"This is insane!" Izzy hisses as we watch the footage from the interrogation room, where Meliorn was being held, "We have to put a stop to this!"

"Yeah, well, enjoy portalling back to Idris with Mom and Dad" Alec remarks but I've already resolved not to look at him or at the least, offer a furtive glance. Anymore than that is unthinkable...

It just hurt too much.

"Meliorn is here because of me" Izzy whirls on him, glaring at him in disbelief. She was clearly having just as hard a time understanding why Alec had taken this new approach to living as I was.

"Alec's right" Jace agrees, though he sounds unsure of himself, treading carefully, "There's nothing we can do to stop this interrogation."

"You're on Alec's side now?" Izzy glowers, turning on her other brother, astonished

"We swore to protect each other, of course he's on my side" Alec notes, his eyes never leaving the computer screen

"I'm not picking sides" Jace surrenders, "Jace Wayland is Switzerland."

"Oh yeah?" I scoff, "Since when?"

My retort goes unnoticed and Jace plows on.

"We have got to find Valentine. Let's let this play out, Izzy. Meliorn might have some important information."

Izzy's expression softens as her gaze drifts back to Meliorn's face on screen as Lydia begins her raucous questioning. The mere sound of her voice pierces me like a knife whilst burning through me like a raging fire.

Even though, technically, I knew it wasn't exactly her fault. That Alec's decision focused heavily...well, kind of completely on me.

But it didn't stop me hating her.

I turn my attention back to the screen, watching with a repressed glee as Meliorn leans forward, a taunting smile on his lips as he goads Lydia.

"If Shadowhunters had a better relationship with us...Downworlders, you'd know that Valentine's daughters have the Mortal Cup"

My joyous moment is severed in two almost as quickly as it presented itself and I look backwards, towards the training room, at the Lightwood family lockbox...unable to help myself, I glance at Alec worriedly.

5 hours ago, I would've said I trusted the Cup in Alec's hands more than I would in my own or even Luke's. Now...

Who knew?

"Still think we should let this play out?"

***

I grit my teeth audibly as Lydia and her cronies delve their hands through the drawers and cupboards of my bedroom, having insisted upon checking it for the Cup.

"Woah, hold on there, Buster" I snarl, grabbing one of the guys' hands and wrenching it from my underwear drawer, "It's not in there."

"We do have to cover all our bases" the guy smirks, giving me the up-and-down, lingering on the word 'bases'

"Yeah, well, this base" I hiss, slamming the drawer closed and narrowly missing his fingers, "Doesn't need your cover."

"I apologise for the intrusion, Camille, I'm sure you understand we're just doing our job" Lydia reasons, her tone friendly yet strict

"Oh, really, it's his job to paw at my underwear?" I roll my eyes, ignoring Lydia's kindness. Cousin or not, she hasn't earned my respect yet.

"Alec, call this off. Now" Jace pleads stonily. They'd only just finished searching Clary's room, where the same guy had sifted, for an unnecessarily long time, through her underwear drawer too.

Angel blooded pervs?

That's a new one.

"Hm. Clary's bedroom isn't a part of Switzerland?" Alec retorts

"We can't call it off. We have to find the Mortal Cup." Lydia persists and I resist the urge to smack her.

"It's all clear"

"Of fucking course it is" I snap, "I've been telling you that since you barged in here like a pack of animals."

"Keep looking" Lydia instructs, shooting Alec a glance with an emotion I kind recognise before following her two henchman out

"What is going on with you?" Jace whispers, concerned and I move closer to them, wanting to know the answer to that myself

"Look, Jace, we have to turn over the Cup"

"Clary's risked everything to find it" Jace protests and I stay silent, seething silently

"And we've risked everything for you-the two of you" Alec corrects. Ever since I'd rejected him, again, he'd been the epitome of ice prince. Not all that uncommon, true, but to me...it was really uncommon. There always used to be some kind of warmth to him, at least when it came to me but, now...nothing but cold, "Either you and your sister give the Cup to Lydia, or I'll do it myself."

"I'll bring Clary back" Jace concedes and I gape at him, livid, "But, please, let them be the ones to give the Cup to the Clave. We owe them that much." Jace continues as if I'd never spoken.

"It's the right call." Alec nods brusquely, heading for the door, "You'll see."

As soon as Alec clears the door I whirl on Jace, my voice barely a whisper but carrying so much malice it was a wonder it didn't sear his skin, "You bastard! I can't believe you! Surely your Switzerland approach could extend a little further for the girl who had your tongue down her throat a second ago!"

"Cami, shut up" Jace huffs, "I've got a plan. And, besides, didn't you think it was a good idea to give the Cup over after all?"

"Yes" I lament, "But there was before-"

Before Alec got engaged.

Before Alec became all 'leader of the Shadowhunter'.

Before i had my heart shattered.

"Before I properly realised how much it meant to Clary" I finish unconvincingly but Jace seems not to have noticed. Or, at least, doesn't care.

Snapping a picture of one of his many runes, he pulls up his phone before calling Clary and instructing her to draw it, to stop anyone from being able to track her and then promising the Cup will be safe before hanging up.

"Surely you aren't deluded enough to think the Cup is safe in Lieutenant Lightwood's hands?" I seethe, as soon as Clary's voice diminishes into thin air

"I told you...I have a plan."

***

"This is your brilliant plan?" I raise an eyebrow as I stare at the training room floor, at the rune where, just underneath, the Cup sits in it's card, "You want me to steal Alec's stele to open the lockbox and get the cup out?"

"We don't have a choice" Jace echoes Alec's words from earlier, when he told us the Clave was requesting Meliorn's appearance at the Silent Brothers' for more questioning...a fate that could mean death for a Downworlder, "And I prefer the term 'borrow.'"

"Without his knowledge" Izzy adds. Meliorn's mistreatment had brought out a different side of her. A strong, cunning leader. Someone who had no qualms in deceiving her brother.

"And I'm the one stealing it...why?"

"Because he trusts you. Because he won't expect it from you." Jace explains, "I'm too close to Clary, he'll suspect me and as for Izzy...she's too close to Meliorn. He'll realise something's up."

"And after my reaction when they searched my room, you think he's gonna fall for it?"

"For all he knows, you were angry they were touching your stuff" Izzy comments, "The last time it was mentioned, you were supportive of giving it to the Clave. Besides...my brother has a soft spot for you, we all know it."

I don't refuse her sentiment. It's true.

Well, it was true.

"If we truly do this...there's no turning back, you know."

Izzy and Jace look at each other, exchanging silent words before nodding.

"We know."

***

"Need some help?" I question timidly, hovering silently by the door as Alec, half-shirtless, pulls a bloody bandage from his arm

"No" Alec winces, his coldness piercing

"Please, let me help" I sigh, pushing off the door frame and walking towards him, noting the stele sitting in the open on top of his jacket, "I took First Aid as a kid and worked the Lifeguard shift every summer, I've dealt with worse than this if you can believe it."

Alec doesn't say anything as I stop at the desk he's sitting on, trying hard to avert my eyes from his toned torso, attempting to ignore the way his muscles ripple underneath his skin as he moves. Picking up the disinfectant, I blot it onto the gauze and press it to his wound. He barely flinches.

"You know, one summer, this little kid, Timmy...something, I don't remember his last name. Took a fall from the diving board and scraped himself so deeply that-"

"What are you doing?" Alec interrupts, his gaze stony

"Disinfecting the wound" I enunciate

"Obviously. I mean here." Alec dismisses, "I thought this was done."

"It...it is" I nod, removing the blood spattered gauze and brushing my hand back, feeling for his stele as I reach for a clean piece of gauze

"Great. So, again, the question: What are you doing here?"

"Alec" I sigh, pressing the clean gauze tight to his wound so it restricts the blood flow and reaching back, again, for the bandages, using my pinky and ring finger to hook his stele in my hand and flick it backwards, towards the door where I know Jace is standing, waiting for it. When the sound of metal hitting the floor doesn't come, I know Jace caught it. Alec's gaze is glued to my face, and I know he's seen nothing, "Look, can't I just do something nice? For no ulterior motive?"

I push the wince back as I wrap the bandages significantly slow to stall him as long as I can. Luckily, this room isn't far from the training room.

"I don't need niceties" Alec spits, "If I want them, I'll go to my fiancée"

His words cut like a white-hot knife and I know he's said it just to hurt me, that much was clear from the confrontation earlier but the sting doesn't lessen.

"Alec we're going to be in each other's lives whether you like it or not" I remind him, "Even though I hate it, I'm a part of this world now. My sleeper curse makes that certain."

"How do you know it can't be broken?" Alec pipes up

"What?"

"How do you know it can't be broken?" Alec repeats, "Did you ever think to ask that? Then this horrible world you hate being apart won't be something you have to deal with anymore."

He was right. I'd never considered asking if my curse could be broken, if it was a part of me forever. Being a mundani, that was just what I was but a sleeper? Maybe there was a way...

My thoughts are broken by a vibrating sensation in my pocket. Jace's signal.

I move my hand backwards, towards the First Aid Kit, pretending to be grasping for surgical tape to stick the bandages on. The feeling of warm metal in my hand alerts me to the stele, Jace having thrown it with expert aim. I put the stele back on Alec's jacket and grab the tape, hurriedly snapping some off and applying it to the bandage.

Distraction done, I rush for an excuse to the leave the room.

It had not been my choice to see Alec alone again so soon.

"Good idea" I nod, setting the tape back down, "I might just go and ask Magnus now"

"Woah, what happened to the niceties?" Alec says, shocked by my sudden desire to leave

"Your wound is bandaged right?" I point out, "There's the nicety. I have to go."

Rushing from the room, I pull my phone from my pocket, shooting a text to Magnus. Now that the idea was in my head, I couldn't help but wonder if it was possible.

Could i break the curse?

**********