Alek could scarcely believe that tonight was his last night.

Tomorrow, the Leviathan would reach the East Coast, would reach New York City, where Tesla's laboratory and his destiny awaited. It would be the start of a new life for him, one where he wasn't constantly being pursued or nearly killed. No more adventures, no more intrigue in the crowded, narrow streets of Istanbul or death defying escapes by airship in the Swiss Alps.

No more mad Scottish girls.

"Back to civilization," Volger had grumbled. "A welcome change."

Alek wasn't so sure.

He leaned back against his chair, folding his arms with a frown. Why couldn't everything just be simple?

For a half a minute, he entertained a few mad notions. Would it really be that hard to slip away unseen when the ship docked in New York? He could try harder to convince Deryn again, get her to come away with him. He could stop being the Archduke Aleksandar von Hohenberg and just be Alek.

He'd find work as a mechanic and Deryn could fly- America certainly seemed to have no shortage of female pilots. Certainly, they would be poor for a long while, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

It would be a new world, but it would be their new world.

And maybe one day, in this new world of theirs, the great gaping gulf that had come between them since the night of the storm would knit itself back up again. After all, in America there was no royalty, no rigid ancient laws in place to stop him from marrying a commoner.

And if there was one commoner that he wouldn't mind marrying, it was Deryn Sharp.

Suddenly, Alek tumbled backwards as something hit him square in the chest, snapping him out of his reverie. He scrambled out of his chair as it tumbled onto the floor and stood up, holding the pillow that Deryn had tossed at him.

"Stop mooning, you Dummkopf. "

Deryn sat on her bed, arms crossed, knee propped up on a high stack of cushions.

Alek blushed, embarrassed to have been caught daydreaming. And God's wounds, if Deryn had known the content of his daydreams-

His face burned even more.

"My apologies," he said, stooping to pick up the fallen chair. "I can't stop thinking about- about tomorrow."

Deryn frowned, her eyes avoiding his. She had been dodging any talk about what tomorrow would bring for the past few days.

He wondered if she knew that this was just as hard for him too, that it was making him feel just as broken on the inside.

As he moved to sit back down in his chair, Deryn cleared her throat. She shifted over on the bed, moving her knee gingerly, and patted a spot next to her.

"You might as well sit up here, you daft prince, seeing as you can't sit in a chair for more than five minutes without knocking it over."

Alek flushed again as he looked at her bed. To be sitting on a girl's bed, alone, unchaperoned- well, it was hardly decent, even if she was disguised as a boy. He could practically imagine Volger's shadow suddenly darkening the doorframe as the wildcount sneered and made some biting comment about princes who fell in love with commoners.

"I- I mean, I don't feel it would be highly prop- proper. To sit on your bed. Like that. Deryn."

Deryn rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist, yanking him down onto the bed. He flopped down awkwardly, and for a brief moment, his legs were draped over hers before he quickly rearranged them.

"Quit stuttering, Dummkopf. We're not going to do anything improper."

Not, of course, he thought to himself as he arranged himself on her bed, that I'd mind doing improper things.

Oh God's wounds, this was bad.

They sat there for a long moment in silence, their shoulders and legs pressed up against each other on the narrow bed. Outside the window, night was falling as the Appalachians slipped past underneath and the Leviathan drew closer to the East Coast.

Without warning, Deryn leaned her head onto his shoulder, her fingers lacing tightly through his. Alek nearly began to object for decency's sake, but his protests died in his throat. It was nice, having her close like this.

Volger be damned, he decided, and rested his head gently on top of hers.

"I'm going to barking miss you, Alek." Deryn's voice was quiet, hardly even a whisper, and heavy with sadness.

He swallowed hard. God's wounds, this would be harder than he thought it would be.

"I'll miss you too Deryn."

Despite his best efforts, he felt a few rebellious tears in his eyes and he tried to swipe them away with his free hand before Deryn could notice.

Deryn lifted her head up off his shoulder, twisting around to face him while still keeping her hand entwined with his.

"D'you think that maybe- after the war if you could- and if I were- barking spiders, I have no idea what I'm trying to say."

But her eyes held his and Alek could feel the gap again between them, filled with unanswered questions and unreturned feelings.

Maybe now was the time to close it.

There was a crackling energy in the stuffy air of the cabin, like the tingling electricity that Alek had felt when Tesla had demonstrated his machine in the hotel in Tokyo. It fizzled low in his stomach as Deryn's eyes slowly closed and their heads began to move close together.

His eyes began to shut too as he leaned in.

Alek supposed that this had been coming ever since he had learned who she was on that awful night in the middies' mess. Maybe he hadn't known it then, his feelings too muddled by the anger and hurt and betrayal of that night, but it had certainly started- a spark that, once lighted, could not be extinguished.

And he had been denying it ever since then, especially after the kiss during the storm. He'd try to hide it, bury it down under his duties and obligations as an archduke, as the future emperor.

But it was going to have to come out, one way or another. Alek was certain that how he felt had to be scrawled across his face every time he looked at her. And the way he felt was nearly unbearable, like his heart was close to bursting in his chest.

At least, then, they'd have this before the war threw them apart.

But before their lips could meet, there were footsteps in the corridor outside and they sprang apart guiltily, Alek jumping off the bed and onto the floor.

He smoothed out his mussed hair, clearing his throat and trying to look anywhere but at Deryn.

"So. Er. Well, goodnight. I'll make sure to come see you before- well, you know."

Deryn nodded, her eyes directed at his left shoe.

"Daft prince."

Her voice was barely a murmur, and he wasn't even sure if he was meant to have heard it.

Alek slipped out the door, making sure it was shut tight behind him before sliding down the wall of the corridor to sit on the ground.

Dummkopf. He should've done it. He'd had the chance for the past few nights- no, for the past few weeks, and he'd been too unsure of himself, too much of a coward to take it.

Now he wasn't sure when he'd get the chance again.