Duke was on the roof of the Pond, counting stars in the ink-black sky, feeling the warmth of the breeze ruffling his hair. He'd gotten to three hundred and two when he realized he wasn't alone.
He turned, though his senses had already told him who he'd see. "Hey, Mal."
The feisty redhead jumped, clearly disconcerted. "Duke...how'd you know it was me?"
He smiled, but to her eyes there was a certain sadness in it. "Three years on Earth and you still walk like a soldier. What's up?"
"Wildwing sent me." She sat at his gesture. "You've been up here nearly all night."
Duke turned his attention back to the stars. "Thinking."
"About what?"
The one-eyed drake regarded her shrewdly. "Why should I tell you?"
Mallory frowned. "Look, Duke, I know we're not the best of friends. We don't see eye-to-eye. And a lot of that's my fault." She cleared her throat. "I haven't been fair to you. I've doubted you too much, and I'm sorry. I-I want to make amends, if you'll let me."
It all came out in such a rush that Duke knew she'd rehearsed it. He didn't like to think of what Mallory would consider amends. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that if you want to talk"-Mallory matched his guarded tone-"I'm here to listen."
He grunted and said nothing; and after a few minutes, concerned at his being more taciturn than usual, Mallory hazarded quietly, "What's on your mind?"
Duke avoided her gaze. "My son."
Mallory nearly fell over backward. "Your son? Duke, you're a father?"
"Yeah."
"But you never said-I mean, I didn't know you'd been...seriously involved." She said the last a little tentatively.
Duke winced. "I wasn't."
"Were you and his mother-"
"Close?" Duke guessed; and at her nod he grew pensive. "You could say so-we had a kid, after all. Shakura-that was her name, Shakura Starwing-was in the Brotherhood." He smiled at last, at Mallory's obvious surprise. "We've never had many women, but we've had a few." He sighed. "Anyway, yeah, we were lovers. Not in love, not really, just together."
Mallory shook her head. It was all so . . . unbelievable. Duke, a father. "So what happened?"
"We drifted apart. I won the leadership of the Brotherhood, and met-a lot of other women. Power brings attention, you know. So when Shakura told me she was pregnant-" Duke frowned. "I was a little mean with her. She asked if she could give the baby my name; I told her she could do as she damn pleased. I regret that now."
"What's his name?" Mallory asked softly.
"Lauran." Duke's face creased with sudden pain. "Lauran Duke l'Orange. He'd be about-eighteen now, I think."
"Duke." Mallory touched his arm. "Duke, is he-"
He shook her off. "Anyway, Lori and I had a falling out. You know that story. I didn't see Shakura again until the Saurians came. We were put in the same work camp. She died there."
Mallory held her breath. "And Lauran?"
"He survived." Duke permitted himself a grim smile. "Before she died, Shakura told me she'd managed to get him to some friends of hers that were going underground, so he'd be safe." He swallowed. "She-she promised me that if everything turned out okay, he'd be brought up in the Brotherhood."
"And now?"
"That's all I know."
He got to his feet, and Mallory followed. "Duke, do you think he knows about you?"
"I don't know." Duke stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I hope so. I hope a lot of things...that he's all right, that he made it, that he's happy. That he doesn't make the same mistakes I did. That he remembers who he is and what he is. And-"
He broke off and turned away, but not before Mallory saw the glint of tears in his single eye.
"And?" she prompted softly.
For a long time Duke didn't speak, but only stared past her, at the blackness between the stars.
And at last he said, "I hope he's proud of me."