Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

96.

Ailbhe woke the next morning, from a dreamless sleep. She wasn't sure if it was Charlie's tea brewed with his own lethal brew of alcohol in the yard mixed in or the fact that when she got back, Finn was still asleep. She had crawled back into the bed, his body reacting to hers immediately and making sure they were wrapped around each other. She woke still clinging to him, wanting to feel the only thing that was solid anymore, fixed and never changing.

"Morning" he sighed, feeling her rouse and start to stretch. His eyes were still closed when she turned to face him and when her fingers trailed along his back.

"Finn?" she whispered, knowing that he was half asleep still.

He just nodded, making an 'mmhmm' sound to indicate he was listening.

"Did I ever tell you what happened to my dad?" she asked him, knowing that the answer was no.

In all their years, in every moment they had together never once had she told him what had happened the day her dad was killed, why the fight for Ireland meant so much to her and why she and her brothers always struggled to sleep through the night no matter where they were.

She had spent the night thinking about it, since she left Charlie's Yard she kept thinking about him and any words of wisdom he had bestowed upon her since she was born. She had thought about what he'd think about his children now, whether or not he'd be proud of them, what his advice would be. She thought about how he used to act and what he taught his children. On first thoughts the only things he'd taught Ailbhe was how to tell poisonous plants from non-poisonous and how to speak Irish. But when she thought about it properly, he had taught them more than he ever knew.

He taught his children that loyalty and bravery counted for more than all the money in the world. He taught them that freedom was the one divine right every person in the world deserved, that it was what you fought for. He taught them that family was the one thing more important than everything. And they had lived by it every day since he'd died.

Finn's eyes opened, knowing that Ailbhe didn't talk about what happened that day, none of the Kennedy's did. The Shelby family knew the details and the general gist of it but there was no official police report, no record of it anywhere especially none given by the people who were there.

She felt his hand on her back, his fingertips lightly tracing her skin as his eyes found hers and nodded for her to tell him.

"We were living in an old abandoned farmhouse... the roof had been burnt off so it was always cold and Niall and Liam and Séan took up the space in front of the fireplace so I used to squeeze into bed with Mam and Dad when I got cold during the night..."

The Kennedy's moved around a lot, constantly having to pack up their lives and move when Crown forces caught up with them. Dan Kennedy just couldn't give up Ireland's fight, he couldn't give it up no matter what risks there were. He didn't want to leave his children in a country that didn't have freedom, it didn't seem right. And so, Ailbhe's childhood for as far back as she could remember was full of running, of disappearing in the night and vanishing.

Finn just listened and watched, her eyes looking back at him and yet she seemed farther away than ever. He didn't know why she was telling him now, why she wanted to but he just listened.

"Mam got up early... she walked into town to get some food and it was just me and Dad. The British soldiers found us... I don't know how, we never knew how and they burst in through the door and held the boys at gunpoint... Dad made me hide under the bed, told me not to come out until he told me to"

She explained and it all started to make sense, why Ailbhe had to fight, why her brothers were so against being called King's soldiers, why they had always disliked Grace and her family.