Note: That hellacious name is lifted from one of the archduke's actual sons. And Deryn's middle name is a shout-out to another *ahem* daring airman from the UK. (Six thousand bonus points if you get that reference.)
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"You know," he says one day, out of nowhere, "we were never properly introduced."
"We were never properly anything," she points out.
He grins at her. "We should be."
"Anything?"
"Introduced."
"Ah. Aye, all right, then," she says. She brushes off her hands and extends one. "Miss Deryn MacGregor Sharp, pleased to meet you," she says, with a prim little curtsy that's mostly ruined by the addition of, "And don't start on the MacGregor. It's my mam's family name."
"I would never," he says, perfectly serious. He takes her hand and bows over it. "Aleksandar Ferdinand Karl Franz Michael Hubert Anton Ignatius Joseph Maria von Hohenberg, at your service, Miss Sharp."
She bites her lip. Hard. The laughter bubbles up anyway.
He watches her, grinning again. "Suddenly MacGregor's not so bad, is it?"
"I'll never complain again," she says.
