Kain couldn't resist empathizing with Malzahir.
Weak. That was what he had been when he watched his family die, powerless to stop it.
Weak. That was what he had felt when he had taken his final breath in a foreign land.
It wasn't until recently, until this life, that Kain had truly felt as though he had some measure of control over his own destiny—and he was desperate to never lose that feeling again. Which is also why he was so determined to establish his own power.
Then, even if the entire country—the entire world, even—turned against him, he would never feel helpless—never feel weak.
Weak was the word Malzahir had used for himself, yet Kain saw something different. He saw someone who had been strong before, someone who had fallen but still had the embers of something left.
Someone that could potentially be an asset.
