Title: A Flash of Golden Fire
Series: The Arrow and the Flame, Book One
Author: AE Lister
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 06/03/2025
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 337 PAGES
Genre: Historical Fantasy, action/adventure, age gap, BDSM, pirates, sailors, hurt/comfort, magic/magic-user, menage, foul-mouthed bird
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Description
Twenty-two-year-old Simon White begs for a place on Captain Dinesh Martin’s pirate ship, the Arrow. When he proves hilariously inadequate at most tasks, he finds himself in the captain’s quarters as cabin boy, housekeeper, and bed warmer.
Captain Martin used to be a British naval officer, until he became disenchanted with the hypocrisy, racism, and classism of the institution and embarked on a life of piracy. He runs an organized and efficient vessel and prides himself on the men with whom he surrounds himself. He is esteemed and admired, and he gives them as good a life as they’ve ever known.
But Simon has more than a few surprises up his sleeve, including some frightening powers, and Dinesh learns that sometimes a pretty appearance and amenable disposition can fool even an experienced man of the seas.
A Flash of Golden Fire
AE Lister © 2025
All Rights Reserved
“I—what? Aren’t we…pirates?” The disappointment in my voice was ridiculous, considering my desire to avoid violence of any sort.
Captain Martin frowned. “Privateers, Simon. Not pirates. We’ve a little more class than that,” he said, clearly not a fan of the term I’d used by mistake in his hearing. “And I’m a great believer in the power of intimidation.”
Of course he was. If anyone could commandeer another ship without spilling blood, it would be Captain Martin. Even though the attempted negotiations with the last vessel hadn’t gone as planned, I had utmost faith in Captain Martin’s judgement. If he thought we could avoid spilling blood, I was in favor.
I knew by now that the captain’s mouth had skills beyond what he liked to show me in the privacy of his cabin. He was an excellent orator and well versed at arguing a point with grace and precision.
Captain Martin filled me in on our quarry. She was still quite a ways off. Hillier estimated that we’d get close enough to announce our intentions in about an hour. She hadn’t shown signs of alarm or avoidance, although they must know of our presence. The Arrow flew a Dutch flag when not on an aggressive approach, and we hadn’t switched the decoy out for our own insignia yet. They likely thought we didn’t mean any harm.
The captain gathered the crew below the forecastle, where he stood. He raised his voice so that everyone could hear and smiled as if he were preparing to host a grand party.
“Now, we will raise the black flag in one hour, once we are close enough that they can’t escape when they realize our intentions are not entirely honorable.”
Not entirely honorable. Again, I was amazed by the captain’s flexibility of speech.
“I know you are men of great strength and fortitude, and with excellent capabilities in the area of hand-to-hand combat. And we will engage in combat with the men aboard that ship if we have to.”
There were cheers. The captain raised his hand.
“However,” he said, waiting for quiet before he continued, “If we can convince them to surrender without the use of brute force, I will award the crew of this ship a five per cent allotment of my share—the captain’s share—of whatever we take. To be distributed evenly, on top of your individual shares.”
There were whispers and amazed mutters.
“Five per cent?” one fellow said. “That ain’t much, split amongst us all.”
The captain kept smiling until other members of the crew began to complain.
“It’ll take more than that for me to keep my killing arm still.”
“I’ll not be polite for five. Make it ten.”
“Ten per cent! Ten per cent!”
I gazed about me at the men who adored Captain Martin, now complaining about staying their hands for a five per cent extra take. I couldn’t fathom their reasoning.
Except that Captain Martin didn’t look surprised or alarmed. He frowned as if giving the situation much thought. And in that moment, I knew that he’d started with five per cent because he’d anticipated the men wanting more.
He was a clever fucking man, my captain.
“Well. You drive a very hard bargain, you lot. Ten per cent of my share?”
“Ten!”
“Ten per cent! We won’t stop for naught but that.”
“Wouldn’t be worth it for five.”
The captain nodded and said very soberly, “All right. Ten per cent of my share, distributed evenly amongst you if you can keep the bloodshed to a minimum. And try not to kill anyone.”
“Aye, but can I injure a man? There ain’t no issue with maiming, is there?”
“If necessary, I suppose I’ll allow it. But please, not a leg. An arm gone, that can challenge a man. A leg gone, and that’s a much more serious matter, especially at sea.”
There were concessions of agreement.
I stood there, mouth agape, as the reality of the situation became clear. I was on a ship full of bloodthirsty men, whatever they might be called, who were going to attempt to be moderate in their mode of attack. I should have felt grateful, and I did. But all the talk about maiming and the idea of anyone losing an arm or a leg by sword made me queasy.
Captain Martin came down off the platform. He went to the rail, his spyglass in hand. He’d requested that I stay close, which was no hardship, so I walked over to stand next to him.
“That was very clever,” I said, crossing my arms and looking out to sea, where our quarry sailed steadily in the distance.
“I’m not just a pretty face.”
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AE Lister is a Canadian non-binary author with a vivid imagination and a head full of unique and interesting characters. They write explicit, adult LGBTQ+ romance. They also write much less graphic Young Adult LGBTQ+ romance under Alison Lister.
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