“If you don’t want to be treated like a child, stop behaving like one,” Ksar said, sneering at Seyn’s pouty lips before looking at Harht. “Explain yourself.”
Harht glared. “Why? You already know everything. You saw everything in my mind—without asking permission.”
“What?” Seyn said, staring at Harht. “He—but how?”
Ksar suppressed the urge to swear. He was already regretting his unsubtle use of telepathy on Harht. From what he’d seen of Harht’s new abilities, now that Harht was unbonded, he was at least a Class 3 telepath. If Ksar really were the Class 2 telepath he was supposed to be, he shouldn’t have been able to read Harht’s mind at all.
He should have been subtler. Giving himself away was the last thing he needed.
Ksar unbuttoned his jacket and threw it on the couch. “I didn’t see everything,” he said. “I was too startled by the fact that my supposedly bonded brother engaged in sexual intercourse with a member of a pre-TNIT civilization.”
Harht flushed. “You had no right to pry into my mind like that. You broke the law!”
“I think the Council would excuse me in this case,” Ksar said. “I wouldn’t have broken into your mind if you didn’t behave like a wanton with that human. What happened to your bond?”
“My bond broke toward the end of my last stay on Earth,” Harht said. “I don’t want it back. My senses are so much better without it.”
Ksar gave him a flat look. “I’m sure that’s the reason you don’t want your bond back.”
Harht pursed his lips. “My telepathy has never been stronger.”
“Yes,” Ksar said dryly. “I saw how you used it to get to this city.”
Harht looked away, guilt written all over his face. Frankly, Ksar was surprised that his naive little brother had had the stomach to use his telepathy on humans for his own gain. Granted, from what he’d seen in Harht’s memories, he’d had little choice, but still. Harht had always been soft.
“You hypocrite,” Seyn said, drawing Ksar’s gaze to him. “You have no right to judge Harry for that when you violated his privacy in the worst possible way.” His green eyes narrowed. “By the way, how is that possible? Harry is at least Class 3 now. You’re supposedly Class 2. Supposedly.”
Of course it had been too much to hope that Seyn wouldn’t notice.
Ksar suppressed a sigh, angry about giving himself away in such an idiotic manner. In his defense, he had been genuinely startled by the way Harht had been behaving around that human. Being subtle about the use of his telepathy was the last thing Ksar had cared about at the time.
But now he had to fix it, somehow.
His best bet was to infuriate Seyn enough to make him forget about Ksar’s lapse of judgment.
“I haven’t given you leave to speak,” he said coldly. “Stay out of it. This is a family matter.”
Seyn smiled at him sweetly and blew him a kiss. “But I’m practically family, aren’t I?”
Ksar felt his jaw clench. He dragged his eyes away from Seyn’s mouth, annoyed with his body’s reaction to that little shit. “Not yet.”
“Not ever,” Seyn corrected him. “If you pried into Harry’s memories, you know why I came to Earth. I want to get rid of the bond, too.”
Ksar kept his face blank, not allowing himself to think about it. Seyn and everything related to him had never been good for his control, and right now he needed to be calm and cool-headed as he handled a more pressing problem. “I have more important matters to deal with right now than your spoiled tantrums. Go to another room and wait until I’m finished with Harht.”
Seyn flushed. “You—you can’t just—you can’t treat me like that!” He straightened to his full height and glared at Ksar. “I’m Prince Seyn’ngh’veighli of the Third Grand Clan, not your goddamn slave.”
“Then act like it,” Ksar said before looking at Harht sharply. The anxiety emanating from his brother was starting to get through his shields. “Stop worrying about the human. He’ll be fine. I simply removed his memory of your little breakdown.”
Harht pressed his lips together. “I don’t believe you. Swear to me you didn’t erase his memories of me.”
Ksar eyed his brother, more surprised by his defiance than he probably should have been after what he’d witnessed in the coffee shop. He still couldn’t believe that Harht had had an actual panic attack in public over a human. The memory of his brother clinging to that Terran, crying and begging Ksar not to take him away almost made Ksar cringe. Such behavior didn’t befit a scion of the Second Royal House.
“I didn’t, but it would have been for the best, wouldn’t it?” Ksar said. “It’s better for everyone involved if he doesn’t remember you. He’ll never see you again.”
Harht swallowed, his eyes shining with unshed tears.