Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

80.

Finn had planned to go up first, so as not to arouse suspicion that Ailbhe had no intention of going back to her own bedroom, especially now that Mosley knew where she slept. Ailbhe had no doubt in her mind that Mosley wouldn’t dare trying anything under Tommy’s roof, but she also knew she wouldn’t sleep a wink knowing he was there too. At least in Finn’s room she wouldn’t spend the night staring at the ceiling restlessly.
 
But the night wasn’t over yet and even though all Ailbhe wanted to do was crawl under a blanket and into Finn’s bed, Tommy had told them all to stay put for now. They were in the main room, people still mingling and chatting. Ailbhe had been roped into dancing with two of Tommy’s peers before she made enough death glares at Finn to rescue her. While the two men had been perfect gentlemen, they only wanted to discuss Irish politics and wanted to only hear one answer from Ailbhe’s lips – that Ireland should put down their guns and come back to the British empire with their tail between their legs.        
Of course, this was something Ailbhe would never say. However, she also knew that Tommy would have her head if she started an argument in the middle of Lizzie’s great hall. And so, she smiled, and she nodded. She bit her tongue and skirted around the issue, trying to sway the conversation to other topics and bat her eyelashes enough to distract them.
 
Finally, after what seemed like forever Finn intervened.
 
“So, you won’t dance with me?” She asked him, a sarcastic smile on her lips as he led her away from where the other men had tried to impress her by knowing how to dance.
 
“I don’t fucking dance” He replied, still holding onto her hand when they stood at the back of the room and Finn offered her his cigarette. She shook her head, refusing it but keeping a hold of his other hand.
 
“You did at my eighteenth birthday” she replied, leaning in a little closer.
 
“Yeah, I was trying to win you back” He replied shrugging his shoulders as if that was all he wanted from her.
 
She rolled her eyes, smacking her hand on his shoulder before hearing his laughs mingle with hers.
 
“Shut up” She replied, trying not to laugh too loudly or she’d start drawing attention to themselves.
 
“What?” He joked, his hand reaching out and tugging hers in towards him until she nearly collided with him, his arm wrapping around her “It worked didn’t it?”
 
With another roll of her eyes she sighed in submission. It had worked. But he had to know that it was inevitable for them to find each other again, to slip back into each other’s lives and into each other’s beds. Like gravity pulling them in, they'd always find their back together.
 
“Oh please, you couldn’t resist me... even if I had kept shouting at you and being a total bitch” She joked, glad that it was just the two of them in their little corner of the room, happy to be ignored by everyone else.
 
But Finn knew it would only last so long and he could see Tommy looking around the room, eyes searching for the woman Mosley requested to see as well as Tommy himself. Once he spotted Finn’s head above the rest, all he had to do was look beside him and sure enough there she was. Tommy resisted for a moment. She looked so happy, she was smiling and she was leaning in towards Finn who was the main reason for her smile. Tommy didn’t want to burst her bubble, to be the person who wiped the smile off her face but he didn’t have a choice.
 
Finn’s smile dropped when he saw Tommy, knowing he would be needing to borrow Ailbhe.
 
“Ailbhe, my office now. Mosley wants a word.” Tommy nodded towards the door behind them where Mosley waited.
 
Ailbhe’s smile faded fast, not wanting a private audience with Mosley at all but knowing she didn’t get to have a choice right then. Tommy’s plan had to work and in order to let it unfurl they had to go along with this new friendship between them.
 
“With both of us” Tommy clarified, seeing Finn’s whole body tense. Like hell he was going to allow Ailbhe have a meeting in private with Mosley who eyed her like she was a piece of meat.
 
Ailbhe nodded, feeling Finn squeeze her hip in his hand reassuringly. He bent down, kissing her cheek and making sure she could hear his whisper in her ear
 
“It’ll be fine, Tom is with you. I’ll wait for you upstairs, alright?”
 
He whispered, keeping it so low that even Tommy didn’t hear them from where he stood right next to her. Tommy had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. They really were like fucking magnets somethings, like people who couldn’t think separately.  But Lizzie told him they were better together than apart and he had to agree. Without Ailbhe, Finn was a disaster, spilling from one mess into another. Without Finn, Ailbhe was likely to be doomed to the same fate as Tommy, whatever you could say was wrong with him.
 
Tommy raised his eyebrows at her, having a good look at her before they went into his office, as his way of asking was she alright. Within seconds, she pulled on her mask and had that cool as a breeze smile back on her painted lips. She looked back at him, knowing he was watching her and she just nodded. She would be fine. If she had to smile and listen to whatever Mosley had to say to her, she would do it just to be sure that one day soon, he would meet his end and the world would be a better place.
 
Tommy swung open the door, letting Ailbhe in first to find Mosley standing by the sofa with his hands in his pockets. Ailbhe wasn’t sure how much she trusted him to be alone in Tommy’s office but Tommy kept most things under lock and key.
 
“Ah good, you found her” He announced, as Ailbhe and Tommy came into his view and stood in front of him. Ailbhe stayed on her feet, trying to ignore Mosley’s steely gaze that felt like it was invading on her privacy.
 
“First things first. Things like tonight, that shooting, a family dispute in public, things like that will have to stop” He told them, as an order it sounded rather strange. It had been a long time since Tommy took orders.
 
And yet he just nodded, passing the whiskey in his hand to Ailbhe and then one to Mosley.
 
“It’s very lower class” He told them, nodding towards Ailbhe as if to say ‘No offence’.
 
Ailbhe bit her tongue, sure it was the first of many times for this conversation.
 
“It’s all been cleared up Mr Mosley” Tommy promised him although Ailbhe wasn’t sure if he was lying or not.
 
Ailbhe didn’t want to sit down, especially now that Mosley perched on the sofa she made sure to sit elsewhere, sitting on the arm of the armchair opposite him.
 
“So, did you two learn anything from my speech tonight?” He asked them, as condescending as ever.
 
Ailbhe wasn’t sure but Tommy answered first. She had learnt that Mosley was a dangerous man who was gathering momentum and speed before destroying the democracy their society was based on.
 
“Yes, I learned many things” He nodded, facing away from them and looking into the fireplace.
 
“Religion was a beast, but it’s dead” Mosley claimed, shrugging his shoulders as if it was no bigger than the death of a family pet.
 
“You have to ride the new thing when it comes. Like a horse, you grab it”
 
Mosley stared at Ailbhe with his dark and cold eyes with those last words, desperate to feel her discomfort in the air around them. But she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
 
“Horses don’t typically respond to that treatment in my experience Mr Mosley” Ailbhe replied, knowing frm experience that there was no better trained horse than a loyal horse.
 
Mosley’s eyes narrowed at her for a moment, knowing that she had an answer for almost everything. He hoped one day to put a statement or a question to her that she would be unable to retort to, unable to snap back something clever or witty. But he would have to get in line.
 
“I looked into the audience and I saw medals and Savile Row suits and bitterness” Mosley shrugged, looking towards Tommy who still faced away “They are my people. Your people will be different”
 
Ailbhe couldn’t argue with him. Tommy’s people would be very difficult indeed to convert to fascism. It was a good thing they wouldn’t have to.
 
“Your people will be entirely different again” Mosley said now, laced in emphasis.
 
It took her a few seconds to realise Mosley was speaking to her and not to Tommy anymore.
 
“My people?” She questioned. What on Earth was he talking about?
 
Mosley almost smiled when he saw that look of surprise on her face. It was deliciously satisfying, finally something to wipe away her smile.
 
“Yes. It is time for Ireland to give in to the inevitable and take her defeat lying down like a real woman would”
 
Ailbhe felt physically sick, like her stomach lurched inside of her and like her skin was crawling. Mosley was a pig through and through. But she stayed quiet, knowing that Mosley had more.
 
“What does Ireland’s freedom have to do with your plans?” Ailbhe questioned, not seeing the bigger picture that Mosley clearly did.
 
Mosley would rather not explain military strategies to a young woman of neither noble birth nor higher education and yet there he was.
 
“Ireland could lose us a war. If she was used as a landing zone, as a port to launch an attack Britain would lose. If she was back under the Empire’s rule, she could not act against us lest it be called treason Miss Kennedy. You have heard of treason, haven't you?”
 
Ailbhe frozen. She had in fact heard the word treason many times, mainly upon her arrest and the warrant Scotland Yard issued for her arrest when Field Marshall Johnson was killed by Maggie Brennan and Ailbhe was listed as an accomplice. But her record was gone, her slate was wiped clean. Nobody knew about that. But Mosley did. She knew just by looking at him.
 
Mosley saw as Tommy’s eyes darted to her in concern for just a split second. Mosley knew. Of course, he did.
 
“The assassination of Field Marshall Johnson by Miss Margaret Brennan of County Cork. That would be called treason... and yet there was another name beside hers, now wiped out”
 
Mosley’s words made Ailbhe’s blood feel as though it ran cold through her veins.
 
Tension hung thick in the air like a bad smell, waiting for the next move.
 
But Mosley just looked between them and smiled.
 
Throwing up his hands he announced
 
“Now now, let’s not look so worrisome!”
 
But how could they not? If anyone knew about Ailbhe’s involvement her fate was sure to be the end of a rope. Tommy could feel himself sweating, feel the panic rise in him like bile but he couldn’t show it, couldn’t let up.
 
“In the spirit of our new friendship, I have taken care of it” Mosley promised them, joining his hands together and smiling at them both coldly.
 
Ailbhe felt herself getting less and less comfortable. It didn’t matter what Mosley did to keep Ailbhe’s secret under wraps, he knew about it. And he could use that against them at whatever time he saw fit.
 
“Do you enjoy strategies?” Mosley asked, as if to swiftly move the conversation away from the threat that hung in the air.
 
Tommy took a seat, sipping from his glass but only Ailbhe saw the slight shake in his hand. He was rattled but wouldn’t let that mask slip. They couldn’t.
 
Tommy nodded in response.
 
“Good” Mosley replied, leaving his own whiskey untouched “Things will begin to happen now. So, there are some things we need to discuss.”
 
Whatever these ‘things’ were, Ailbhe didn’t like the sound of them.
 
“I have been looking into the companies you own. The Shelby Kennedy Portfolio” He announced, looking between them, both staying as unyielding and expressionless as each other.
 
“Your company lawyer is a Jew. He will have to go”
 
Ailbhe bit her tongue while Tommy nodded in agreement. Mr Altman was a good lawyer and a man with a family. Ailbhe liked him. She hadn’t even known he was Jewish but she didn’t care, why would she.
 
“Also, our friend, Jimmy McCavern, has asked for control of the racecourses north of Wincanton”
 
Finn would lose his head when he heard but Tommy just stayed quiet, indicating that Ailbhe do the same.
 
“I decided it is a trifling thing, considering our new enterprise, so I said yes”
 
Ailbhe felt blood on her tongue from the marks her teeth made. Mosley was just going to hand over race courses that Ailbhe and Finn, along with the rest of the family had put blood, sweat and tears into to the man who had crucified Aberama’s son and Jade’s husband.
 
“In return for what?” Tommy questioned, not liking it any more than Ailbhe did.
 
“No return” Mosley shrugged, not even that cold smile on his lips.
 
It was a test of their relationship, to see if Tommy Shelby would allow Mosley to break apart his business for the good of the cause.
 
“When our campaign begins, the country will be divided into distinct areas. McCavern and his men will be our soldiers in the North, in the Midlands it will be you and in Ireland it will be the UVF once Miss Kennedy has been kind enough to put us in touch”
 
Ailbhe would sooner phone the King of England for help with balancing the books than she would phone Irish unionists who wanted Dan Kennedy’s children’s heads on spikes.
 
“In the south... I have yet to decide” Mosley shrugged, not having made up his mind.
 
There was only one man who could hold the South but he had taken a bullet to the head last Ailbhe had heard.
 
“Please understand what I’m offering you as we go forward. When we succeed even the king will not be above us”
 
Ailbhe had no respect for the King but regardless of this, the words made goose bumps rise on her arms. Mosley wanted to take over the whole country, take more countries under its reign and dethrone the royal family. It was practically maniacal but no one was laughing. No one was laughing because he had the capacity to succeed.
 
Mosley stood, his eyes drawn to the fireplace and the flickering flames.
 
“Power” He sighed contentedly, knowing that it was all falling into his lap “Like plugging into the mains.  A lighthouse beam”
 
Turning towards Tommy he uttered
 
“Your millions of dollars safe in Switzerland”
 
And then turned towards Ailbhe
 
“And your secret safe with me”
 
Ailbhe could feel herself wanting to shake, to scream and tell Tommy to give up and just put a bullet in Mosley’s head and say it was suicide. But she didn’t. She stayed silent, doing as she was told.
 
She snatched up her glass, taking a long gulp from it and glad to feel the burn of the whiskey going through her.
 
“Oh, and another thing” Mosley turned back towards them at the door before he left “Drink less”
 
Ailbhe looked at Tommy, blank and expressionless as he had perfected until the door slammed shut. He snatched up the glass in front of him, drinking it back in one sip and slamming it back down on the table.
 
Once the door slammed behind Mosley, knowing he was going to his room to visit the swan he had requested Ailbhe felt it all spill out. She jumped from her seat, knowing she had too much wound up energy to stay seated.
 
“Fuck Tom... Fuck” She snapped, pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace while Tommy just grabbed up the whiskey he had poured for Mosley and drank that too for good measure.
 
“He won’t tell anyone Ailbhe. He needs us right now more than we need him” Tommy reasoned with her, seeing how her eyes were wide with an almost terror and every piece of her face revealed her fear and regret over what she had done.
 
Although she stood by her decision, it was hard to back herself now that it could ruin their plans, ruin everyone’s plans.
 
She turned to face him, seeing how he was still sat down, trying to make sense of it all and his head racing to keep up with every new twist and turn.
 
“Tom, if our plan doesn’t work... If we can’t get rid of him and he figures out the plan... I’ll hang, Tom”
 
The words hung in the air between them. They were true. Tommy knew it. If their plan to kill Mosley failed, if it all crumbled before them and if Mosley knew that it was the Shelby Kennedy family behind it, he would give up Ailbhe to the police and she would be hanged for her crimes.
 
Although sitting down still and hunched over, his head snapped up and looked at her.
 
“Oi!” He shouted, getting her attention and trying to get her to calm down. Eventually she looked back at him and stopped pacing.
 
“That isn’t going to happen, I won’t let it” He told her and with every piece in her, she knew he was telling the truth.
 
“Go on, go to bed” He nodded his head towards the door, dismissing her. She looked tired and it was getting late.
 
She headed towards the door, looking back for a moment at him. He looked exhausted but he didn’t get up to go to bed either. She had a feeling he would be up for hours, thinking about every conversation they’d had with Mosley and what his strategies were. Ailbhe would too if she thought it would do any good, but knowing that Finn was upstairs made her remember that she didn’t have to spend the night dreaming and worrying, she could just spend it with him. He could clear her head.
 
“Night Tom...” She whispered before closing the door between them. Tommy didn’t even look up but she hoped Lizzie would be able to convince him to go to bed at some stage.
 
Ailbhe avoided the crowd, giving Lizzie a little nod when she spotted her. Ailbhe just pointed towards his office and gave a little shrug. Maybe Lizzie could help him. If they weren’t beyond help anymore.