"What a terrible thing," Duke says with a smile of his own since he's being sarcastic, lifting a hand up to frame her face briefly as he does so. It falls when her own does, and he bites down on his lip, shaking his head, thinking through any possibility. "You being here will make things easier on me. ...harder cause I'll worry about you, but easier because you're... you."

And he hasn't felt like he's really had anyone in his corner lately.

It's another reason he got so tied in with Mara.