Ksar nodded after a moment. “Keep it brief. Don’t say anything that’ll get you into trouble. Hurry up. We’re wasting time.”
Harht turned and disappeared into another room.
“Do you even have a heart?” Seyn said quietly. “I hope you realize that you just broke your brother’s life.”
Ksar pulled out his communicator and checked to see if he had new messages. There were seventeen waiting for him.
He stared at them unseeingly.
“Cease being overdramatic,” he said. “You know as well as I do that I’m right. Harht and his human have no future together.”
As he thought, Seyn had nothing to say to that. Seyn could be a contrary little thing, but he wasn’t a naive dreamer like Harht. Deep down, Seyn must know Ksar was right. Seyn knew that the Ministry’s laws prohibited any kind of relationship with a member of a pre-TNIT civilization. Seyn knew that a romantic entanglement with a human could end only in heartbreak for Harht, and yet he still encouraged this madness.
Putting the communicator back in his pocket, Ksar looked at Seyn coldly. “It’s entirely your fault,” he said, walking toward him. “He was fine until you reunited him with his human and gave him a false hope.”
Seyn shot him a murderous look. “Don’t you dare put the blame on me, you piece of shit—”
Ksar grabbed a fistful of silver hair, dragging Seyn’s face closer. “The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” he said flatly, not looking at that pink, pretty mouth. “It’s easy to be the good one, to be all supportive and nice, but the truth is, you did more damage by bringing Harht here than I did by not allowing him to keep his delusions. And for what? Just for your own selfish reasons.”
“That’s not true!”
“Isn’t it?” Ksar said, looking into the angry green eyes. “Did you think for a moment about Harht’s feelings when you insisted on this trip? No. All you thought about is you—and me, I suppose.”
Seyn flushed. He shoved at Ksar’s chest. “Yes, I did it because of you. To get rid of you.” He smiled at Ksar. “And you know what? It wasn’t for nothing. You will find a way to break my bond to you—or I’ll tell everyone that you aren’t a harmless Class 2 telepath.”
Ksar’s lips thinned. “You don’t want to blackmail me.”
Seyn lifted his chin, the air between them vibrating with tension. “I’m not afraid of you.”
The ugly thing at the back of Ksar’s mind stirred, whispering that he should just take what he wanted, that it would be so easy—
Ksar smothered it. No.
“You should be,” he said grimly, taking Seyn’s wrist.
Seyn glowered. “Don’t touch me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I need to be touching you—and Harht—to take you home with me.”
Seyn scowled at him but let him drag him toward the room Harht had disappeared into.
Ksar pretended not to notice the tears in his brother’s eyes as he told Harht to take his other hand.
Sometimes playing the role of a villain was incredibly draining.
Pushing away useless regret, Ksar activated his transponder, and the world around them disappeared.
Chapter 5
After their arrival at the Second Royal Palace, Seyn watched with increasing suspicion and distrust as Ksar restored Harry’s bond to Leylen—without the latter being present. He watched Ksar’s calm, impassive face as he performed what should have been an impossible task, and felt a shiver run up his spine. He’d told Ksar he wasn’t scared of him. Maybe he really should have been.
“It is done,” Ksar said, stepping back from his brother and eyeing him carefully. “Can you confirm it?”
Harry gave a jerky nod, like a broken marionette, and left without saying anything.
Silence fell upon the room.
“I hope you’re happy with yourself,” Seyn said.
A muscle twitched in Ksar’s jaw. “Enough. I’m not in the mood for your smart mouth.” He turned to leave, but Seyn quickly blocked his path.
“What?” Ksar said in that infuriating monotone of his, his body language impatient and tense.
“If you can restore Harry’s bond so easily, you should be able to break ours—my bond to you—just as easily.”
Something flickered in Ksar’s eyes. “It’s more complicated than that. It’s much harder to perform such procedures when it concerns one’s own mind.”
“But it’s not your mind we’re talking about, is it?” Seyn said, his chest tightening at the reminder that he was the only one bound by the bond while Ksar was free as a bird, had always been.
“Your mind is still connected to mine,” Ksar said. “It makes it difficult for me to remain impartial enough to break the connection.”
Seyn eyed him. “I don’t believe you.”
“You may believe whatever you wish to believe,” Ksar said, stepping aside, clearly with the intention to walk away and ignore Seyn. As usual.
Seyn grabbed his shirt. “If you think you can just ignore me and I will go away, I can assure you that will not happen!”