Harry tried to make himself smaller.
“He’s looking at you, Harry!” Samantha whispered excitedly. “How are you so lucky? First Adam and now—”
“He’s my brother,” Harry said with a sigh, watching resignedly as Ksar made his way to him.
Ksar was angry. He might look calm and collected, but Harry knew he was actually angry. It wasn’t that he could get a read of Ksar’s thoughts. He never could, and, to his surprise, Harry still couldn’t penetrate Ksar’s mental shields despite his much-improved telepathic abilities. Not that he was trying very hard. Technically, he would be committing a crime if he did.
But he knew Ksar. He didn’t need to read his mind to be able to tell that his brother wasn’t pleased with him. To put it lightly.
“Brother?!” Samantha exclaimed just as Ksar reached them.
“Harry,” Ksar said carefully.
Harry thought it was the first time Ksar actually called him Harry. He wasn’t surprised. Ksar might be a stickler for the rules back home, but as a Lord Chancellor of the Ministry of Intergalactic Affairs, he was well-versed in other planets’ customs and would never do something that would betray that they weren’t humans. Even the way he was dressed was impeccably human. While Harry was hopeless at human fashion, Ksar was wearing an expensive-looking dark suit that wasn’t all that different from the ones Adam wore.
At the thought of Adam, Harry panicked a little. Adam’s lunch break was going to start soon. Adam could enter the coffee shop any minute now.
“Hi,” Harry said, frantically trying to decide what to do. Introducing Adam to Ksar would be a terrible idea. But he couldn’t just leave with Ksar. Harry had promised to wait for Adam. Not to mention that Harry was scared that if he left with Ksar, he would never see Adam again. He wouldn’t put it past Ksar to teleport him home as soon as they were out of humans’ sight.
Samantha cleared her throat pointedly and Harry finally remembered his manners.
“This is Samantha, my former coworker,” he said, gesticulating between her and Ksar. “My brother, Ksar.”
Crap. Should he have invented a more human name for Ksar? Did Ksar sound human enough?
Ksar shot him an unimpressed look, but nodded politely at Samantha. “Pleased to meet you,” he murmured.
She blushed, touching her hair and looking at Ksar from under her eyelashes. “Pleasure is all mine,” she said, her voice sounding a little weird.
For the first time Harry understood the meaning of secondhand embarrassment. He was no longer as clueless in such matters and could see that Samantha was attracted to Ksar. He wished he could tell her not to bother.
If Ksar noticed that she was flirting with him, he didn’t show it, his eyes shifting back to Harry. “Where is he?”
“Who?” Harry squeaked. Did Ksar know about Adam?
“Seyn,” Ksar said, giving him a strange look.
Right.
Before Harry could answer, the doorbell chimed again, and a few customers entered the shop.
“Sorry, I have to get back to work,” Samantha said with regret.
“I can help!” Harry said quickly, springing to his feet.
Except Ksar grabbed his wrist and sat him down.
“He can’t,” he told Samantha in a vaguely apologetic tone, not looking apologetic in the least.
As soon as she nodded and left them alone, Ksar said quietly, “Explain yourself, Harht.”
Harry sagged in his seat in defeat. “How did you find me?”
Ksar gave him a flat look. “Did you really think I wouldn’t?”
“But Seyn had our identification chips removed,” Harry said. He did expect his family to find him eventually, but he didn’t expect for it to happen so soon.
Something flickered in Ksar’s eyes. He shrugged. “It wasn’t hard to figure out you could be on Terra after you tried to convince Mother to let you go back. Besides, all our familial links to you were cut off again, making it obvious you’re on a faraway planet.” A disdainful sneer twisted Ksar’s lips. “I’m not surprised Seyn lacked the foresight to see this, but I expected better from you. Is stupidity contagious?”
“Don’t be mean,” Harry said, frowning at his brother’s cold, cutting tone. He never understood the open disdain Ksar had for Seyn. Ksar was usually so collected, but he was downright mean to Seyn. “It’s not kind to talk this way about your bondmate.”
A sour look crossed Ksar’s face at the unwelcome reminder that Seyn wasn’t just Harry’s best friend but also his bondmate.
For the first time, Harry fully understood why Seyn wanted to break his bond to Ksar so badly. Harry wouldn’t want to be bonded for life to someone who despised him, either.
Not to mention there clearly was something faulty with Ksar and Seyn’s bond, because it wasn’t normal for bondmates to dislike each other. The bond usually prevented it. They must be really incompatible if even the bond couldn’t make them fond of each other.
“Kind? I’m not kind, Harht,” Ksar said with faint amusement in his voice. “You’re the only one who’s delusional about it.”