Blood & Blossom

Prologue

When Sinead O'Hara was a child, she, her younger sister Brianna and their best friend Oisin Taggart had a little tradition. Every Friday afternoon, as soon as school let out, they would visit the local confectionery shop, purchase a bag of sweets (usually lemon bon-bons), then settle in St Stephen's Green to enjoy their purchase. It was their way of celebrating another week over and done with.

Stephen's Green was Sinead's most favourite place in all of Dublin. It was a large park in the city centre with lush green grass and shrubbery, as well as a vast pond in the northernmost area. The sun over St. Stephen's Green felt like a warm hand on the back of Sinead's neck as she sat down beside Oisin and Brianna, a rare gift for a Dublin April. The bright sunlight made the pond shine like a silver penny and the grass and flowers seemed brighter than usual. To Sinead's twelve-year-old eyes, this was paradise.

Sinead passed the white paper bag of sweets around. "One for me," she said, taking a bon-bon for herself. "One for you," she continued, passing the bag to Oisin. "And one for the baby," she finished, holding the bag in front of Brianna with a grin.

Brianna rolled her large green eyes as she plucked a sweet from the bag. At nine years old, Brianna was the youngest of the trio and was always known as the baby. 

"Not the baby for much longer," Brianna reminded, grinning back at her sister. Their mother was currently pregnant with her third child.

"When is your ma due to give birth?" Oisin asked, chewing on his sweet.

"Any day now, I suppose." Sinead replied, dropping a bon-bon into her mouth.

"What do you reckon it will be this time?" 

"Hopefully a human," Brianna joked, making the two older children snort with laughter.

"Aye," Sinead said, "and if God is smiling on our ma, she'll finally get the boy she's been hoping for."

"A brother," Oisin mused, his blue eyes bright. "We could teach him to fish and skip stones on the pond."

Sinead laughed, the sound light and untroubled. "He hasn't even been born yet. Give the poor scrap a chance to breathe."

"I don't understand why Ma is so desperate to have a boy," Brianna said. "It's not as if there's a shortage of boys in Ireland."

"Well, boys are the ones who inherit everything and carry on the family name," Oisin pointed out.

Brianna wrinkled her nose. "But why should the boy get everything, especially if he's not the first born? That's not at all fair."

"No, it isn't," Sinead agreed. "But that's the way it is unfortunately."

Brianna shrugged. "Well I think it's a silly rule." She suddenly lifted her head, a proud and determined look on her face that was uncharacteristic for a girl of her age. "One day I'm going to be a soldier and fight to make things fairer for girls!" She rose to her feet and marched through a patch of clover as if she had already begun cadet drills. She picked up a fallen willow branch and brandished it like a sword. "I'll wear a green uniform and ride a white horse right up to the Castle gates."

Oisin gave a light chuckle. "Well, with you fighting on the frontlines, they'll definitely have to change the rules."

Sinead laughed along with her friend. "What about you, Oisin? What do you want to do when you're older?"

The boy gave a wide smile. "I'm going to run my Granda's shop," he declared, his chest puffed out with pride. He picked up pebbles and lines them up on the grass as if they were jars of preserves. "And you'll come in every morning, Sinead, and I'll give you the finest peppermint stick for free."