#venor fic series

[evita-shelby]

for the next Vēnor one shot

@mischievouslittlecreature @zablife @hoodeddreams13 @wonderlanddreamer @thegreatdragonfruta @justrainandcoffee @kmc1989

[evita-shelby]

a preview for the next part of Vēnor

Lucy Winters belongs to @mischievouslittlecreature

taglist: @zablife @thegreatdragonfruta @wonderlanddreamer @kmc1989 @justrainandcoffee @hoodeddreams13

Tommy hadn’t meant to hurt both women like this.

And yet, Lucy left him anyways making him wonder if this was fate. It was a coin toss that had first led him to Eva's door after all.

As much as he still love and yearns for Lucy, her departure had felt like a sign that perhaps he needed to try again with Eva and be the husband she needed the first time around.

He had done the impossible to make Eva reconsider, he had delayed the hearings, bribed the judge to force her to wait until Charlie was born and then nearly two years after that fateful day, Tommy could only watch her shut the door on him forever.

He loves Eva, even as she rages and rejects his every attempt at reconciliation, he loves her enough to give her his word that it will remain only the two of them if she’d only give him another chance to prove it. He used to be loyal to Greta once upon a time, he could be loyal to Eva if she only let him.

“You say that now, but the moment Lucy returns I would lose you again.” She had said and as always proved he’d find no better advisor than Eva Shelby. His wife could cheat both God and the Devil if she set her mind to it. “The three of us would be miserable, I would be your bitter wife who hates the two of you, you would hate me for keeping you from her and she would hate me for the woman I would become because of you.”

She has never lied to him and wouldn’t do so now. Eva wanted out and he owed her that.

And yet, he refused to accede to her terms once again. He hated being alone and it didn’t help when everyone seemed to agree he should take his errant wife back and remind her that those who marry a Shelby die a Shelby. To them it was less about feelings and more of the reputation they’d lost because both Eva and Lucy left the Devil of Small Heath as if he were an ordinary man.

His family had mixed feelings about Lucy, especially Polly who loathed Lucy and blamed her for the whole debacle with Grace. Polly felt the direction he was taking in his life needed a woman who could make blue bloods eat from her palm, a woman who knew the future as well as she knew herself and most importantly, was not Lucy Winters.

“But you will always want Lucy and I will never be enough for you. I need a husband who has no space for anyone else in his heart nor his bed.” There had been a note of resentment there.

The women had been warm to each other, friendlier than Lizzie had been with Lucy by a mile, but Eva would not love Lucy like Grace claimed she did. Eva had then admitted she never had the intention of sharing him when she said yes and whatever cordial feelings the women had would not survive Eva’s feelings of inadequacy and need for a man to be entirely hers.

“I can’t let you go.” Not you too.

Perhaps if Lucy had never left it would be easier to let Eva leave, but because his red demon was gone too, he knew he’d die without his witch.

Then there was her choice in men.

Tommy knows what he is, what he does and the number of people he has killed whether they deserved to die or not. He had never killed a woman, never would if God doesn’t hate him enough to force his hand.

Brilliant Chang had seduced his wife just as he had seduced the countless of women he had then discarded like yesterday’s garbage. Eva loved playing with fire, believed that because she is as otherworldly as Tommy is, she would remain unburnt.

She was fucking him, the Chinaman had let him know he’d taken her to his bed even if Eva moved with as little presence as a ghost. Chang had given him an olive branch in the form of a steady supply to the Eden after showing him its weaknesses, but Tommy Shelby will never trust that man especially with his wife and son.

Eva may not forgive him for this, but she’s left him no choice.

Taking the letters Grace had sent with her address in London ---because somehow she’d known Eva had left him--- he asked to see her. And just like he’d known it, Grace readily takes up the offer to comfort him and believe she is woman enough to replace his darling witch.

Tommy could’ve taken May, or Lizzie or any woman he desired, but no other woman awoke Eva’s wrath like the blonde woman on his arm.

He doesn’t intend on fucking her, he can fuck without feelings, but Tommy knew he’d lose Eva forever if he even thought about doing it.

They loathed each other, knew they were enemies because even when he and Lucy took her to bed, it was Eva who he desired as much as he desired Lucy and Grace hated that.

Eva simply hated Grace because she saw her for who she truly was and lacked empathy for those not of her class. Hated her even more when she set the police on Freddie for the crime of being a Jewish Communist and then for cashing in the bounty on Eva’s head by telling Campbell about it.

"You are perfect tonight." he tells the woman on his arm who has no idea he is merely using her like she used him.

The Barmaid he and Lucy fell for was an illusion, Eva and Lucy were the real thing. Like comparing a light bulb to the sun.

[evita-shelby]

The Hard Truth

or Eva’s better nature leads to her saving Grace’s life at the cost of her engagement to Tommy(and Lucy)

set in the Vēnor series, Lucy belongs to @mischievouslittlecreature

Vēnor taglist: @justrainandcoffee @mischievouslittlecreature @zablife @call-sign-shark @hoodeddreams13 @thegreatdragonfruta

It was to everyone’s displeasure that Lucy and Tommy’s holiday to New York after her return ends with Grace MacMillan as the second woman to make the mistake of getting engaged to Tommy Shelby.

Not just because she is in everyone’s black books for justified reasons, but also due to the fact that Eva has seen her in a coffin and buried in Arrow House the second the blonde came into view.

Billy had choked on his drink when she told him what she’d seen.

The witch is not sure how it will happen, just that the blonde dies horribly and that only Lucy and Tommy will be the only people in the world to mourn her. It is a blessing that Grace will not have children, Eva thinks, only because the weight of the guilt that will fall on Tommy and Lucy’s shoulders will be terrible enough as it is.

As terrible as her fate is, Eva finds it hard to pity the creature before her.

Maybe if Grace hadn’t resumed the one-sided rivalry they had the moment she got back here---which Eva had forgotten about until the broad open her mouth to brag at how well she and Lucy get on--- or the fact that she’s doing her best to get Tommy and Lucy to disregard Eva’s advice.

Grace doesn’t believe in magic, in fact, she has openly accused Eva of being a fraud. Eva now wonders if she made a mistake in trying to stop her death. It would be easier to just let her die, but Eva knows she’ll be stuck having to keep Lucy and Tommy from joining their vapid lover.

“You are enjoying this, aren’t you?” it is not a question, it is a humiliated woman desperately trying to hold on what she thinks is her only chance at happiness. Grace had called up her uncle and even tried to force Tommy’s hand only to find Shelby unmoved.

She had barged into Eva’s appointment with a lady desperate to know if there was a sensible girl for her idiot son and refused to even apologize like the genteel lady she claims to be. So abominably rude and cost her a fucking Rembrandt!

Eva should hasten her death just for that.

“It is an added bonus, but I don’t hate you enough to kill you…even if you deserve it.” Eva admits having no reasons to sugar coat things for the blonde idiot who tried to get her killed and will die because she really shouldn’t have married a man for his money. “If I did, I would’ve told Campbell you were coming, told the IRA what hotel you were staying at or let you get married so you can fucking die without ever even having a honeymoon.”

Eva had many opportunities to kill Grace ---cops are always ethical to kill especially if they are also narcs and against the liberation of their country--- but she’d really meant it when she vowed not to kill anymore in 1918. Besides, Grace was too low in the list to be worth a ruined manicure.

Tommy will forever be on the top of that list with red hearts around his name. The string of fate tied them together forever and Eva would love nothing more than to use it as a garrote on her darling ex-husband.

“I could’ve made them happy, doesn’t their happiness matter to you?” the woman tries to appeal to Eva’s better nature as if she didn’t trample it when she sentenced her to fucking die. Had no one told Grace that you reap what you sow? Maybe if she hadn’t been so coldhearted people might actually appreciate her as a person.

“They’ll be happy without you, and you’ll be happy without them. Everyone is capable of moving on, even you three.” The witch points out and bites her tongue to keep herself from adding how they’ll fuck a Russian Duchess and go back to Lizzie before Grace’s body is even cold in the ground.

Sex was not a guarantee Tommy loved you. Sex was money, sex was a hobby, and sex was the key to get what he wants from you. If Tommy loved you, you’d know it because he’d trust you as much if not more than he trusts Polly. He doesn’t trust Grace, and he’s confided in her he may never will. Even worse he admitted that Grace is fully aware of this and still agreed to the fine print.

What was it about Tommy that had women agreeing to be his doormats? Eva shudders to think she could’ve wasted more years of her life on a man so undeserving of her. Thank the spirits Eva has Billy.

Grace laughs as if they were somehow the exception, as if Eva was the outlier and not these three who like to bury their heads in the sand instead of facing the music. Spirits, someone could piss on these three and they’d call it rain as long as it fit into their worldview.

“No one blood related to you will mourn you when you die.” Eva says the words that have the blonde’s mockery die in her throat. “Tommy will grieve for maybe fifteen days and fuck a Russian Duchess in the same bed he fucks you now, Lucy, well, you know how loyal she is to Tommy. If he asked her to shoot herself, she’d ask him where.”

The truth hurts, but it’s the truth.

Sure, Lucy had come back new and improved but her loyalty to Tommy remained more or less the same.

If Tommy fucked a woman less than a month after being made a widower, Lucy would be there as the third member of the party.

“He wouldn’t.” Grace’s goes through all stages of grief and gets stuck in denial as it sinks in that for all her talk of Eva being a fraud, the witch before her is the real deal.

“He doesn’t trust you; he won’t ever trust you and he only agreed to a big wedding for a business deal where said Russian Duchess will come to met him at.” Eva had not wanted to share so many details of it, but she’d done readings to confirm what she saw.

The twice married woman honestly pities her. Grace Burgess had squandered her chances at real and lasting happiness for a man who would make her unhappy the moment the honeymoon phase ended. Tommy uses his cock to open the doors money cannot, even Grace wouldn’t be able to stop him once the illusion breaks. Hell, even Lucy cannot and she’s the fucker’s soulmate in this fucking universe.

“You are a beautiful woman albeit with a cruel personality, Grace, there are more men in the world who won’t cause your death a month after your big day. Lucy and Tommy love you enough to let you go, and if you share that feeling as much as you claim to do, you will do the same.” The witch resumes her cup of tea and orders one for her unwanted guest knowing they’ll need it.

“If I leave will I be happy?” she asks knowing that is partially Eva’s business. Eva also manages investments and has scored the Holy Grail of it by convincing Prince Edward to tell his parents about her abilities.

Brilliant’s reputation has healed nicely thanks to her and by having access to his, Tommy’s and her family’s businesses, Eva’s on track to be one of the most influential and wealthy women of their time.

“Yes, it hurts now but it doesn’t hurt forever. Let me tell you how well it worked for me.” Eva will bill her for this consultation and the one she interrupted once she leaves.

After all, she did cost her a Rembrandt.

[evita-shelby]

Oooo could I have Perspective Flip for a scene of your choice from Venor/Look Both Ways?

Perspective Flip: I’ll write a scene from [that fic] from another character’s point-of-view

ooohhhh thanks Lily this was such a blast

Game

He had seen her in Birmingham once.

She had ventured to the Chinese quarter in search of something and he’d glimpsed her changing back into her clothes after her measurements had been taken.

Eva Shelby had been the talk of the city, a beautiful heiress with Romani blood who had bewitched even the Devil of Small Heath.

But even when she became Shelby’s wife, Brilliant couldn’t forget how he desired to run his fingers through her luscious dark hair, to undo the pins keeping it coiled at her nape and map out every freckle on her tanned body.

He had tried to forget her as he built his empire and seduced women by the dozens until she showed up at his restaurant at Regent Street and had no ring on her finger.

The marriage had failed, once she’d given him a son their divorce was announced on the papers and before it had been finalized both had already parted ways.

Now she sat by her lonesome at the best table in the establishment because his employees knew better than to ignore any beauty who stepped inside of it.

Billy Chang had sent the pre-written note he sent all his paramours including the dearly departed, Freda, only to be met with a refusal.

The witch had met his eyes and with a red smile she tore it up.

The game was on.

Each and every time he tried to woo her in his way, she would hold his gaze, dare him to try harder with her striking brown eyes and refuse him.

He had hated having to give up this game when Campbell got his wish and made him the prime suspect in Freda’s suicide, but the moment it resumed, Billy took his time to write his note, settling for poetry because no woman on earth had resisted him this long.

Billy had seen her as Anne Boleyn, the dark and foreign beauty who captivated a king who had not been man enough to value her for other than her womb. Shelby was no Henry the Eighth, but he like the fat king had not known the fire eyed woman perfumed in magic was unlike any other on this dreary gray land.

She had kept the note along with the delicate jasmine flower pin he had chosen for the meaning of the flower and not because it was amongst the things she perused. Eva Shelby had kept it even when Thomas Shelby trailed behind her glaring at anyone who noticed the lack of ring on her finger in the past six months.

“Don’t make me write a reply.” The witch had threatened her former husband and looked Brilliant in the eye as if the entire warehouse did not exist and placed the pin in her dark hair.

She wore it the next time she visited his tea house at the same hour she went each week and gave a wicked smile as rejected his invitation to join him. “Tell Mr. Chang if he wants someone who goes to him when he orders it, he should get a dog.”

Eva Shelby was no dog, no, she was too proud and sure of herself that she’d never accept his summons even if her life depended on it. Brilliant had no choice but to admit defeat and leave his private room.

A week after, as punctual as ever, the object of his obsession arrived with a victorious smirk painted in bloody red wearing the same day dress she wore that first time and the jasmine pin in her coifed hair.

She was a wild thing underneath the veneer of tame fine lady. He wouldn't return her to her odious husband without a fuck or two.

“You play well, Mrs. Shelby.”

[evita-shelby]

and we have a winner:

Eva: we can't get back together because you being polyamory and in love with someone else makes me, a mentally ill monogamous witch, miserable enough to murder you in the long run. for fucks sake, tommy, please let me date other people while you learn how to be honest with your secondary lovers who believe you will be monogamous with them.

tommy: i am taking my ex who tried to kill you because i broke up with her to be with you to crash your date because Lucy also left me, I hate being alone and you're literally dating a murderer you helped get away with his crimes.

lucy belongs to @mischievouslittlecreature

for the next Vēnor one shot

@mischievouslittlecreature @zablife @hoodeddreams13 @wonderlanddreamer @thegreatdragonfruta @justrainandcoffee @kmc1989