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Chapter One

Alek raised his sword "On guard, sir!"

Deryn hefted her oeapon, studying Alek’s pose His feet were splayed at right angles, his left ar ar quilt Even with his sword pointed straight at her, he looked barking silly

"Do I have to stand like that?" she asked

"If you want to be a proper fencer, yes"

"A proper idiot, ain that her first lesson were so with a pair of curious hydrogen sniffers But Mr Rigby, the bosun, had forbidden swordplay inside the airship

She sighed, raised her saber, and tried to imitate Alek’s pose

It was a fine day on the Leviathan’s topside, at least The airship had left the Italian peninsula behind last night, and the flat sea stretched in all directions, the afternoon sun scattering diaulls wheeled overhead, carried by the cool ocean breeze

Best of all, there were no officers up here to remind Deryn that she was on duty Two Ger nearby, and Deryn was nals fro from a Huxley ascender two thousand feet above the Only two days before, Captain Hobbes had ordered her to keep an eye on Alek, to learn what she could Surely a secret hed her norht of Alek and his ave Deryn an excuse to spend time with him

"Do I look like a ninny?" she asked Alek

"You do indeed, Mr Sharp"

"Well, you do too, then! Whatever they call ninnies in Clanker-talk"

"The word is ’Dummkopf’" he said "But I don’t look like one, because my stance isn’t dreadful"

He lowered his saber and ca Deryn’s liht on your back foot," he said, nudging her boots farther apart "So you can push off when you attack"

Alek was right behind her now, his body pressing close as he adjusted her sword ar business would be so touchy

He grasped her waist, sending a crackle across her skin

If Alek ht notice as hidden beneath her careful tailoring

"Always keep sideways to your opponent," he said, gently turning her "That way, your chest presents the set," Deryn sighed Her secret was safe, it seemed

Alek stepped away and resumed his own pose, so that the tips of their swords alht at last

But Alek didn’t ines thru slowly past overhead

"Are we going to fight?" Deryn finally asked "Or just stare each other to death?"

"Before a fencer crosses swords, he has to learn this basic stance But don’t worry" - Alek smiled cruelly - "on’t be here more than an hour It’s only your first lesson, after all"

"What? A whole barking hourwithout , and she could see the crewen sniffers crept forward to snuffle her boot

"This is nothing," Alek said "When I first started training with Count Volger, he wouldn’t even let me hold a sword!"

"Well, that sounds like a daft way to teach so"

"Your body has to learn the proper stance Otherwise you’ll fall into bad habits"

Deryn snorted "You’d think that in a fight nothere, why are you wearing armor?"

Alek didn’t answer, just narrowed his eyes, his saberShe set her teeth

Of course, barking Prince Alek would have been taught how to fight in the proper way From what she could tell, his whole life had been a procession of tutors Count Volger, his fencing ht be the only teachers with him now that he was on the run But back when he’d lived in the Hapsburg family castle, thereAlek’s attic with yackues, parlor ht that standing about like a pair of coatracks was educational

But Deryn wasn’t about to let so at him, perfectly still As the inning to throb And it orse inside her brain, boredoer and frustration, the ru her head into a beehive

The trickiest part was holding Alek’s stare His dark green eyes stayed locked on hers, as unwavering as his sword point Now that she knew Alek’s secrets - theho this aar - Deryn could see the sadness behind that gaze

At oddAlek’s eyes, only a fierce, relentless pride holding thes, like who could climb the ratlines fastest, Deryn almost wanted to let his aloud, not as a boy, and Alek would never irl