Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

1.

(Ailbhe is an Irish name, meaning bright and noble. It's pronounced like al-va)

NB - This work references the IRA and their activities in Ireland and UK in the 1920s. Seeing arguing and insults in the comments is forcing me to come out and explain something - I am NOT glorifying or condoning the IRA and their actions. Ailbhe is 16 when this work starts - she is naiive and young and stupid at times, just like we all were at some point! Her story is a complicated one and like all the Peaky Blinders, she isn't a straightforward or undamaged person. So, be kind in the comments.

It was a Tuesday evening just before dusk when Ailbhe Kennedy got caught unlatching the door. She had done everything she could to slip away quietly. She had crept down the stairs with her hat and shoes in her hand, she had tried to unlock the door without making a sound. She hadn't wanted her brothers to hear her leave or they would only ask questions. They were good at asking questions but even better at getting answers. Peaky Blinders usually were.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The voice called out from the kitchen at the end of the hall. She had been caught. She knew her brother Liam was still at Charlie's Yard, working. But she hadn't heard her eldest brother Niall come in.

"Fuck!" She whispered under breath, cursing him for hearing her. She had hoped to be gone before they started asking questions.

Slipping into her shoes quickly she pushed open the door of the kitchen and stepped into the warm light coming from the fire.

"I'm going out" She replied casually, fixing her hat on her head and trying to avoid her brother's dark eyes.

Niall Kennedy was reading a newspaper by the fire but Ailbhe knew he was only looking at the racing results. Niall could barely read and even at that, he hated to read. He said it was a waste of time.

He sat on the chair pulled close to the fire, his legs propped up on the stool their mother used to sit on when she would be working late at night by the fire light. But she hadn't worked late in a long time. Come to think of it, she hadn't worked at all in a long time. Not since she found less important ways to pass her time and dull the pain.

"Oh, out? I think I've heard of that" Niall responded, clearly unimpressed with his sister's attitude of late as he threw the end of his cigarette into the fireplace. His peaky cap rested on the back of his chair, the blades gleaming in the light.

Ailbhe knew she was pushing her luck with her brothers. Being the youngest at only sixteen years and also the only girl came with its pros and cons. While Ailbhe had the protection of her brothers, including the Shelby brothers now she also had the watchful eyes and strict rules they imposed on her at all times. While she had that extra freedom, not having to act like all the other girls her age who worked on their needlework or minded their siblings while husband hunting in their spare time, she also had the burden of the name Kennedy. A name synonymous with trouble and with the Shelbys. Ailbhe couldn't sneeze in Small Heath without someone running back to her brothers telling them.

Both Liam and Niall Kennedy had always been protective of their sister, even more so now she seemed to be growing up and wanting more and more freedom. But they were the Kennedy family and their ties to the Shelby family meant they had certain power but also certain dangers that came with it.

The families had always been close, even more so since they came back from France. Nobody could ever try to understand what it was that Tommy, John, Arthur, Freddy, Niall, Liam and all the others went through over there. But they understood each other, they understood that every day since was extra as Tommy always told her. Only they understood the nightmares, the grief for your comrades and your former self.