Goliath Read Free Page B

rather a lively mood this morning, Mr. Sharp.”
    “Aye, well, I’ve been busy.” Deryn frowned at the man. It was lying to Alek that had put her in a huff, of course, but she felt like blaming Count Volger. “I won’t have time for a fencing lesson.”
    “Pity. You’re coming along so well,” he said. “For a girl.”
    Deryn scowled at the man. Guards were no longer posted outside the Clankers’ staterooms, but someonepassing in the corridor might have heard. She crossed to shut the cabin door, then turned back to the wildcount.
    He was the only person on the airship who knew what she really was, and he generally took care not to mention it aloud.
    “What do you want?” she said quietly.
    He didn’t look up at her, but instead fussed with his breakfast as if this were a friendly chat. “I’ve noticed the crew seems to be preparing for something.”
    “Aye, we got a message this morning. From the czar.”
    Volger looked up. “The czar? Are we changing course?”
    “That’s a military secret, I’m afraid. No one knows except the officers.” Deryn frowned. “And the lady boffin, I suppose. Alek asked her, but she wouldn’t say.”
    The wildcount scraped butter onto his half soggy toast, giving this a think.
    During the month Deryn had been hiding in Istanbul, the wildcount and Dr. Barlow had entered into some sort of alliance. Dr. Barlow made sure he was kept up with news about the war, and Volger gave her his opinions on Clanker politics and strategy. But Deryn doubted the lady boffin would answer this question for him. Newspapers and rumors were one thing, sealed orders quite another.
    “Perhaps
you
could find out for me.”
    “No, I couldn’t,” Deryn said. “It’s a military secret.”
    Volger poured coffee. “And yet secrets can be
so
difficult to keep sometimes. Don’t you think?”
    Deryn felt a cold dizziness rising up inside, as it always did when Count Volger threatened her. There was something
unthinkable
about everyone finding out what she was. She wouldn’t be an airman anymore, and Alek would never speak to her again.
    But this morning she was not in the mood for blackmail.
    “I can’t help you, Count. Only the senior officers know.”
    “But I’m sure a girl as resourceful as you, so obviously adept at subterfuge, could find out. One secret unraveled to keep another safe?”
    The fear burned cold now in Deryn’s belly, and she almost gave in. But then something Alek had said popped into her head.
    “You can’t let Alek find out about me.”
    “And why not?” Volger asked, pouring himself tea.
    “He and I were just in the rookery together, and I almost told him. That happens sometimes.”
    “I’m sure it does. But you
didn’t
tell him, did you?” Volger tutted. “Because you know how he would react. However fond you two are of each other, you are a commoner.”
    “Aye, I know that. But I’m also a soldier, a barking good one.” She took a step closer, trying to keep any quaver out of her voice. “I’m the very soldier Alek might have been, ifhe hadn’t been raised by a pack of fancy-boots like you. I’ve got the life he missed by being an archduke’s son.”
    Volger frowned, not understanding yet, but it was all coming clear in Deryn’s mind.
    “I’m the boy Alek wants to be, more than anything. And you want to tell him that I’m really a
girl
? On top of losing his parents and his home, how do you think he’ll take that news, your countship?”
    The man stared at her for another moment, then went back to stirring his tea. “It might be rather . . . unsettling for him.”
    “Aye, it might. Enjoy your breakfast, Count.”
    Deryn found herself smiling as she turned and left the room.

 
    As the great jaw of the cargo door opened, a freezing whirlwind spilled inside and leapt about the cargo bay, setting the leather straps of Deryn’s flight suit snapping and fluttering. She pulled on her goggles and leaned out, peering at the terrain rushing past