around the old injury. There was no new break, but the forced journey and the time in the warehouse chair had left his foot more numb than usual. He tried to shift it on the cushion and had to watch the movement to judge where it landed.

Kael noticed before Thomas saw him looking.

“Was it this numb before they took you?” he asked.

“Not quite,” Thomas replied. “It comes and goes, but it's worse today.”

Elena placed the treatment notes on the table. “They said to keep it supported,” she said. “And we're going back if anything changes for the worse.”

Kael sat on the low stool beside the chair. His own ankle protested, so Maya moved the stool closer before he had to reach. He thanked her and rested his hand lightly against the unbruised part of Thomas's lower leg.

There was a little energy left in his core. The shield had taken most of the charge, but healing did not have to mean repairing the entire damaged nerve. If he could ease the swelling pressing around it, the foot might feel less numb without requiring strength he no longer had.

He had reduced his father's muscle pain once before. This would need more care. The old damage was deeper, and forcing power through it would only make things worse.

“I may be able to ease some of this,” Kael said. “I can't fix the old injury today.”

Elena looked at his hand, then at Thomas. “How?” she asked.

Kael paused. There was no point pretending he was simply checking the brace after what Thomas had seen at the warehouse.

“With a little of the same power I used earlier,” he replied. “But slowly. If it hurts more, tell me and I'll stop.”

Maya came closer to the chair. “You can heal people?” she asked.

“I can try to reduce the swelling,” Kael replied. “That's all I'm offering.”

Thomas studied him for a moment, then settled his leg on the cushion. “Try,” he said. “Your mother's right here if I need to complain.”

Elena stayed beside him. Kael waited until his father stopped moving, then guided a thread of energy beneath his palm.

He did not push it straight at the nerve. He followed the healthy tissue around the damaged area first, learning where the swelling had narrowed the space. The recent bruising made it harder to separate the old injury from the new pain.

Thomas's toes tightened inside his sock.

“What do you feel?” Kael asked.

“Warmth,” Thomas replied. “Higher up than your hand.”

Kael reduced the flow and changed its direction slightly. He encouraged the swollen tissue to settle, working along one small section rather than trying to treat the whole leg. The nerve itself remained damaged. He left it alone.

At the doorway, Evelyn stopped speaking into her phone. Kael heard her end the call but kept his attention on the small movement beneath his hand.

The last reserve in his core thinned. He paused before it emptied, letting the work hold without adding more. Sweat had formed at the back of his neck despite the room being cool.

“Enough for now,” Kael said.

Thomas did not answer. He was looking at his foot.

Elena bent beside the chair. “Thomas?” she asked.

“I can feel the sock,” he replied. “Under my heel. The seam is folded.”

Maya crouched and carefully smoothed it. Her father drew a breath as her fingers passed over his heel.

“There,” Thomas said. “I felt that.”

He moved his toes, watching them with the same concentration he brought to a difficult repair. Then he started to bring his foot toward the floor.

Kael kept a hand on the cushion. “Don't stand on it yet,” he said. “Feeling more doesn't mean the leg can carry more weight.”

Thomas stopped. “I haven't felt it that clearly in years,” he replied.

Elena pressed her lips together and reached for the water. She held it for Thomas, though his hands were steady enough to hold it himself. Maya remained beside his foot, careful now not to touch without asking.

Kael sat back on the stool. He had done enough to relieve pressure in one small area. The old damage would take more time and a reliable source of energy, and even then he would have to work carefully.

Evelyn moved to his side while Elena helped Thomas settle again.

“You didn't send power through the whole leg,” she said quietly.

“It didn't need it through the whole leg,” Kael replied.

“How did you know where to stop?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “Where the damaged part couldn't take more,” he replied. “Pushing harder there would hurt him.”

Evelyn glanced toward Thomas. “Our people can support healing,” she said. “I've never seen anyone do that with so little power, or work around a damaged nerve that precisely.”

Kael took his hand away from the cushion. “It wasn't repaired,” he said.

“I heard you,” Evelyn replied. “I'm talking about how you found it.”

She had seen enough to know the treatment was beyond the methods the Bureau used. Kael could offer no ordinary explanation for years of knowledge inside a man who had only just formed a core.

Elena saved him from answering by insisting that he move to a proper chair. He let Maya help him up and accepted the food his mother brought without protesting that there were more urgent things to discuss.

Evelyn waited until both men had eaten before asking to speak with him near the front counter. Thomas watched them go, but he stayed seated with Elena beside him.

“The protection arrangements have changed,” Evelyn said. “Nobody claiming to come from a clinic gets access without a check through us and a call to your mother. The team has photographs of the uniforms and the marks.”

Kael rested against the counter. “Silas will try something different next time,” he replied.

“I know,” Evelyn said. “We also found papers in the warehouse where they held your father.”

She opened a file on her phone. The first photograph showed a desk with delivery sheets, names, and printed pages laid out separately. Another showed the false badges beside them.

“These were being sorted for transport,” she said. “Most describe equipment, but several refer to a private sale of magical objects.”

Kael looked toward the rear room before taking the phone. Maya was telling Thomas about the photograph she had managed to take of the van. Elena listened with her hand still resting on his shoulder.

“A sale arranged by the Circle?” he asked.

“We don't know who runs it,” Evelyn replied. “But the people using that warehouse had a list of the objects and instructions for attending. It's part of Graybridge's underground market.”

He read through the first page. Some descriptions were obvious attempts to make weak objects sound valuable. Others contained enough detail to suggest the seller knew what the item could actually do.

“Do you recognize any of them?” Evelyn asked.

Kael moved to the next photograph. “I'd have to see them,” he replied. “Names alone aren't reliable.”

He stopped at an entry near the bottom.

The description was shorter than the others. No weight, material, or place of discovery had been given. Beneath the lot number, a single line claimed an origin that no ordinary dealer on Earth should have known to invent.

Evelyn noticed his hand become still. “What does that one mean?” she asked.

Kael read it again before answering. He could not tell whether it was a lie meant to attract a buyer or a message intended for someone who would recognize it.

The item was listed as the missing heart of a man who had crossed worlds.