Harry turned his head to kiss his fingers.
“Harht,” Ksar’s voice snapped in his mind.
Harry ignored him, nuzzling into Adam’s hand.
“Harry,” Adam said, but he wasn’t pulling away, brushing his hand over Harry’s cheek, letting Harry nuzzle into it.
Harry lifted his eyes to meet Adam’s confused dark ones, and then he whispered, “I love you.”
Adam sucked a breath in. Harry heard Ksar make a sharp noise, too, but his eyes remained on Adam. The longer Adam stayed silent, the more Harry’s chest hurt.
“Haz, you can’t just—I need a fucking explanation for once—oh, fuck it—” Adam dove in and kissed him, his mouth hungry and wet and so so perfect. “Me, too, babe,” he muttered against Harry’s mouth. “I love you.”
Harry melted into the kiss, his body doing that ridiculous thing where it tried to mold itself into Adam’s. Everything else disappeared, there was only Adam everywhere, and not enough of Adam—
He was yanked away from Adam. Opening his eyes, Harry found himself looking at Ksar’s stony face. “We’re leaving,” Ksar said, very evenly.
Harry flinched. A seemingly calm Ksar was much worse than an angry one.
Before he could say anything, Ksar dragged him toward the exit.
Harry looked back at Adam, expecting him to stop them, but Adam didn’t, standing very still. There was something very odd about him: his gaze was unfocused and confused, as if he had no idea what was happening or where he was. He didn’t even glance Harry’s way, rubbing at his temples with a pinched look on his face.
With dawning horror, Harry realized Ksar had done something to him.
“What did you do to him?” Harry said, trying to free himself from Ksar’s grip. “What did you do?”
Ksar didn’t answer, his face hard as he dragged him toward a cab. He pushed Harry inside and told the driver Adam’s address in a stiff voice.
“How do you know Adam’s address?” Harry said, looking back at the coffee shop. “Let me go back! Please, Ksar.”
The driver looked uncertainly between them. “Drive,” Ksar said, and of course his air of authority made the driver obey.
Harry opened his mouth to ask more questions, demand Ksar to return him to Adam, but the look Ksar leveled him with made him close it. Ksar gave off so much anger and disapproval it turned Harry’s stomach.
Harry folded his hands on his lap and turned away, anger and resentment burning his insides. He didn’t know how to deal with them. He’d never felt such anger, especially toward his own brother.
But there was another emotion stronger even than his anger: the feeling of crushing loss.
He felt like he’d left a part of himself back in the coffee shop. A part of him he’d never get back.
CHAPTER 21
As soon as they arrived, Ksar got out of the car and said coldly, “I hope you don’t expect me to drag you like a child again. Walk.”
Harry walked, glaring at Ksar’s back but not daring to speak. For the first time ever, he understood why people’s attitude toward Ksar ranged from wary dislike to fear.
Seyn opened the door with a smile that disappeared as soon as he saw Ksar. He paled and then promptly flushed.
“I’m not going,” was the first thing Seyn said, a mulish expression appearing on his face.
“I’ll deal with you later.” Ksar shouldered past him into the flat with a terse, “Close the door, Harht.”
Harry shut the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going, either.”
Ksar turned around, leveling them both with such a murderous look that it made Harry take a step closer to Seyn. He had to remind himself that this was his brother, not a stranger. But try as he might, he couldn’t forget the force of Ksar’s telepathy, the things Ksar could do that he shouldn’t have been able to do. Maybe Ksar was a stranger after all.
“You know what?” Seyn said, flipping his silver locks over his shoulder. “I refuse to be treated like a guilty child. If you have something to say, quit trying to intimidate us and just say it.”
“If you don’t want to be treated like a child, stop behaving like one,” Ksar said, a sneer twisting his lips for a moment as he looked at Seyn before looking at Harry. “Explain yourself.”
Harry glared. “Why? You already know everything. You saw everything in my mind—without asking permission.”
“What?” Seyn said, whipping his head to stare at Harry. “He—but how?”
Of course Seyn was confused. Seyn knew how much stronger Harry’s telepathy had become. Harry wished he knew the answer to Seyn’s question.
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.”
Harry flushed. “You had no right to pry into my mind like that. You broke the law!”