The memory made Ksar frown. What they had done was irresponsible. Dangerous. He should have known better. He did know better. Regardless of how good it had felt at the time, merging minds in such a way was incredibly risky. Uncontrolled telepathic merges were considered illegal on most worlds of the Union of Planets for a reason. For a very good reason.
“I have to go,” Ksar said, glancing at the clock. He’d wasted enough time on an unnecessary visit as it was. “Try to come up with a believable explanation for your brother.”
“Stop telling me what to do,” Seyn said sourly, looking anywhere but at him.
Ksar turned to go, but paused and looked back at him. He felt…agitated, off-balance, and he didn’t know why. The feeling was as unfamiliar as it was unwelcome.
“Fix your hair,” he said.
Seyn just glared at him and didn’t say anything, his arms still crossed over his chest.
Realizing that he was looking for an excuse to linger, Ksar turned away swiftly and headed for the door, infuriated with his own behavior. Pathetic. It was a good thing their non-existent bond would soon be officially broken and he would have no reason to be around Seyn. Being tied to Leylen looked more appealing by the second. Anything was better than this disgusting lack of rational thought and self-control.
“What did you tell them?” Seyn said before he could reach the door.
Ksar paused with his back to him. “Who?”
“When you requested the bond’s dissolution.” Seyn’s voice was very stiff. “What did you cite as the reason?”
“Fundamental mental incompatibility.”
A harsh laugh left Seyn’s mouth. “No one would believe that’s the real reason. Everyone knows how little you think of me.”
Ksar pursed his lips. He wanted to disagree. Except he knew Seyn was right. Although he’d never treated Seyn with anything but politeness in public, people weren’t idiots. Their mutual animosity was widely known. Ksar had had no time to check the media’s reaction to the latest news, but he had little doubt that the gossip columns must be having a field day. His petition for the bond’s dissolution was far from being the only one, but it was easily the most high-profile case out there. The most scandalous. And of course it would be Seyn’s reputation that would suffer the most, not his.
The thought was…displeasing.
“Everyone knows how little you think of me,” Ksar said. “So use it. You won’t be humiliated if you don’t act humiliated.” And he strode out of the room, trying to shake off the crawling feeling of unease and wrongness under his skin.
There was nothing wrong. Everything was proceeding as it should.
After months of hard work, now wasn’t the time to start having second thoughts.
Chapter 15
After Ksar left, explaining himself to his older brother was the last thing Seyn felt like doing, but he knew Jamil would just come looking for him if Seyn didn’t go to his office. Leaving the palace wasn’t an option, either; not when there was a small army of paparazzi lying in wait.
He found his brother pacing his office, a deep frown on his face. Green eyes so much like his own fixed on Seyn the moment he entered the room.
“Explain,” Jamil bit off, motioning for Seyn to sit down.
Seyn remained standing. “There’s nothing to explain,” he said.
Jamil rubbed his temples with a pinched look. “And I suppose you are wearing his cravat because you felt like it?”
Seyn almost groaned aloud. He’d forgotten about it. He should have changed before going to see his brother.
“Look,” he said, avoiding Jamil’s eyes. He wasn’t bad at lying, but he’d never particularly liked lying to his family. “You have nothing to worry about. It was nothing. So I kissed him; what’s the big deal? It was the equivalent of…of a divorced couple kissing for the last time for old times’ sake.” He ignored the uncomfortable, sinking feeling that appeared in his gut at the comparison.
“For old times’ sake?” Jamil repeated, his voice laced with disbelief. “Since when do you kiss him? I thought you hated that man! And that was no chaste kiss.” Before Seyn could say anything, Jamil pinned him with a hard, searching gaze. “Not to mention that you aren’t supposed to be able to want such things, much less do them with the man you’ve always claimed to despise!”
Seyn considered lying. He considered claiming that he was one of the few people capable of feeling sexual attraction despite their functional childhood bonds—it was extremely rare, but it did happen—except he was tired of lying. He was fed up with lying to his family. He trusted his brother. He trusted him to keep his secret. He trusted him not to betray him.
So he sat down, and he started talking. He told Jamil everything, reciting the events of the months following Harry’s first trip to Planet Earth. He told him about Harry’s bond and Harry’s deteriorating health. He told him about the solution Ksar had found to free Harry of his bond and betrothal contract. He told him that Ksar had actually broken Seyn’s bond already.