＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛
𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙴𝙻 𝚁𝙴𝚈 - 𝙾𝙵𝙵 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚁𝙰𝙲𝙴𝚂
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
"𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏
𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒔 𝒎𝒆,
𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕."
THE SKY WAS CRYING, and the lightning and thunders were its heartbeats. She always finds the rain beautiful despite its darkness, and somehow it reminds her that even the sky cries too. For a while, she felt that it was okay not to be okay—to accept the pain in her chest that was holding her tears back. She was staring at herself in the mirror, begging to be stronger once more.
"It breaks my heart to see you like this, Señorita," the woman behind her said as she brushed her long black hair. "What am I supposed to do, Mirasol?" Mercedes asked, her bloodshot eyes fixed on the maidservant's reflection in the mirror.
Mirasol sighed and set the wooden hairbrush on the vanity mirror's desk. "I'm not sure, Señorita... Perhaps you should consider Señorito Iago's take on running away," she responded, braiding Mercy's hair.
"You know how ridiculous that plan sounds, right? Papá would find us in instant," Mercy bit the inside of her cheek, "And, I don't want to leave Soledad here," she added.
"Now, don't you worry Señorita, Don de Silva's decision is not final yet. Everything could change in a snap, nothing lasts forever," hearing those words from Mirasol made the weight on her shoulders feel lighter. She was lucky that she has a friend like Mirasol, and she would've gone insane if it weren't for her.
"Do you want to run away from here?" Mercy asked her maidservant, everyone in their hacienda was aware of Antonio de Silva's cruel nature. If his servants or workers looked at him in the wrong way, he would often punish them. There were rumors in their town that Antonio would kill his business enemies if they got in his way.
Mercedes believed the former, but the latter? It was too much, her father may be vile but he wasn't a murderer.
"I would if you would, Señorita," Marisol smiled at her warmly, finishing up the braid.
"Should we really run away, then? I can pack my clothes now," she joked and rose up from the chair. Mercy walked over to the large window and leaned her back against it.
Rainwater began to enter the vicinity in the blink of an eye, creeping its way into the room's corners and slits. "What's going on, Mirasol?" she asked in a panicked tone as the water reached her knee and soaked the lower part of her dress.
Mirasol, on the other hand, stood in front of her, staring blankly into her eyes. "Mirasol?" she asked quietly, her hand reaching out to her maidservant.
Mirasol threw up a lot of water all of a sudden. She was slouched on the flooded floor, half of her body submerged. Mercy's lips quivered in fear, and she took a step back from her.
Mercy was on the verge of passing out when she saw how Mirasol's eyeballs rolled and turned white. "De puta madre..." Mercy whispered to herself.
Fearful of making another move, the raven-haired woman pressed her body against the window. "Why did you kill me, Señorita?" she shrieked when Mirasol looked at her.
"Why did you kill me?" she repeated, leaving Mercy dumbfounded.
"No! I didn't kill you!" Mercy screamed, but Mirasol responded with an even louder wail, "You killed me!"
Mirasol stood up and walked towards Mercy, her dress drenched in water. 'You killed me!' she kept saying over and over.
"NO, NO, NO! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mercy begged and looked behind her back quickly, planning to jump outside the window yet the storm became harsher. The wind began to whip the still trees—and the wind was howling against the roof, causing the manor to sway uncontrollably.
"You killed me, Mercedes," she grumbled, red tears streaming down her cheeks but a sinister grin was plastered on her lips.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mercy hysterically shouted, crying her heart out. She felt the cold and pale hands of Marisol wrapping around her neck, and she squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed.
"N—no..." Mercy tried to get a word out but Marisol's hands gripped tighter. Her eyeballs turned black, and blood continued to flow down her face as the maidservant laughed wickedly. Mercy can hear her life slipping away on that rainy night.
A loud and heavy slap on her cheeks made her body jolt, "What the fuck was that slap for?!" she exclaimed in surprise, narrowing her eyes at the person responsible for slapping the shit out of her.
Of course, it was Adalaide fucking Thorne.
"You were 'aving a bloody nightmare and you won't wake up, so I had to slap you," Ada replied and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well, thanks for that huh?" she sarcastically muttered and caressed her swollen cheeks. Ada just rolled her eyes at her friend and smirked, "Get ready, we're going to the pub. They're all waiting for us," she spoke before leaving the room.
Mercy sighed deeply and slumped on the bed, the nightmare still fresh in her mind. Why is this happening again? She asked herself as she licked her lower lip.
She poured herself a glass of water from the side table and downed it in a flash. Before getting out of bed, she wiped away the sweat that had formed on her forehead. The Peaky Blinders, along with the Lee family, are celebrating the success of taking out Billy Kimber; she initially refused to attend, but Polly and Ada persuaded her.
By the time she was done cleaning and dolling herself up, she found the Thorne couple waiting for her. "You sure took your time, princess," Ada sneered at her, earning a small laugh from her husband.
"I wanted to look pretty for the Lee boys," she mimicked a posh woman's voice and playfully batted her long eyelashes.
"Ooh, yer givin me tha creeps," Freddie winced at Mercy, resulting in her curling the corner of her red lips downwards.
"Shut up, Mr. Thorne," she rolled her eyes, eventually the three of them laughed together. They left the house and walked their way to the pub, "Where's Karl by the way?" Mercy asked as she clung her hand over Ada's arm.
"Left 'im at my sister's," Freddie answered, walking behind them. There were lots of people outside watery lane, and there would be more once they reach the garrison lane. He wanted to look out for his wife and his wife's best friend—for the streets are not safe for them. Though, he would gladly cut someone up if they dared to harass these women.
"Are you all right?" Ada whispered something to her friend pertaining to the nightmare she'd just had. "Good as fuck," Mercy said absentmindedly to Ada, "but I'm dying for some gin now," she laughed weakly. Something was clearly wrong, and the Thorne woman couldn't help but be concerned for her.
They can already hear Arthur Shelby's loud chattering and jazz music playing inside the pub from afar. Arthur greeted them with a hug as they entered The Garrison "Last but not least, my ladies! We've been waitin for all of ya," Ada grunted and tried but failed to break free from her brother's embrace. Mercy just laughed at both of them, wrapping one of her arms around Arthur's body.
The eldest Shelby let go of his sister, moving closer to Mercy, and whispered, "Me brother's been waitin for ya," he wriggled his eyebrows and winked at her, causing Mercy to blush. Before leading her to the bar, Arthur handed her a pint of draft beer and said, "Ave this drink."
Thomas was sitting on a stool, leaning his back on the countertop, a cigar hanging on his pink lips. He was talking to his uncle, Charlie Strong. She took extreme notice of his lips and wondered how it would feel to kiss them--What the fuck was she just thinking about? Kissing Thomas? Oh, she must be crazy as hell.
When John noticed the raven-haired woman near them, he raised his glasses and said, "Jen! Come e're!" beside him was a beautiful woman with dark curly hair, it must be his new wife.
"Hey! Meet my wife, Esme," he introduced as soon as she was in front of them, "Hi, I'm Imogen," she stretched out her hand to Esme, to which the woman gladly accepted.
"I've heard a lot about ya," Esme grinned, closing the gap between her and her husband. John snuggled against her neck, making Mercy feel uneasy.
She laughed awkwardly, "I hope you've heard the good ones," she said before gulping down the entire beer. Mercy left their presence as they started to make out and sat beside Thomas.
Mercy dug out a cigar and a lighter from her handbag. She let the stick hang on her lips as she tried to lit it up, much to her disappointment, the lighter was empty. She turned her face to Thomas, clearing her throat to get his attention.
Thomas looked at her, raising his eyebrow, "Lend me your lighter," she spoke and scratched the back of her nape.
He didn't respond but took out a matchbox from his pocket, he rubbed the head of the match against the box before bringing it next to Mercy's lips.
Suddenly, their gazes met—recalling their almost kiss as if their minds are connected. She inhaled the cigar, not breaking her eye contact with him. For once, she was willing to drown in those oceans of his again.
The jazz music from their background stopped, the tempo slowing down, Thomas gave her a playful smile and offered his left hand, "May I have the pleasure of this dance with you?"
Mercy smirked and inhaled the smoke again, "Yes, I'd love to," she said as she accepted Thomas' calloused hand, its warmth and roughness made her bit her lower lip.
Thomas gently dragged her to the center of the pub, some couples also began to sway to the slow rhythm of the song, "Do we really have to be in the middle?" Mercy laughed as their hands intertwined, it was her first time holding his hand like this. So close, so warm—the heat between them was burning.
He pulled Mercy's body close to him, his left hand slowly gliding down to her tiny waist. Perfect, he thought. While both of their right hands connected.
Their bodies collided, swaying to the sweet voice of the woman singing in the pub. Thomas lowered his head, "You look beautiful in red," he whispered in her ear.
"I know," she replied, "Well, you look dazzling as ever," Mercy flirted back, biting inside of her cheek.
"Finally! That's me brother right there!" Arthur yelled from somewhere, followed by his loud whistles. That made Thomas and Mercy laugh in unison, "Do you want to go somewhere quieter?" he asked, his eyes focused on her gunmetal orbs.
Mercy inhaled sharply, intoxicated by his musky scent, "...Yes." Thomas smiled warmly at her, dragging her away from the crowd.
"You're leaving already?" Ada asked as she spotted her brother and her best friend heading for the door.
"Aye, she's drunk. She wants to go home," Thomas answered for her, making Ada and Freddie laugh at his quick response.
"If you say so, Tommy," her sister replied, "Take care of her, aye?" she added, Mercy looked at Ada meaningfully and smiled, almost giggling.
"Tommy, how come she's drunk? She's only had a pint! One fucking pint!" John, as always, teased the two of them. In unison, they flipped him off, earning laughs from the crowd.
The two of them left the pub, hands clasped together, with both big smiles on their lips, "Ready?" Thomas asked.
"Always."
· • -- ٠ ✤ ٠ -- • ·
a/n: YOOOOO THANKS FOR THE 3K!!!!!!!!!!! DO YALL THINK WE R GONNA SEE SOME SPICY ACTIONS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER????? IDK THAT DEPENDS ON MY MOOD 👁👄👁
ANYWAYS HERE'S SOME GIF OF LIV DANCING, SO GORG AND SEGGSY
THOMAS : CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH MFS