The Shattered Empire - The Awakening  (Paperback, Atul Arjun Mohite)

For a thousand years, the Samrat Empire ruled through stolen power—binding the nagas, the serpent-folk, into magical slavery. When the binding finally shattered, the empire fell to ruin. Now the nagas are waking. And they remember everything. Princess Amrita discovers a forbidden truth that could save or doom her kingdom. To prove it, she must survive a throne that burns liars alive. Prince Tenzin transforms into something between human and serpent—living proof that two peoples can become one, if the cost doesn't destroy him first. Warrior Meera has built her legend killing nagas. Now she must save one's life and question everything she believes about honor and enemies. Captain Nakul dives into the ruins of a drowned civilization, seeking proof that humans and nagas once lived as equals—before fear turned to chains. As the seven kingdoms fracture and the nagas gather to judge humanity's fate, four unlikely allies must race to prove that acknowledgment can lead to transformation. But with assassins, fanatics, and their own people standing in their way, they have one chance to convince an ocean's worth of justified rage to choose mercy over drowning. Some truths burn. Some truths drown. Some truths change everything. The age of comfortable lies is over. The age of reckoning has begun.