“I take this young mage under my wing and accept all responsibility for her.”
That's the kind of thing you said about a dog, 'responsibility.' Feed it, take care of it, make sure it didn't bite anybody. Keep an eye on it. But he'd made sure to say mage, which meant something else, too. And Duncan—with his steely dark eyes, with all those blades strapped to him—wouldn't have any trouble with that, would he? If he had to put her down.
Lirathy hunched her shoulders as the wind picked up. The Warden-Commander glanced back at her, like maybe she was finally more interesting than the miles of farmland they'd been trudgin