“Did they know about this yet?” Cordelia held up the bag.
“I don’t think so, Milady. You’ve just changed everything.” His grin grew feral, and his uneven stride lengthened.
“I expect that raid is still going to be required,” Cordelia sighed. “Even in collapse, Vordarian’s side is still dangerous. Maybe more dangerous, in their desperation.” She thought of that downtown Vorbarr Sultana hotel, where Bothari’s baby girl Elena was, as far as she knew, still housed. Lesser hostages. Could she persuade Aral to apportion a few more resources for lesser hostages? Alas, she had probably not put all the soldiers out of work even yet. I tried. God, I tried.
They went down, and down, to the nerve center of Tanery Base. They came to a highly secured conference chamber; a lethally armed squad stood ramrod-guard outside it. Koudelka wafted them past. The doors slid aside, and closed again behind them.
Cordelia took in the tableau, that paused to look back up at her from around the polished table. Aral was in the center, of course. Illyan and Count Piotr flanked him on either side. Prime Minister Vortala was there, and Kanzian, and some other senior staffers all in formal dress greens. The two double-traitors sat across, with their aides. Clouds of witnesses. She wanted to be alone with Aral, be rid of the whole bloody mob of them. Soon.
Aral’s eyes locked to hers in silent agony. His lips curled in an utterly ironic smile. That was all; and yet her stomach warmed with confidence again, sure of him. No frost. It was going to be all right. They were in step again, and a torrent of words and hard embraces could not have communicated it any better. Embraces would come, though, the grey eyes promised. Her own lips curved up for the first time since—when?
Count Piotr’s hand slapped down hard upon the table. “Good God, woman, where have you been?” he cried furiously.
A morbid lunacy overtook her. She smiled fiercely at him, and held up the bag. “Shopping.”
For a second, the old man nearly believed her; conflicting expressions whiplashed over his face, astonishment, disbelief, then anger as it penetrated he was being mocked.
“Want to see what I bought?” Cordelia continued, still floating. She yanked the bag’s top open, and rolled Vordarian’s head out across the table. Fortunately, it had ceased leaking some hours back. It stopped faceup before him, lips grinning, drying eyes staring.
Piotr’s mouth fell open. Kanzian jumped, the staffers swore, and one of Vordarian’s traitors actually fell out of his chair, recoiling. Vortala pursed his lips and raised his brows. Koudelka, grimly proud of his key role in stage-managing this historic moment in one-upsmanship, laid the swordstick on the table as further evidence. Illyan puffed, and grinned triumphantly through his shock.
Aral was perfect. His eyes widened only briefly, then he rested his chin on his hands and gazed over his father’s shoulder with an expression of cool interest. “But of course,” he breathed. “Every Vor lady goes to the capital to shop.”
“I paid too much for it,” Cordelia confessed.
“That, too, is traditional.” A sardonic smile quirked his lips.
“Kareen is dead. Shot in the melee. I couldn’t save her.”
He Opened his hand, as if to let the nascent black humor fall through his fingers. “I see.” He raised his eyes again to hers, as if asking Are you all right?, and apparently finding the answer, No.
“Gentlemen. If you will be pleased to excuse yourselves for a few minutes. I wish to be alone with my wife.”
In the shuffle of the men rising to their feet, Cordelia caught a mutter, “Brave man …”
She nailed Vordarian’s men by eye, as they backed from the table. “Officers. I recommend that when this conference resumes, you surrender unconditionally upon Lord Vorkosigan’s mercy. He may still have some.” I certainly don’t, was the unspoken cap to that. “I’m tired of your stupid war. End it.”
Piotr edged past her. She smiled bitterly at him. He grimaced uneasily back. “It appears I underestimated you,” he murmured.
“Don’t you ever … cross me again. And stay away from my son.”
A look from Vorkosigan held back her outpouring of rage, quivering on the lip of her cup. She and Piotr exchanged wary nods, like the vestigial bows of two duelists.
“Kou,” said Vorkosigan, staring bemusedly at the grisly object lying by his elbow. “Will you please arrange for this thing to be removed to the base morgue. I don’t fancy it as a table decoration. It will have to be stored till it can be buried with the rest of him. Wherever that may be.”
“Sure you don’t want to leave it there to inspire Vordarian’s staffers to come to terms?” said Kou.
“No,” said Vorkosigan firmly. “It’s had a sufficiently salutary effect already.”
Gingerly, Kou took the bag from Cordelia, opened it, and used it to capture Vordarian’s head without actually touching it.
Aral’s eye took in her weary team, Droushnakovi’s grief, Bothari’s compulsive twitching. “Drou. Sergeant. You are dismissed to wash and eat. Report back to me in my quarters after we finish here.”
Droushnakovi nodded, and the sergeant saluted, and they followed Koudelka out.
Cordelia fell into Aral’s arms as the door sighed shut, into his lap, catching him as he rose for her. They both landed with enough force to threaten the balance of the chair. They embraced each other so tightly, they had to back off to manage a kiss.
“Don’t you ever,” he husked, “pull a stunt like that again.”
“Don’t you ever let it become necessary, again.”
“Deal.”
He held her face away from his, between his hands, his eyes devouring her. “I was so afraid for you, I forgot to be afraid for your enemies. I should have remembered. Dear Captain.”
“I couldn’t have done a thing, alone. Drou was my eyes, Bothari my right arm, Koudelka our feet. You must forgive Kou for going AWOL. We sort of kidnapped him.”
“So I heard.”
“Did he tell you about your cousin Padma?”
“Yes,” a grieved sigh. He stared back through time. “Padma and I were the only survivors of Mad Yuri’s massacre of Prince Xav’s descendants, that day. I was eleven. Padma was one, a baby … I always thought of him as the baby, ever after. Tried to watch out for him … Now I’m the only one left. Yuri’s work is almost done.”
“Bothari’s Elena. She must be rescued. She’s a lot more important than that barn full of counts at the Residence.”
“We’re working on that right now,” he promised. “Top priority, now that you’ve removed Emperor Vidal from consideration.” He paused, smiling slowly. “I fear you’ve shocked my Barrayarans, love.”
“Why? Did they think they had a monopoly on savagery? Those were Vordarian’s last words. ’You’re a Betan. You can’t do.’ “
“Do what?”
“This, I suppose he would have said. If he’d had the chance.”
“A lurid trophy, to carry on the monorail. Suppose someone had asked you to open your bag?”
“I would have.”
“Are you … quite all right, love?” His mouth was serious, under his smile.
“Meaning, have I lost my grip? Yes, a little. More than a little.” Her hands still shook, as they had for a day, a continuing tremula that did not pass off. “It seemed … necessary, to bring Vordarian’s head along. I hadn’t actually thought about mounting it on the wall of Vorkosigan House along with your father’s hunting trophies, though it’s an idea. I don’t think I consciously realized why I was hanging on to it till I walked into this room. If I’d staggered in here empty-handed and told all those men I’d killed Vordarian, and undeclared their little war, who’d have believed me? Besides you.”
“Illyan, perhaps. He’s seen you in action before. The others … you’re quite right.”
“I think I also had some idea stuck in my mind from ancient history. Didn’t they used to publicly display the bodies of slain rulers, to scotch pretenders? It seemed appropriate. Thou
gh Vordarian was almost a side-issue, from my point of view.”
“Your ImpSec escort reported to me you’d recovered the replicator. Was it still working?”
“Vaagen has it now, checking it. Miles is alive. Damage unknown. Oh. It seems Vordarian had some hand in setting up Evon Vorhalas. Not directly, through some agent.”
“Illyan suspected it.” His arms tightened around her.
“About Bothari,” she said. “He’s not in good shape. Way overstressed. He needs real treatment, medical, not political. That memory wipe was a horror show.”
“At the time, it saved his life. My compromise with Ezar. I had no power then. I can do better now.”
“You’d better. He’s fixated on me like a dog. His words. And I’ve used him like one. I owe him … everything. But he scares me. Why me?”
Vorkosigan looked very thoughtful. “Bothari … does not have a good sense of self. No strong center. When I first met him, at his most ill, his personality was close to separating into multiples. If he were better educated, not so damaged, he would have made an ideal spy, a deep-penetration mole. He’s a chameleon. A mirror. He becomes whatever is required of him. Not a conscious process, I don’t think. Piotr expects a loyal retainer, and Bothari plays the part, deadpan as you please. Vorruryer wanted a monster, and Bothari became his torturer. And victim. I demanded a good soldier, and he became one for me. You …” his voice softened, “you are the only person I know who looks at Bothari and sees a hero. So he becomes one for you. He clings to you because you create him a greater man than he ever dreamed of being.”
“Aral, that’s crazed.”
“Ah?” He nuzzled her hair. “But he’s not the only man you have that peculiar effect upon. Dear Captain.”
“I’m afraid I’m not in much better shape than Bothari. I botched it, and Kareen died. Who will tell Gregor? If it weren’t for Miles, I’d quit. You keep Piotr off me, or I swear, next time I’ll try and take him apart.” She was shaking again.
“Sh.” He rocked her, a little. “I think you can at least leave the mopping up to me, eh? Will you trust me again? We’ll make something of these sacrifices. Not vain.”
“I feel dirty. I feel sick.”
“Yes. Most sane people do, coming in off a combat mission. It’s a very familiar state of mind.” He paused. “But if a Betan can become so Barrayaran, maybe it’s not so impossible for Barrayarans to become a little more Betan. Change is possible.”
“Change is inevitable,” she asserted. “But you can’t manage it Ezar’s way. This isn’t Ezar’s era anymore. You have to find your own way. Remake this world into one Miles can survive in. And Elena. And Ivan. And Gregor.”
“As you will, Milady.”
On the third day after Vordarian’s death, the capital fell to loyal Imperial troops; if not without a shot being fired, at least not nearly so bloodily as Cordelia had feared. Only two pockets of resistance, at ImpSec and at the Residence itself, had to be cleared out by ground troops. The downtown hotel with its hostages was surrendered intact by its garrison, after hours of intense covert negotiations. Piotr gave Bothari a one-day leave to personally retrieve his child and her fosterer and escort them home. Cordelia slept through the night for the first time since her return. Evon Vorhalas had been commanding ground troops for Vordarian in the capital, in charge of the last defense of the space communications center in the military headquarters complex. He died in the final flurry of fighting, shot by his own men when he spurned an offer of amnesty in return for their surrender. In a way, Cordelia was relieved. The traditional punishment for treason upon the part of a Vor lord was public exposure and death by starvation. The late Emperor Ezar had not hesitated to maintain the gruesome tradition. Cordelia could only pray that Gregor’s reign would see the custom end.
Without Vordarian to hold it together, his rebel coalition shattered rapidly into disparate factions. An extreme conservative Vor lord in the city of Federstok raised his standard and declared himself Emperor, succeeding Vordarian; his pretendership lasted somewhat less than thirty hours. In an eastern coastal District belonging to one of Vordarian’s allies, the Count suicided upon capture. An anti-Vor group declared an independent republic in the chaos. The new Count, an infantry colonel from a collateral family line who had never anticipated such honors falling upon him, took instant and effective exception to this violent swing to the over-progressive. Vorkosigan left it to him and his District militia, reserving Imperial troops for “non-District-internal matters.”
“You can’t go halfway and stop,” Piotr muttered forebodingly, at this delicacy.
“One step at a time,” Vorkosigan returned grimly, “I can walk around the world. Watch me.”
On the fifth day, Gregor was returned to the capital. Vorkosigan and Cordelia together undertook to tell him of the death of Kareen. He cried in bewilderment. When he quieted, he was taken for a ride in a groundcar with a transparent force-screen, reviewing some troops; in fact, the troops were reviewing him, that he might be seen to be alive, finally dispelling Vordarian’s rumors of his death. Cordelia rode with him. His silent shockiness hurt her to the heart, but it was better from her point of view than parading him first and then telling him. If she’d had to endure his repeated queries of when he would see his mother again, all during the ride, she would have broken down herself.
The funeral for Kareen was public, though much less elaborate than it would have been in less chaotic circumstances. Gregor was required to light an offering pyre for the second time in a year. Vorkosigan asked Cordelia to guide Gregor’s hand with the torch. This part of the funeral ceremony seemed almost redundant, after what she’d done to the Residence. Cordelia added a thick lock of her own hair to the pile. Gregor clung close to her.
“Are they going to kill me, too?” he whispered to her. He didn’t sound frightened, just morbidly curious. Father, grandfather, mother, all gone in a year; no wonder he felt targeted, confused though his understanding of death was at his age.
“No,” she said firmly. Her arm tightened around his shoulders. “I won’t let them.” God help her, this baseless assurance actually seemed to console him.
I’ll look after your boy, Kareen, Cordelia thought as the flames rose up. The oath was more costly than any gift being burned, for it bound her life unbreakably to Barrayar. But the heat on her face eased the pain in her head, a little.
Cordelia’s own soul felt like an exhausted snail, shelled in a glassy numbness. She crept like an automaton through the rest of the ceremony, though there were flashes when her surroundings made no sense at all. The assorted Barrayaran Vor reacted to her with a frozen, deep formality. They doubtless figure me for crazy-dangerous, a madwoman let out of the attic by overindulgent relations. It finally dawned on her that their exaggerated courtesies signified respect.
It made her furious. All Kareen’s courage of endurance had bought her nothing, Lady Vorpatril’s brave and bloody birth-giving was taken for granted, but whack off some idiot’s head and you were really somebody, by God—!
It took Aral an hour, when they returned to his quarters, to calm her down, and then she had a crying jag. He stuck it out.
“Are you going to use this?” she asked him, when sheer weariness returned her to a semblance of coherence. “This, this … amazing new status of mine?” How she loathed the word, acid in her mouth.
“I’ll use anything,” he vowed quietly, “if it will help me put Gregor on the throne in fifteen years a sane and competent man, heading a stable government. Use you, me, whatever it takes. To pay this much, then fail, would not be tolerable.”
She sighed, and put her hand in his. “In case of accident, donate my remaining body parts, too. It’s the Betan way. Waste not.”
His lip curled up helplessly. Face-to-face, they rested their foreheads together for a moment, bracing each other. “Want not.”
Her silent promise to Kareen was made policy when she and Aral, as a couple, were officially appointed Gregor’s g
uardians by the Council of Counts. This was legally distinct somehow from Aral’s guardianship of the Imperium as Regent. Prime Minister Vortala took time to lecture her and make it clear her new duties involved no political powers. She did have economic functions, including trusteeship of certain Vorbarra holdings that were separate from Imperial properties, appending strictly to Gregor’s title as Count Vorbarra. And by Aral’s delegation, she was given oversight of the Emperor’s household. And education.
“But, Aral,” said Cordelia, stunned. “Vortala emphasized I was to have no power.”
“Vortala … is not all-wise. Let’s just say, he has a little trouble recognizing as such some forms of power which are not synonymous with force. Your window of opportunity is narrow, though; at age twelve Gregor will enter a pre-Academy preparatory school.”
“But do they realize … ?”
“I do. And you do. It’s enough.”
Chapter Twenty
One of Cordelia’s first orders was to assign Droushnakovi back to Gregor’s person, for his emotional continuity. This did not mean giving up the girl’s company, a comfort to which Cordelia had grown deeply accustomed, because upon Illyan’s renewed insistence Aral finally took up living quarters in the Imperial Residence. It eased Cordelias heart, when Drou and Kou were wed a month after Winterfair.
Cordelia offered herself as a go-between for the two families. For some reason, Kou and Drou both turned the offer down, hastily, though with profuse thanks. Given the bewildering pitfalls of Barrayaran social custom, Cordelia was just as happy to leave it to the experienced elderly lady the couple did contract.
Cordelia saw Alys Vorpatril often, exchanging domestic visits. Baby Lord Ivan was, if not exactly a comfort to Alys, certainly a distraction in her slow recovery from her physical ordeal. He grew rapidly despite a tendency to fussiness, an iatrogenic trait, Cordelia realized after a while, triggered by Alys’s fussing over him. Ivan should have three or four sibs to divide her attention among, Cordelia decided, watching Alys burp him on her shoulder while planning aloud his educational attack, come age eighteen, upon the formidable Imperial Military Academy entrance examinations.
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