“Wait,” Seyn cut in sharply. “What is that supposed to mean? How do you know the difference?”
“That’s none of your concern.” Ksar didn’t look at him, his silver eyes still on Harry. “Do you think he loves you, Harht?” he said. “I saw his mind.”
Harry fish-mouthed. Did Adam not love him back?
“He is rather besotted with you,” Ksar admitted, rather reluctantly. “But the person he’s besotted with is a cute, quirky human he met at a coffee shop, not a freaky telepathic alien.” The look Ksar gave him was almost pitying. “You underestimate how much the truth would change his feelings for you.”
“You don’t know that,” Seyn said.
“I do,” Ksar said, still looking at Harry. “I’ve witnessed quite a few Contacts with secluded civilizations like Terrans. Most of the time they go horribly bad. Xenophobia aside, non-telepathic races tend to be very distrustful of telepaths. They don’t like aliens who can mess with their minds and make them do their bidding.”
“I’m sure the fact that you messed with Adam’s mind wouldn’t help now,” Seyn said snidely.
“No, it wouldn’t,” Ksar said. “So even if I let you tell him, his reaction would crush you, Harht. I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“You’re already hurting me,” Harry said quietly. Even if Ksar was right—even if Adam’s reaction to the truth would be awful—it couldn’t be worse than this horrible feeling of loss and guilt twisting his insides. He wanted Adam. Wanted to see him, lean against him and hide in his strong arms. Wanted Adam to kiss him behind his ear, call him his babe, and tell him that everything would be fine, that Adam got him. If worse came to worst, Harry wanted the chance to explain everything and say goodbye. Adam deserved it. Adam deserved an explanation.
“Please,” Harry said, looking Ksar in the eye and opening his mind to him, letting Ksar see.
Grimacing, Ksar broke the eye contact and said, “This conversion is pointless. You can’t remain unbonded. We need to restore your bond to Leylen’shni’gul as soon as possible.”
“Why?”
Ksar sighed, a troubled expression crossing his face. “Your bondmate and her parents came to the palace soon after you left. They reported that Leylen’shni’gul stopped feeling you in her mind. She still has the bond, but it’s faulty and weak now. I reassured them that it was simply due to the distance between you and her, but they’re getting nervous and suspicious, especially since no one knows where you are. We need to restore your bond before they might report it to the Council.”
“Why?” Harry said, glancing at Seyn, who was weirdly quiet now. Seyn was watching Ksar with a strange look on his face.
“Because they can’t find out your bond is broken,” Ksar said. “What do you think will happen if they do?”
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think they can arrest me for accidentally getting rid of my bond. And technically, they can’t make me bond to Leylen’shni’gul again, because the Bonding Law concerns only young children.”
Ksar ran a hand over his face, shaking his head. “Don’t be naive. Of course they can.” He looked at Harry. “You still have a binding betrothal contract to Leylen’shni’gul. Do you really think the Council will let you be? The sole potentially high-level telepath in their midst while their own telepathy is suppressed by the bond?”
Harry flopped down on the couch, frowning deeply. “I’m pretty sure I’ll test as Class 3 at most. I’m not all that dangerous.”
Ksar gave him a pinched look. “And you think they’ll just take your word for it?” He chuckled. “Can you name many civilizations with registered telepaths higher than Class 3?”
Harry bit his lip. He could see Ksar’s point. He could think of only two races that were classified as Class 4 on the Standard Telepathic Test.
“Yorgebs and Tajickssu,” Harry said.
“And do you really think there are just two races in the entire galaxy that have Class 4 telepaths? Or that there are no higher level telepaths anymore?”
“It’s possible to fool the Ministry’s test,” Seyn said quietly before Harry could respond. “It probably gets easier to fool it the stronger the telepath is.”
Ksar nodded briskly. “They’ll never believe you that you’re just Class 3. You’ll be watched all the time, at the very least. A small misdemeanor will be used against you as an excuse to prosecute you or use you as a tool for their agenda.”
“What agenda?” Harry said.
Something cold flicked in Ksar’s eyes. “Certain members of the Council insist that the Ministry’s test is inconclusive and that having a telepath in charge of a grand clan shouldn’t be allowed, because it might lead to abuse of power and it’s supposedly ‘unfair’ to the telepathically null members of the Council.”
Harry’s brows furrowed. There had always been some tension between telepathic and telepathically null Calluvians, and Harry was aware that lately it had been worse, but surely it wouldn’t happen? “But most ruling members of the grand clans are telepaths.”