Goliath

She pulled away a little. “Wake up, you daft prince.”

He blinked. “Did you just…”

“Aye. I did. No secrets, remember?”

“I see,” Alek said, and another shiver went through him, not from the cold. His head was clear now, and the rain chattered in the silence between them. “You know I can’t…”

“You’re a prince, and I’m a commoner.” She shrugged. “But this is what no secrets means.”

He nodded slowly, wondering at the warmth of her secret still on his lips.

“Well, I’m certainly awake now.”

“So it works on sleeping princes, too?” Deryn asked, then her smile faded. “I need a promise from you also, Alek.”

He nodded. “Of course. I won’t keep secrets from you, I swear.”

“I know, but it’s not that.” Deryn turned away, staring off into the blackness, her arms still around him. “Promise that you’ll lie for me.”

“Lie for you?”

“Now that you know what I am, there’s no way to escape it.”

Alek hesitated, thinking how strange it was to make an oath to lie. But the oath was to Deryn, and the lies would be to… anyone else.

“All right. I swear to lie for you, Deryn Sharp, whatever it takes to protect your secret.” Saying it aloud made Alek’s breath quicken, and the feeling bubbled up into a laugh. “But I can’t promise I’ll be any good at it.”

“You’ll probably be rubbish. But that’s the mess we’re in.”

He nodded, though he wasn’t sure at the moment exactly what kind of mess it was. She had kissed him, after all. He found himself wondering if she was going to kiss him again.

But Deryn was staring off into the storm. Her expression grew serious.

Alek could see nothing but darkness and rain. “What is it?”

“Rescue, your princeliness. Namely, the four biggest riggers in the crew, crawling straight into a sixty-mile- an-hour headwind on their hands and knees. Risking their barking lives to make sure you’re all right.” She turned back with a scowl. “Must be nice to be a prince.”

“Sometimes, yes,” he said, finally letting his eyes close. Another shudder passed through him, shaking every muscle.

Deryn held him tighter, lending him a sliver of her heat until the strong hands of the riggers picked him up and carried him somewhere warm and quiet.

TWENTY-ONE

“That will, I trust, be the last of your heroics.” Count Volger said this too softly to make Alek’s head hurt, but the words were brittle and precise.

“There weren’t any heroics. I was only there as a translator.”

“And yet here you are with bandages round your head. Rather tricky translations, I should think.”

“Rather tricky,” said Bovril with a chuckle.

Alek took a drink of water from the glass beside his bed. He was fuzzy on much of what had happened last night. He remembered the airship free-ballooning through the strange calm of the storm, and then the engines roaring to life, lashing the rain into a tempest. Things had gotten complicated after that. He’d fallen and hit his head, then almost drowned in a surge of rainwater.

And Deryn Sharp had kissed him.

“There were important repairs to be done,” he said. “A loose antenna.”

“Ah, yes. What could be more vital than Tesla’s giant flying radio?”

“Is it working?” Alek asked, wanting to change the subject. Thinking about last night made his head spin, though it pleased him to have a secret from Count Volger.

“Apparently. Tesla sits in his laboratory, tapping out messages.” The wildcount drummed his fingers. “Instructions to his assistants in New York, to prepare Goliath for our arrival.”

Bovril began to rap out Morse code on the frame of the bed.

Alek shushed the beast. “Maybe we’ve done some good, then, getting him home so quickly. If he stops the war…”

Hundreds were dying every day. Rescuing Tesla from the wilderness and getting him to America quickly might save thousands of lives. What if something so simple had been Alek’s destiny all along?

“‘If’ is a word that can never be said too loudly.” Volger stood up, looking out at the still cloudy sky. “For example, if you had died last night, the last decade of my life would’ve been altogether wasted.”

“Have a little faith in me, Volger.”

“I have great faith, tempered with vast annoyance.”

Alek smiled weakly, falling back into his pillows. The ship’s engines were still at full-ahead, the stateroom rumbling around him. The world was unsteady.

It wasn’t fair of Deryn, kissing him. She knew the story of how his father had married a woman of lesser station, and all the disasters that had resulted. It had torn Alek’s family apart, and in turn had upset the balance of Europe. His father’s one selfish act of true love had cost more than anyone could count.

The pope’s letter might make Alek the heir to his granduncle’s throne, but it didn’t alter the fact that he’d been rejected by his own family. The slightest mark against him would cast his legitimacy into doubt. Alek couldn’t allow himself to think about a commoner that way. He had a war to stop.

He made a fist and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“Great faith,” Bovril repeated. “Vast annoyance.”

Giving the beast a withering look, Volger said, “The captain asked me to mention that he’ll be coming to see you.”

“He must be annoyed as well. He had to risk four men just to rescue me.” Alek closed his eyes and began to rub his temples. “I hope he doesn’t shout.”

“I shouldn’t worry.” Volger began to pace, his footsteps echoing in Alek’s head. “Unlike mine, his annoyance will be well hidden.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Darwinists see you as a link to Tesla. You’re both Clankers, and both of you have switched sides in this war.”

“Tesla doesn’t think much of my political connections.”

“Not to the Austrian government, no. But he sees you as a way to broadcast the news of his weapon.” The man mercifully stopped pacing. “You were famous already, thanks to those ridiculous articles. And soon you will arrive in America on the world’s greatest airship.”

Alek sat up again and stared at Volger, trying to figure out if the man was serious.

“He’s always been a showman. Dr. Barlow told me about his spectacle in Tokyo.” Volger gave a shrug. “It makes sense, I suppose. The best way to keep Goliath from being used is to tell everyone what it can do, and that means creating a sensation. So why not promote his weapon to end the war with you, the boy whose family tragedy started it?”

Alek rubbed his temples again. The pounding was getting worse with every word. First Deryn, now this. “It all sounds quite undignified.”

“You wanted a destiny.”

“Are you saying I should let him put me on display?”

“I’m suggesting, Your Serene Highness, that you get as much sleep as possible over the next few days.” Volger smiled. “Your headaches have only begun.”