"Quite the bruises you've got there." "Didn't you hear?" Nat's dandy tone was second nature at this point, easy to use and thick as treacle. "Purple and green are all the rage this year in Sirap, and everybody knows Sirap makes the fashions." The pirate blinked, head flinching back for just an instant. "And what family member of yours has taken you to Sirap?" Nat laughed, tilting their chin up to expose their throat, even as their heart thundered against their sternum. This was a more dangerous game than any Nat had played before. "Silly pirate, you don't need to go to Sirap to hear about the fashions. That's what magazines are for." "Fucking dandy," Felitabby snarled. The animosity didn't matter. Nat didn't care. Or at least couldn't devote any time to that stab of rejection. They had a role to play here, as surely as they did at home. "Who are you?” the pirate demanded. “And for that matter, since you clearly know, who is he?" "Aw, Peaches," they teased gently, touching a finger to the pirate's crooked nose, ignoring the way even that little motion sent a burning ache up their arm. "You don't get to just ask a dandy something, you have to make an offering first." "You do not seem afraid of being hurt." "Let's be honest here, Peaches. If you want to hurt me, you will." "But you can do things to alleviate the risk." "No." Nat shook their head, eyes landing on the pirate's scuffed boots. "That's just what people like to tell you. To convince you that their choice is your fault. Ultimately, you have decided already whether you are willing to hurt me or not. My own actions have little to no say in the matter. Why scrabble for the desperate attempt to prevent a pain that will come either way? Why delay what could happen now?" They met his eyes, the same colour as the lantern light and lowered their voice to a whisper. "If you want to kill me, pirate, you might as well get it over with and use it to instil fear in the others." "You are not afraid?" "Now, I didn't say that." Nat let out that practised, dandified laugh again. "I'm in a cell on a pirate ship with three supposed allies who hate my guts. Only a fool would be unafraid. And I may be many things, pirate, but I am not a fool."
Not The Fighting Kind by Will Soulsby-McCreath is the first part of Not That Kind Of Dandy
Available in signed paperback and from other retailers in eBook and regular paperback.
Not That Kind Of Dandy is an adult fantasy that sits in a world similar to our own during the regency or victorian era but with the inclusion of magic in the pirate domain of the Unknown World and Lieges and Mxs being welcome in high society.
For more info head to WillSoulsbyMcCreath.com
