story part;
broken

one week after
"the awakening"

Alec and Carmen had been working a majority of the night on finishing their absent brother's work when something smacked the wall. The pair were both standing, turning their heads around towards the door in sync to see the shadow of the crown prince walking into the room.

Alec was the first to turn away, sighing silently and shaking his head as he set a stack of papers into what was assumed to be the 'Complete' pile. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence," Alec said, a rare dose of sarcasm leaking from his words.

Kason didn't seem fazed by the behaviour, though, and, instead, stepped further into the room. A wicked grin was plastered on his face, only proving to be one that was good when his eyes appeared to be just as bright rather than cold and dark. "You really aught to be thanking me, Al," he replied.

The older twin walked around to behind his desk, ignoring the confused gazes of his siblings. His hand disappeared into the inner pocket of the black trench coat he was wearing and he pulled out a set of papers tied together with string. A second later, jars were scattering across the desk and the door was closing where Kason had forgotten to, a wave of dark blue smoke coating the desk and disappearing a beat later.

Before the events of the previous week, Carmen had been oblivious to the fact that her older brother had magic. It wasn't until Alec had been forced to explain that she found out that both twins had dark magic flowing through their veins. Still, the shock at seeing its works showed on her face with raised eyebrows and slightly widened eyes.

"You can't come in here in such a manner and expect us to take part in whatever rituals you have planned, Kason," Carmen said, glancing quickly over at Alec to make sure he was in agreement with her, "You disappear for a week and we have no choice but to believe you're dead-"

"I never said I wanted your help, but if you want to take the chance and break the curse, then you might want to take part," Kason cut in, the grin never faltering.

Despite the shock that was now apparent in Alec, the younger twin managed to hold his ground, shaking his head as his eyes remained steady on Kason. "No," he snapped, "You're going to tell us what that whole mess was about last week."

The silent sigh that left the brother's lips was visible, the bright hope that had been marking his features finally draining. "That can wait. This can't."

And then Carmen was nodding her head slowly, turning to Alec and managing to convince him with the single look in her eyes. "Alright," she heard him say, "What do we do?"

Of course, Carmen wanted the answers, too, but what Kason was posing was overruling that by far. Besides, enough things had clicked into her mind after learning about the girl to where she could bare to wait awhile longer, especially if Kason's impatience was leading to their curses being lifted.

"No more magic is needed," Kason said, "Just take a sip from the jar."

"Over twenty years, and the answer is as simple as sipping a potion?" Alec replied, a dumbfounded tone in his words.

All Kace did was shrug at first, looking away from the jars filled with black, glowing liquid and to his siblings. After a moment, he said, "Well, we do need to drink it perfectly in sync, but it's a minor detail."

"Minor?" Alec asked.

"What's going to happen if we don't?" Carmen's question followed.

Kason grabbed one of the jars, wrinkling his nose at the scent that floated up from it. "Match it up and we don't have to worry," he said, gesturing with his free hand for them to pick up their jars.

Alec was the first to pick his up, Carmen following slowly, both unscrewing the lids and letting them clatter down on the table. Despite how close breaking their curses seemed, Carmen couldn't get over the fact that it felt like any other day. It didn't feel different, other than the presence of Kason, who now felt as if he were ten times the liar he was a week ago. But, Carmen put it all off on the smell of the drink as the older prince counted off and they were all tipping back their jars.

Carmen heard Alec gag at the taste of the liquid, slamming his jar onto the table when he was done. However, the first thing to hit Carmen was a wake of exhaustion - at least that's what she assumed the fog in her brain was -, a pain twisting in her chest following shortly after. Anything happening to either of her brothers was out the window as she focused on the cloak that seemed to be placing itself around her.

And then there was nothing. No pain entered her system, none of the care for what was happening to her siblings. Everything seemed to be dampened as she forced her eyes opened, rotating her head around to see what effects it was having on her siblings.

"Kason, you're an idiot-" Alec was beginning, starting at his brother who was holding a hand over his chest.

"I'll fix it," Kason said, "I'll fix it, Alec."

"What happened?" Carmen asked, focusing on Kason for the answer, but it was Alec who did to spare his brother.

"He switched our curses instead of breaking them."

note

this is probably awful because I didn't get a chance to edit it😂 I'll probably go back through later, but as long as everyone gets the gist, right?