“It means exactly what I said,” Ksar said, looking Jamil in the eye. Seyn had asked him not to erase his brother’s memories; he had said nothing about not watching them. Everyone had something they wanted to hide, even the seemingly proper, boring princes like Jamil. Finding what he was looking for, Ksar said, “If you don’t stay out of my affairs, I’ll have no reason to stay out of yours.”
For the first time, a hint of wariness appeared on Jamil’s face. “You know nothing of my affairs.”
“Don’t I?” Ksar said with barely any inflection to his voice. “I think the society will be very shocked to find that the Third Grand Clan’s recently widowed Crown Prince has a very…interesting relationship with a low-bred servant.”
He heard a sharp inhale from behind him but didn’t look away from Jamil’s rapidly paling face.
“Seyn is right,” Jamil said, barely moving his lips. “You’re a despicable bastard.”
Ksar looked at him coldly. “If I let Seyn get away with insulting me, it doesn’t mean I will tolerate insults from you. Leave.”
“If you think I’m leaving my brother with someone like you—”
“Your brother is capable of thinking for himself,” Ksar cut him off, beyond irritated now. “He’s more capable of handling me than you are. Leave before I lose my patience and do something I might regret.”
Seyn’s grip on his biceps tightened. “Don’t hurt him.”
It was extremely galling that Seyn thought he could tell him what to do. Though, if he were honest enough with himself, perhaps Seyn wasn’t entirely wrong in that assumption. Seyn had the most aggravating ability to make him feel guilty and Ksar had never cared for that particular feeling.
“Is that a threat?” Jamil said, his face deathly pale.
“No,” Ksar said. “It’s a warning. If you stay out of my business, I will stay out of yours and no one will have to find out that their Crown Prince likes being bent over and used by a servant.”
Jamil flushed scarlet.
“Stop talking to my brother in such a vulgar way,” Seyn hissed into his ear, his grip on Ksar’s arm becoming painful.
Ksar felt his lips curl. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”
Seyn dug his fingers into his arm. “I’m not fucking jealous,” he hissed, anger and embarrassment coming off him in thick waves. “Why would I be jealous over a man I detest?”
Ksar pursed his lips and glanced back at Jamil. “Why are you still here?”
His jaw clenched, Jamil looked mutinous, but after a long, charged moment, he said tersely, “Seyn, I’ll be waiting for you in my office.”
As soon as the door shut after his older brother, Seyn sighed. “Great. Just fantastic.”
Ksar turned around. “You have only yourself to blame. You should have let me erase his memories.”
The silver-haired prince scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You violated his privacy enough already.” He scowled, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. “My brother is a widowed, grown man. You had no right to shame him for what he likes in bed.” Seyn narrowed his eyes. “It doesn’t make him a lesser man—or a lesser prince, for that matter.”
“It doesn’t,” Ksar agreed, shrugging. “If he weren’t already ashamed of his physical desires, I wouldn’t have been able to use it against him.”
Seyn shook his head. “You sicken me.”
Ksar studied him for a moment before settling his hands back on Seyn’s hips. “Do I?” he said quietly. He could kind of sympathize with Prince Jamil. Being ashamed of his desires was something he’d become intimately familiar with. It was shameful that he felt so disgustingly eager—eager to touch, eager to kiss, eager to bury himself in this hostile young man who looked at him as if he was the most wretched person in the world.
Maybe he was. A good man would leave Seyn alone after everything he’d done to him.
He wasn’t a good man.
“I want you,” he said, pulling Seyn closer by his hips.
Seyn sucked a breath in and put his hands on Ksar’s chest. “Really?” he said with an unsteady chuckle. “Do you seriously think I’m having sex with you again?”
Ksar held his gaze. “All you have to say is no.”
Seyn’s throat worked.
He moistened his lips with his tongue, opened his mouth, and then closed it.
“Just say no,” Ksar said, leaning in to nibble at Seyn’s earlobe. He felt Seyn shudder, a gasp leaving those lovely lips.
“I hate you,” Seyn whispered shakily, his fingers clutching the front of Ksar’s shirt as Ksar nuzzled the side of his face.
He smelled good. He always did.
“I’m still not hearing a no,” Ksar said, kissing along Seyn’s jaw, feeling far too breathless for his liking. “You can hate me all you want. We don’t have to like each other to fuck.”
“Charming,” Seyn said with a chuckle, but it turned into a moan as Ksar kissed his way down his cheek to his mouth.