Blue Eyed Devil─ Thomas Shelby

War stole more than just time but it stole the man Maude once loved.

When Thomas Shelby returned to Small Heath after the war, he was no longer the sweet boy who promised her everything, no he comes back colder, harder and crowned in smoke and ambition, the ruthless leader of the Peaky Blinders.

And yet the first night back together he takes her into his arms, and he makes love to her with desperation that feels like devotion.

By dawn when the blackbirds sung through her window, he leaves silver coin scatter by her bed.

No explanation, no tenderness, only pride.

Their engagement broken without words, her heart left in shattered without an apology.

Maude is soft at heart but she is not weak. She burns in silence, she cries in private, she will not beg him for answer, even as she lies awake at night remembering the way his hand trembled against her skin and the way his breath shudder in torment.

And Thomas? He not the one to let her go.

Men in flat caps trail her every move from the schoolhouse to the market. When she and him speak , he speaks to her as though she is a lady he barely knows, polite and distant, yet his eyes darken when another man lingers too long on her. His finger brush against her wrist in passing to remind her of what is between them still. And the way he says her name all low and soft for her ear only.

He is the one who ended their future.

But he still behaves as if she belongs to him.

As Inspector Campbell tightens his grip on Small Heath and a suspicious barmaid takes up residence at the Garrison, Maude begins to understand the dangerous game unfolding around her. She sees Thomas provoking Billy Kimber. She sees ambition eating him alive.

And yet, when he stands close enough for her to feel his breath, she also sees something else she see the man he become now and the boy he used be at odds, but they both look at her with same expression.

Thomas Shelby may chase power, territory, and respect.