Rationally, Harht understood where Seyn was coming from; he did. He just…He didn’t feel particularly bothered. It was hard to miss or want something one never had. It surprised him that Seyn felt so passionately about it.
“I just hate this,” Seyn said, deflating, his pale lips turning down at the corners, and his eyes losing fire. Even his braid looked kind of crooked and sad.
“I’m sorry,” Harht said softly, projecting as much sympathy and comfort as he could. He wasn’t a very good empath—Seyn was much better at empathy—but he did his best.
“Me, too,” Seyn murmured.
The palace AI’s voice cut in. “Excuse me, Your Highness?”
“Yes?” Seyn said listlessly.
“His Royal Highness Crown Prince Ksar’ngh’chaali is here and wishes to see you.”
Seyn jumped to his feet so fast it almost made Harht dizzy. A flush appeared on Seyn’s cheekbones, his eyes glinting with almost feverish intensity. “What does he want? Never mind, I can guess. Let him in.”
After a few moments, Ksar strode into the room, looking as though he owned it. Harht had always been a little envious of that ability of his brother.
“Have you gone completely stupid?” Ksar said, glaring at Seyn as he walked into his personal space. “Stupider than you already were?”
Seyn lifted his chin and held his ground, not looking intimidated at all. “What have I done now, Your Highness?” he said with such venom in his voice that Harht barely recognized it.
“Do you make it your life’s mission to make yourself—and me— the laughingstock of the entire Union?” Ksar bit off. “A pleasure planet? Really? What next? Are you going to get caught naked? You’re a fucking embarrassment.”
Harht gaped at his brother. He had honestly never heard Ksar swear—or lose his ironclad composure in such a spectacular manner, for that matter. Ksar wasn’t a hothead. He didn’t rage and he didn’t do yelling matches. When he was angry, he got dangerously quiet, not this.
This…Harht wasn’t sure what this was.
To make matters worse, Seyn smirked right into Ksar’s face. “Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of your ego. Go fuck yourself. I can do whatever I want. You don’t actually own me, you controlling piece of shit—”
Harht cleared his throat, deciding that he should interfere before things got ugly. Or rather, uglier. “Calm down, both of you.”
Ksar’s gaze snapped to him, a frown appearing on his face. It made Harht wonder if his brother had even noticed that he was in the room.
After what felt like a very long moment, Ksar stepped back from Seyn, his face devoid of any emotion. He was once again absolutely composed. It was almost like looking at a different person. This Ksar was far more familiar to Harht than the one who had looked like he was one moment away from inflicting violence on Seyn.
“What are you doing here?” Ksar said, in his normal voice that held very little inflection. “Shouldn’t you be with Sanyash?”
Harht averted his gaze guiltily. He really was supposed to be with their sister, and he had been, until she had caught him peeking into her memories through their familial bond. She had been so furious at him for violating her privacy that Harht had fled from the palace, hoping that she would calm down. Their mother, the Queen, wouldn’t be amused if she found out.
“What did you do, Harht?” Ksar said, fixing his gaze on him.
“Maybe you should stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” Seyn cut in.
Any other time, Harht would have rolled his eyes. Seyn just couldn’t live with being in the same room as Ksar and not picking a fight with him. Sometimes it seemed like he couldn’t live without fighting with Ksar about everything and nothing.
“Maybe you should try following your own advice,” Ksar said coldly, without even glancing at Seyn, and Harht sighed exasperatedly. Ksar knew perfectly well how much Seyn hated being ignored and Harht was pretty sure his brother did it on purpose. They both were absolutely incorrigible.
“Harht,” Ksar said, reminding him that he was still waiting for an explanation.
Harht hung his head. “Sanyash has been teasing me all afternoon that she had some exciting news, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. I was curious, and she was right there.” He shrugged, embarrassed by his impulsive decision to sneak a peek into her memories. The thing was, he hadn’t even thought that he would be successful. He was just a Class 1 telepath, his mind-reading abilities very weak against other telepaths. But his touch-telepathy was pretty strong, and coupled with the familial bond between him and Sanyash, he had been unexpectedly successful at catching a glimpse of her memories.
“I peeked into Sanyash’s memories and found out that she’s pregnant,” Harht said and immediately winced. Was he supposed to tell Ksar that?
“You peeked into her memories,” Ksar repeated flatly, ignoring the pregnancy news.