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her the stack.

      ‘Sir,’ she said, a little nervously, accepting the letters, ‘when I am done, might I have liberty for the evening?’

      He was startled by the request; several of the ensigns and midwingmen had put in for liberty, and had it granted, that they might visit the city, but the idea of a ten-year-old cadet wandering about Dover alone was absurd, even if she were not a girl. ‘Would this be for yourself alone, or will you be going with one of the others?’ he asked, thinking she might have been invited to join one of the older officers in a respectable excursion.

      ‘No, sir, only for me,’ she said; she looked so very hopeful that Laurence thought for a moment of granting it and taking her himself, but he could not like to leave Temeraire alone to brood over the previous day.

      ‘Perhaps another time, Roland,’ he said, gently. ‘We will be here in Dover for a long time now, and I promise you will have another opportunity.’

      ‘Oh,’ she said, downcast. ‘Yes, sir.’ She went away drooping so that Laurence felt guilty.

      Temeraire watched her go and inquired, ‘Laurence, is there something particularly interesting in Dover, and might we go and see it? So many of our crew seem to be making a visit.’

      ‘Oh dear,’ Laurence said; he felt rather awkward explaining that the main attraction was the abundance of harbour prostitutes and cheap liquor. ‘Well, a city has a great many people in it, and thus various entertainments provided in close proximity,’ he tried.

      ‘Do you mean such as more books?’ Temeraire said. ‘But I have never seen Dunne or Collins reading, and they were so very excited to be going: they talked of nothing else all yesterday evening.’

      Laurence silently cursed the two unfortunate young midwingmen for complicating his task, already planning their next week’s duties in a vengeful spirit. ‘There is also the theatre, and concerts,’ he said lamely. But this was carrying concealment too far: the sting of dishonesty was unpleasant, and he could not bear to feel he had been deceitful to Temeraire, who after all was grown now. ‘But I am afraid that some of them go there to drink, and keep low company,’ he said more frankly.

      ‘Oh, you mean whores,’ Temeraire said, startling Laurence so greatly he nearly fell from his seat. ‘I did not know they had those in cities, too, but now I understand.’

      ‘Where on earth had you heard of them?’ Laurence asked, steadying himself; now relieved of the burden of explanation, he felt irrationally offended that someone else had chosen to enlighten Temeraire.

      ‘Oh, Vindicatus at Loch Laggan told me, for I wondered why the officers were going down to the village when they did not have family there,’ Temeraire said. ‘But you have never gone; are you sure you would not like to?’ he added, almost hopefully.

      ‘My dear, you must not say such things,’ Laurence said, blushing and shaking with laughter at the same time. ‘It is not a respectable subject for conversation, at all, and if men cannot be prevented from indulging the habit, they at least ought not to be encouraged. I shall certainly speak with Dunne and Collins; they ought not to be bragging about it, and especially not where the ensigns might hear.’

      ‘I do not understand,’ Temeraire said. ‘Vindicatus said that it was prodigiously nice for men, and also desirable, for otherwise they might like to get married, and that did not sound very pleasant at all. Although if you very much wished to, I suppose I would not mind.’ He made this last speech with very little sincerity, looking at Laurence sideways, as if to gauge the effect.

      Laurence’s mirth and embarrassment both faded at once. ‘I am afraid you have been given some very incomplete knowledge,’ he said gently. ‘Forgive me; I ought to have spoken of these matters to you before. I must beg you to have no anxiety: you are my first charge and will always be, even if I should ever marry, and I do not suppose I will.’

      He paused a moment to reflect if speaking further would give Temeraire more worry, but in the end he decided to err on the side of full confidence, and added, ‘There was something of an understanding between myself and a lady, before you came to me, but she has since set me at liberty.’

      ‘Do you mean she has refused you?’ Temeraire said, very indignantly, by way of demonstrating that dragons might be as contrary as men. ‘I am very sorry, Laurence; if you like to get married, I am sure you can find someone else, much nicer.’

      ‘This is very flattering, but I assure you, I have not the least desire to seek out a replacement,’ Laurence said.

      Temeraire ducked his head a little, and made no further demurrals, quite evidently pleased. ‘But Laurence—’ he said, then halted. ‘Laurence,’ he asked, ‘if it is not a fit subject, does that mean I ought not speak of it any more?’

      ‘You must be careful to avoid it in any wider company, but you may always speak of anything you like to me,’ Laurence said.

      ‘I am merely curious, now, if that is all there is in Dover,’ Temeraire said. ‘For Roland is too young for whores, is she not?’

      ‘I am beginning to feel the need of a glass of wine to fortify myself against this conversation,’ Laurence said ruefully.

      Thankfully, Temeraire was satisfied with some further explanation of what the theatre and concerts might be, and the other attractions of a city; he turned his attention willingly to a discussion of the planned route for their patrol, which a runner had brought over that morning, and even inquired about the possibility of catching some fish for dinner. Laurence was glad to see him so recovered in spirit after the previous day’s misfortunes, and had just decided that he would take Roland to the town after all, if Temeraire did not object, when he saw her returning in the company of another captain: a woman.

      He had been sitting upon Temeraire’s foreleg in what he was abruptly conscious was a state of disarray; he hurriedly climbed down on the far side so that he was briefly hidden by Temeraire’s body. There was no time to put back his coat, which was hung over a tree limb some distance away in any case, but he tucked his shirt back into his trousers and tied his neckcloth hastily back round his neck.

      He came around to make his bow, and nearly stumbled as he saw her clearly; she was not unhandsome, but her face was marred badly by a scar that could only have been made by a sword; the left eye drooped a little at the corner where the blade had just missed it, and the flesh was drawn along an angry red line all the way down her face, fading to a thinner white scar along her neck. She was his own age, or perhaps a little older; the scar made it difficult to tell, but in any case she wore the triple bars which marked her as a senior captain, and a small gold medal of the Nile in her lapel.

      ‘Laurence, is it?’ she said, without waiting for any sort of introduction, while he was still busy striving to conceal his surprise. ‘I am Jane Roland, Excidium’s captain; I would take it as a personal favour if I might have Emily for the evening – if she can possibly be spared.’ She glanced pointedly at the idle cadets and ensigns; her tone was sarcastic, and she was clearly offended.

      ‘I beg your pardon,’ Laurence said, realizing his mistake. ‘I had thought she wanted liberty to visit the town; I did not realize—’ And here he barely caught himself; he was quite sure they were mother and daughter, not only because of the shared name but also a certain similarity of feature and expression, but he could not simply make the assumption. ‘Certainly you may have her,’ he finished instead.

      Hearing his explanation, Captain Roland un bent at once. ‘Ha! I see, what mischief you must have imagined her getting into,’ she said; her laugh was curiously hearty and unfeminine. ‘Well I promise I shan’t let her run wild, and to have her back by eight o’clock. Thank you; Excidium and I have not seen her in almost a year, and we are in danger of forgetting what she looks like.’

      Laurence bowed and saw them off; Roland hurrying to keep up with her mother’s long, mannish stride, speaking the whole time in obvious excitement and enthusiasm, and waving her hand towards her friends as she went away. Watching them go, Laurence felt a little foolish; he had at last grown

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