He talked and talked until there was nothing left to say.
Silence fell over the room when Seyn finished, his hands clenched in his lap as he waited for his brother’s reaction.
Jamil seemed absolutely speechless.
“Wait,” he said at last, raking his hand through his shoulder-length hair. “Are you saying that you aren’t bonded to Ksar anymore, but you’ve had sex with him anyway?”
Seyn cringed. Of course that would be what Jamil would fixate on. “It was just hormones and stuff,” he said, looking anywhere but at his brother. “I was horny and he was the only available option. That’s all.”
He felt his brother’s heavy gaze on him but refused to look his way, studying his hands with perhaps exaggerated interest.
“Seyn.”
There was so much judgment in his voice that Seyn snapped, “Like you have room to talk!”
The silence that fell between them was the most awkward in his life.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Jamil’s voice never sounded colder.
Seyn winced. He hadn’t really intended to bring that up. There were some things one didn’t want to know or discuss with one’s older brother.
“You couldn’t possibly believe that bastard’s lies,” Jamil said.
Seyn looked up. “He wasn’t lying,” he said. “He’s a manipulative asshole with no principles, but I know him. I can mostly tell when he’s lying or being evasive about something. He had no reason to lie about you. And your reaction proved that he was right.”
A flush appeared on Jamil’s cheekbones. He rarely blushed out of embarrassment, so Seyn assumed he was angry but he wasn’t sure. Seyn was hesitant to use his telepathy to gauge his brother’s thoughts and emotions. His telepathic core still felt raw after merging with Ksar’s, and the prospect of touching someone else just felt…wrong.
“So you trust the words of the man who publicly humiliated you over my words,” Jamil said.
Seyn pursed his lips, eyeing his brother carefully. “You have no reason to be so defensive, you know. Your husband died a year and a half ago. It doesn’t dishonor his memory that you…have physical needs.”
“I’m not talking about this with you,” Jamil said.
Seyn chuckled. “Don’t be so prudish. I get it. Although it’s not as bad as it had been at the beginning, I still think about sex at least five times a day.”
Jamil’s lips twitched in an approximation of a smile. He shook his head. “I’m still not talking about it with you. It’s too…strange. I used to change your diapers, kid.”
Seyn scrunched his nose up. “No, you didn’t. We have servants for that. And speaking of servants…” He leaned forward, grinning. “So who is it?” It could be anyone. Unlike the Second Royal House, their House didn’t use robots to perform most tasks, and there were more than a hundred servants in the palace alone, and another hundred working in the gardens.
Jamil shook his head. “I’m not talking about it. In any case, we have other, far more important matters to worry about.”
“Like what?”
Jamil looked him in the eye, his expression turning grim. “Like how we’re going to handle the society’s reaction to the news. It’s one thing to handle a few curious visitors in your own home, and it’s completely another to attend social events after being publicly insulted and humiliated in the worst possible way. There hasn’t been a jilted prince in thousands of years. Considering how politically influential and respected Ksar is, you’ll be the one receiving the brunt of the public’s scorn and pity. Do you want to avoid social functions for a while?”
You won’t be humiliated if you don’t act humiliated.
Seyn got to his feet. “No. I’m not hiding.”
Chapter 16
“Keep your head high, darling,” Queen Janesh said, a gracious smile on her lips as she accepted people’s bows with a slight nod.
“And smile,” the Queen-Consort said, taking Seyn’s arm and looping hers through it.
“I’m smiling,” Seyn said, trying to pretend he didn’t see the sneers on people’s faces as they turned away to whisper or, worse, snicker. He hadn’t really thought it would be this bad. It felt like everyone in the ballroom was gawking at him, as if he’d grown a second head overnight. Maybe Jamil had been right and he should have stayed at home.
“Smile like you mean it,” his mother said, leading him deeper into the bathroom as the Queen stayed behind to talk to someone.
Seyn tried to. But it was hard to keep a sincere smile on his face when even his friends kept a safe distance from him, as if they were afraid to become the laughingstocks too if they associated with him in public.
Maybe they weren’t really his friends.
“You don’t have to babysit me, Mother,” he said with a wide smile that hurt his cheeks. “I know you and the Queen wanted to speak to some politicians. Go. I can handle myself.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” the Queen-Consort said, nodding politely to people who bowed to her. “My wife doesn’t need me. My son does.” A barely noticeable tension appeared by her eyes. “If we had known it would end this way, we would have never granted the Second Royal House the favor of bonding you to their heir. Your mother didn’t mince words when she spoke to Queen Tamirs yesterday.”