Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

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Heyyy! I'm sorry for being so irregular but I've just started a new job and moved countries so my life has been super hectic for the last month or so. I am getting there slowly but surely. It's just been hard to find the time to do them justice. As always, your comments and all that make my day and make it all so much more fun xx M

Finn Shelby was a quiet man. He had been an even quieter boy and for someone who had grown up with older brothers and a sister who always had to have the last word, it wasn't unusual for him to stay quiet. But Ailbhe noticed his silence when they arrived home that night. She took a bath and by the time she returned to their bedroom, Finn was in their bed with his eyes closed. He wasn't sleeping, she knew that as certain as she knew he loved her. But he was exhausted, and she stayed quiet as she undressed and slipped under the covers with him, his hands seeking her out quickly and pulling her nearer.

He felt her fidgeting and shifting when she finally did fall into a fitful sleep. But as much as she turned and stretched, she never moved out of his reach.

She was asleep and yet the crease in her brow never left. Her breaths were stilted and he could feel the tension in her body beneath his palms.

Her fingers and arms would tense spontaneously and stretch until she felt him still there and she would relax again.

Michael's words rolled around in his head. Michael's plan and his tempting offer.

It had always been Michael's intention to have Ailbhe and Finn assume power with him. They were young and clever, they were strong and still held enough of the old Shelby reputation to be fearsome and yet look young and fresh enough to not be associated with the cuttings and the beatings of the old days.

Finn knew that Ailbhe was his family now. Perhaps more so than Tommy or Arthur or any of them. That's what they had vowed when they got married. And he had to put her first.

He knew that Ailbhe would keep giving everything to Tommy until it broke her. Finn would never understand Tommy and Ailbhe or what they meant to each other, but he could see how dangerous it was becoming. And he would intervene if it meant saving his wife from dying at the end of a rope be it by her own hand or someone elses.

And it meant that Finn had a large decision to make. One that asked him to choose between a life that was everything he'd ever wanted, that his wife had fought against and would leave most of his family by the wayside. Or a life that was cursed and doomed at every turn with a family who was breaking apart no matter how hard his wife and he tried to keep it together.

*

"We're closed"

Ailbhe heard the barkeep's growling shout as soon as she pushed open the door. She ignored him, waiting for his head to peep around the corner which it did and she watched the colour drain from his face.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs Shelby. I didn't realise it was you"

She waved his apology off, she didn't care. She just wanted a drink.

Greg, the barkeep quickly took notice of her mood and her intentions for the evening. He abandoned his sweeping and excused himself quickly, leaving her to her thoughts and a bottle of whiskey on the counter.

She didn't want a drink. She just wanted to be numb and even as she savoured the slip of the whiskey into the glass and admired its colour. The smell sent her stomach roiling and she couldn't bring herself to further the glass to her lips.

Finn was cagey and quiet. He was hiding something and after not telling her who telephoned the night before, she couldn't help but doubt him. Every part of her wanted to trust him and trust herself to love him and listen to him. But a voice in her head that Polly used to call a gift and her mother used to call a curse, nagged at her like an itch she couldn't scratch.