Seyn hummed, looking contemplative. “Telepathy is our sixth sense. If the side effect of the Bonding Law was the disappearance of telepathic mutations, it makes sense the bond affected our other senses, right?” Seyn’s lips thinned. “And when the Council realized that the bond messed with people’s senses, of course they kept it hush-hush. That’s probably why they force the stupid bond on us so young—babies are too young to remember and notice that something is off.” He shook his head. “But it’s a bit ridiculous to go to such extreme lengths to protect us from forced bonds, isn’t it?”
Harry bit the inside of his cheek as something occurred to him. He said slowly, “What if it’s a lie that the Bonding Law was introduced to protect us from forced bonds? What if the bond was invented specifically to get rid of the telepathic mutations?”
They stared at each other.
“If you’re right…” Seyn said. “If you’re right, of course the Council wouldn’t care about small side effects like dulled senses as long as the mutations were suppressed too.” He sprang to his feet and started pacing the room. “I knew the bond was stupid, but I had no idea it was actually messing up my body in more ways than one.” He suddenly stopped and whirled around, facing Harry. “Do you think I can do it, too? Go to a very distant planet like Sol III and get rid of my bond to your ass of a brother that way?”
Harry sighed. It didn’t sit well with him when Seyn spoke so ill of his brother. “I don’t think it’s that simple,” Harry said. “If it were that simple, everyone who traveled to distant planets would get their bonds broken.”
Seyn shook his head. “The transgalactic teleportation was improved just seventeen years ago. Up until that point, we couldn’t travel that far. And you said your bond had broken completely only after months into your stay on Sol III. I don’t think any Calluvian ever stayed for so long on such distant planets. Until you.”
Harry had to admit Seyn had a point. Up until very recently, they couldn’t travel to such distant planets like Earth using teleportation. Their knowledge of Earth had been largely based on what their ally planets that were located closer to Earth knew about it, and the information hadn’t been updated in a very long time.
“You can hardly disappear for months,” Harry said. “And you have no idea how to survive on Earth.”
Seyn waved his concerns away. “If you could do it, I’ll manage just fine.”
Harry gave him a telepathic smack. “Hey!”
Seyn laughed. “You know I’m right. I’m surprised you didn’t get yourself killed or starved. You’re too damn naive and kind for your own good.”
Harry pouted. “I’m not. I was a very believable human. I learned how to use a coffee-making machine in ten minutes!”
Seyn gave him a blank look. “I have no idea what you just said,” he said. “But anyway. It’s decided: I’m going to Sol III—I mean, Earth.”
Harry sighed at the look of utter determination on Seyn’s face. “You know, it upsets me that you hate my brother so much and are willing to do anything to get rid of the bond to him. Why don’t you want to become his king-consort? It’s a huge honor and you’ll really be my family, then.”
Seyn’s expression softened a little. “Harht, don’t take it personally, okay?” he said. “Just try to put yourself in my shoes. Would you want to be bonded for life to such a cold, mean bastard like Ksar? Do you know he never smiles at me? Never! He always looks at me like I’m an annoying little bug beneath his feet. Hell, he ignores me most of the time! That is, unless he’s criticizing me for something—”
“But—”
“And that’s not all!” Seyn said. “He completely blocks me out of his mind. You know all the stuff people say about the bond being a path to your bondmate’s mind? It’s bullshit, as far as our bond is concerned. He has never touched my mind. Whenever I try to reach out to him, I run into that ugly impenetrable wall that makes me feel dizzy and sick. Why would I want to be bonded for life to such a person?”
Harry sighed. Yeah, he could see where Seyn was coming from. Ksar wasn’t much for telepathic affection, even with his family. His mental shields were constantly up and he never let anyone inside.
“If you get your bond dissolved, Ksar will be bondless again,” Harry said. “He’s been waiting until you reach the age of majority as it is.”
Seyn scoffed. “It’s hardly my fault his first bondmate died. Lucky girl.”
“Seyn!” Harry said reproachfully. “Death is no joke.”
Seyn said defensively, “I’m not joking. Death is preferable to the fate of being Ksar’s bondmate. I wasn’t even born then. It’s not my fault Ksar has to wait until I reach twenty-five. He’s too old for me anyway.”