As the youngest Shelby child and twin to Finn Shelby, Kezia has spent the last 4 of her 10 years locked away for her mental defectiveness.
She returns to Small Heath under the legal guardianship of her brother, Thomas Shelby. Despite knowing she's s...
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Not edited. I was too excited.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Kizzie should have been more grateful, more kind to Tommy.
War was unkind, ungrateful. He needed her. He believed he would die without her. And she was repaying his sacrifice by calling truces and loving a man outside the family.
He and Arthur lit the pyre.
Fire engulfed the ground, browning the grass. Then traveled up. The breeze turned hot as it hit Kizzie in the face. She wanted to scream.
She wanted to talk to Alfie. Tell him what happened, if he didn't already know. Him knowing, before she had the chance to tell him, left a sourness in her mouth. For once, she wanted to be the first to share news. But everything in her life was a hand-me-down. The curse of being the youngest?
She stood beside her twin and Ada: the second youngest and the only other female in the immediate family. Kizzie's gentle rocking caressed their shoulders, but if they minded, they did not say so.
Arthur stood like a statue beside Tommy. Both men were elsewhere. Maybe back in war. Kizzie felt it in their colors. Reds and blues melded to make a royal purple. No one had purple. Kizzie wished she did, though. It was one of her favorite colors.
Gunfire in the distance pierced Kizzie's eardrums. Less than a second later, Finn dragged her down to the grass.
"At ease!" Tommy ordered. He and Arthut were the only ones standing without weapons drawn. "At ease! Do not return fire! Do not return fire." His collected frame did not wane as he took in Kizzie's dropped body. She was not scared; her brother was being burned just a few feet from her--nothing much else could frighten her.
"Ozzy!" Tommy pointed to him,way in the back with the other Blinders. "Stand down! The men doing the firing are on our side."
Finn lifted Kizzie by her arms. "You okay?" he whispered. "Sorry if I hurt you."
"I'm okay." She fell against her twin, but guilt ate her again when Tommy's eyes pierced Finn and Kizzie.
"I took the trouble," he told everyone, "of getting an invitation with Abarama Gold."
"Put us out in the open on purpose," Aunt Polly realized from her new seat behind the family. "To use John's funeral fire as a fucking beacon."
"We were never in any danger, Polly," Arthur insisted.
"You set a trap!"
"Finn?" Tommy's harsh voice called for the boy. "Go to the yard and light the fires."
Finn gave Kizzie one final squeeze before rushing off.
Aunt Polly stood and ran for Tommy. "You set a trap with us as fucking bait!" She pointed to the pyre. "Who's dead?"
