Page 55 of Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Eden Moore 1)

It wasn’t.

Chapter 11

One month later

Seyn marched through the halls of the Calluvian Ministry of Intergalactic Affairs, ignoring the curious looks he was receiving from the Ministry workers.

Ignoring their thoughts was much harder.

While Seyn’s control over his telepathy had improved considerably in the past few months since Ksar had broken his bond, it still wasn’t perfect. The hardest part was tuning out other people’s thoughts. It wasn’t much of a problem at home, but it was much harder in public places like the Ministry, where there were a lot of telepathically null Calluvians who had no mental shields whatsoever. Their unprotected thoughts still tended to overwhelm him, giving him a hell of a headache after a few hours of exposure. Seyn couldn’t imagine being around t-nulls all day long. That almost explained why Ksar was such an asshole.

Except Ksar had lived without his bond for decades. His control over his telepathy was likely hundreds times better than Seyn’s, so being around t-nulls couldn’t be an excuse for Ksar’s attitude.

Seyn scowled. If Ksar weren’t such a dick, he would have had the decency to offer him some tips on how to control his telepathy, but no, of course it hadn’t even occurred to Ksar. The asshole was basically throwing someone who couldn’t swim into the ocean and just expecting that they’d learn before they drowned.

To be fair, Ksar had warned him. Seyn knew he had asked for this, but still. He hadn’t expected that adjusting to the bond’s absence would be so hard. Harry hadn’t seemed to struggle that much when his bond had been broken. But then again, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was a stronger telepath than Harry. Without the bond, Harry had probably been Class 3. Seyn couldn’t tell for sure, but he estimated that he was Class 4 or Class 5. He could read people’s minds so easily it was a struggle not to. Needless to say, in the past few months, he’d learned how many people had less than flattering opinions of him, which was…eye-opening. He’d always considered himself a friendly, sociable person, but after overhearing some of his friends’ thoughts, his desire to socialize had lessened exponentially even after he had stopped feeling overwhelmed in crowds.

So far, a life without the bond wasn’t what he’d hoped it to be.

“Health and tranquility,” Seyn said, greeting the receptionist with a smile. “I want to see the Lord Chancellor.”

The man barely glanced at him before returning his gaze to his multi-device. “The Lord Chancellor is in a meeting. Make an appointment if you wish to see him. He has an opening in his schedule in eleven days.”

“Eleven days?” Seyn said incredulously, irked by the man’s attitude. It wasn’t unusual for the t-nulls working at the Ministry to refuse to conform to the customs they thought old-fashioned, which Seyn could respect, but it was considered in extremely poor taste not to greet a member of a royal family at all.

“Yes, I believe I already said so,” the receptionist said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Why was he surprised that Ksar’s employees were impolite, self-important jerks, too?

“I can’t wait eleven days. I need to see him now.”

The man smiled only with his lips. “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do.” His thoughts were very loud and clear: No wonder the boss can’t stand him. What an arrogant, entitled princeling.

Seyn stared at him with narrowed eyes before turning around and striding toward the massive double doors.

“Wait!”

Ignoring his yell, Seyn pushed the doors open and marched in. “I need to talk to you.”

Six heads turned to him.

“Oh,” Seyn said, his face warming. “Sorry. I didn’t think you were actually in a meeting.”

Leaning back in his chair and ignoring the curious stares of his subordinates, Ksar met his gaze.

Seyn’s stomach felt funny. He shifted from one foot to the other, suddenly hyper-aware that it was the closest he’d been to Ksar in a month. They’d crossed paths a few times, but Seyn had managed to stay away—he’d had no reason to talk to Ksar—and Ksar hadn’t approached him, either.

“Have you forgotten your manners?” Ksar said.

His cold tone made Seyn bristle momentarily before realizing that it wasn’t him Ksar was addressing.

Ksar’s subordinates stood hurriedly and gave Seyn awkward bows. “Your Highness,” they muttered.

Feeling very bewildered but stupidly pleased, Seyn nodded to them before looking at Ksar. “I need to speak to you. This is urgent.”

Ksar gave him an unreadable look and said in Seyn’s head, “I’m actually busy. I don’t have time for petty, pointless arguments.”

Seyn glared at him. Just when he started thinking Ksar was being decent, of course he’d shown his true colors. “This is really important. It’s about Harry.”

Ksar frowned slightly and glanced at his subordinates. “Leave. We will continue at a later time.” He waited until they were alone before saying, “This had better be important. What about Harht?”