NINE.

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( part two, CHAPTER NINE )

The party was unlike anything Thalia had ever experienced

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The party was unlike anything Thalia had ever experienced.

There was singing and dancing, that much she was familiar with, but the complete disregard for class and lack of care for dignity riveted her, and she felt engrossed in this new culture.

She wore a new, knee-length, forest green dress, now her only nice one. She'd owned a lovely white one, originally, but it was now stained red. Oh, and there was a sizable hole in the leftmost part of the abdomen.

Whoops.

People swirled past as Thalia took in every second of the night. Tommy has stepped away from her to congratulate the happy couple, but she didn't feel lost. It was amazing.

Amazing and chaotic.

She wasn't surprised when she ended up bumping into another person, but she began apologizing profusely when she realized that it was a very pregnant woman.

"Don't worry—hm, don't worry about it," the woman told her, seemingly very drunk. Thalia chuckled, steadying her with a hand on her elbow. "Who are you?"

It wasn't meant to be rude, Thalia knew, but she almost chuckled at the way the question came across. It was blunt and unconcerned, and it reminded Thalia of Tommy for a reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"My name is Thalia." She smiled by way of greeting. "I am a friend of Tommy."

The woman's face fell at that, her eyes suddenly suspicious. Thalia was taken aback by the abrupt change, and she wondered what she'd said to make this poor woman so mistrustful of her right away. Most people, in town and around it, seemed to love Tommy unconditionally, considering he was like their very own Robin Hood in many ways, going so far as to ignore their fear of him and instead focus on their adoration. It was a delicate scale, Thalia knew, but Tommy walked the line with an impressive surety, never tipping too much so as to keep the people's fear or love in a fragile balance. Unfortunately, he seemed to have stumbled along the way with this woman, as she had added a whole new weight to the scale: anger.

"Did he send you to talk to me? Tell him to fuck off," the woman said, a bite to her tone that raised the hair on the back of Thalia's next. It sounded like a threat, and she did not take to kindly to threats. Thalia raised her eyebrows, her mirth melting away into cold steel as she wrestled her expression into one of neutrality. What had Tommy done to this girl?

"I do not understand. Who are you?" Thalia asked, her hands, which were originally at clasped in front of her, opened to the sides of her body, palm up. It was an old trick of Thalia's, one she'd picked up from the war. People generally calmed down when they could see that their assumed adversary was empty handed and submissive.

Roaring /// Peaky BlindersWhere stories live. Discover now