Chapter Text
Romulus and Remus are twins born to the king and queen of a cold northern kingdom. At their christening, representatives from every other kingdom come to bestow gifts upon the two princes, including the fae. The first fae gifts them with melodic voices and handsome features, the second gives them creativity and strength and the third gives them obedience and honesty.
Unbeknownst to the court of course, the final fae is a deceiver. One who fought wars against their family many generations ago and who’s gift was in fact a curse.
Crown Prince Remus cannot tell a lie. He causes chaos in the kings council meetings by blurting out every thought in his head. He almost brings the kingdom to war by telling every diplomat and ambassador exactly what he thinks of them. As he gets older, his passing thoughts get darker and more disturbing and he shares them with anyone who will listen: he scares his subjects and his court. Still, no matter how much his parents beg, or how many lessons in charisma and diplomacy he is forced into, he cant seem to control the flow of words.
Prince Romulus on the other hand, is a perfect prince. An obliging and obedient child who follows every instruction unquestioningly, and seems to exist to sooth the ruffled feathers Remus leaves in his wake. They don’t realise there is anything particularly wrong with him until an instructor jokingly tells him he needs to practice his lute until his fingers bleed in order to master this song – and they find him half a day later with blood staining the instrument and tears in his eyes. Prince Romulus cannot disobey an order, no matter who it’s from.
This first thing their parents decide is that Remus cannot know about Romulus’ curse. Romulus could easily be exploited by anyone who chose to use his curse against him and Remus, quite literally, cannot keep a secret. They separate the pair, telling Remus that as crown prince he must now have different lessons to prepare him for his future and telling Romulus, in no uncertain terms, that he must never tell a soul about his curse.
They grow up. Remus becomes more and more volatile and disliked by the court, whereas Romulus is held up as a shining example of everything a young lord should be and is loved by the people for his reputation, even if his actual public appearances are very few. The twins become distant from each other, Remus resenting Romulus for his popularity and Romulus resenting Remus for his freedom.
One day, the King falls ill. His council is faced with the very real and frightening possibility of Remus ascending the throne and throwing the whole kingdom into disarray. And then the kings closest advisor (one who knows about both boys curses, having studied for years trying to find a cure) thinks: there is a perfect prince just waiting to be king, if only Remus could be gotten rid of.
Prince Remus is unnaturally strong, his gift from the second fae, and although he is erratic he is not stupid – even getting close enough to kill him would be impossible for anyone he didn’t trust.
So, this advisor goes to Prince Romulus and says: “The next time you lay eyes on your brother, kill him. Let no one see you, let no one suspect it was you. Tell no one about this conversation. This will be the rise of King Romulus and you will lead our kingdom in strength.”
And Romulus nods and returns to his room and the next morning he has vanished without a trace.
Exploiting the curse requires very precise phrasing – Romulus will not be compelled to kill his brother unless he ‘lays eyes on him’ and so, he chooses never to see him again. He runs away, taking only his lute and what little money he can lay hands on.
Several years later, a talented and obliging bard calling himself Roman has begun traveling with a motley group of adventurous – an unlikely looking mercenary named Patton, an apprentice-scholar-with-no-master named Logan and the worlds sulkiest half elf: Virgil. His three friends do not know about his past or his curse (even if he did trust anyone enough to tell them, his parents order never to tell a soul is still in effect) so when Logan announces that their next quest will take them North, none of them understand the panic in his eyes.