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might end up impinging on you Vorkosigans after all."
"Oh?"
Rene, drawn out of his bleak contemplation of his own dilemma, grew more
animated. "She placed her motion of impediment and took off immediately for
Beta Colony. What does that suggest to you?"
"I've been to Beta Colony. There are so many possibilities I can scarcely
begin to sort them out. The first and simplest thought is that she's gone to
collect some sort of obscure evidence about her cousin Richars's ancestry,
genes, or crimes."
"Have you ever met Lady Donna?
Simple isn't how I'd describe her."
"Mm, there's that. I should ask Ivan for a guess, I suppose. I believe he
slept with her for a time."
"I don't think I was around town then. I was out on active duty during that
period." A faint regret for his abandoned military career crept into Rene's
voice, or maybe Miles was projecting. "But I'm not surprised. She had a
reputation for collecting men."
Miles cocked an interested eyebrow at his host. "Did she ever collect you?"
Rene grinned. "I somehow missed that honor." He returned the ironic glance.
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"And did she ever collect you?"
"What, with
Ivan available? I doubt she ever looked down far enough to notice me."
Rene opened his hand, as if to deflect Miles's little flash of
self-deprecation, and Miles bit his tongue. He was an Imperial
Auditor now; public whining about his physical lot in life sat oddly on the
ear. He had survived. No man could challenge him now. But would even an
Auditorship be enough to induce the average Barrayaran woman to overlook the
rest of the package?
So it's a good thing you're not in love with an average woman, eh, boy?
Rene went on, "I was thinking about your clone Lord Mark, and your family's
push to get him recognized as your brother."
"He my brother, Rene. My legal heir and everything."
is
"Yes, yes, so your family has argued. But what if Lady Donna has been
following that controversy, and how you made it come out? I'll bet she's gone
off to Beta Colony to have a clone made of poor old Pierre, and is going to
bring it back to offer as his heir in place of Richars. Somebody had to try
that, sooner or later."
"It's... certainly possible. I'm not sure how it would fly with the fossils.
They damn near choked on Mark, year before last."
Miles frowned in thought. Could this damage Mark's position? "I heard she was
practically running the District for Pierre these last five years. If she
could get herself appointed the clone's legal guardian, she could continue to
run it for the next twenty. It's unusual to have a female relative be a
Count's guardian, but there are some historical precedents."
"Including that Countess who was legally declared a male in order to inherit,"
Rene put in. "And then had that bizarre suit later about her marriage."
"Oh, yeah, I remember reading about that one. But there was a civil war on, at
the time, which broke down the barriers for her.
Nothing like being on the side of the right battalions. No civil war here
except for whatever lies between Donna and Richars, and
I've never heard an inside story on that feud. I wonder... if you're right -
would she use a uterine replicator for the clone, or would she have the embryo
implanted as a body-birth?"
"Body-birth seems weirdly incestuous," Rene said, with a grimace of distaste.
"You do wonder about the Vorrutyers, sometimes. I hope she uses a replicator."
"Mm, but she never had a child of her own. She's what, forty or so... and if
the clone were growing inside her own body, she'd at least be sure to have it
- excuse me, him - as thoroughly personally guarded as possible. Much harder
to take away from her, that way, or to argue that someone else should be his
guardian. Richars, for example. Now that would be a sharp turn of events."
"With Richars as guardian, how long do you think the child would live?"
"Not past his majority, I suspect." Miles frowned at this scenario. "Not that
his death wouldn't be impeccable."
"Well, we'll find out Lady Donna's plan soon," said Rene. "Or else her case
will collapse by default. Her three months to bring her evidence are almost
up. It seems a generous allotment of time, but I suppose in the old days they
had to allow everyone a chance to get around on horseback."
"Yes, it's not good for a District to leave its Countship empty for so long."
One corner of Miles's mouth turned up. "After all, you wouldn't want the
proles to figure out they could live without us."
Rene's brows twitched acknowledgment of the jibe. "Your Betan blood is
showing, Miles."
"No, only my Betan upbringing."
"Biology isn't destiny?"
"Not anymore, it's not."
The light music of women's voices echoed up the curving staircase into the
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sitting room. A low alto burble Miles thought he recognized was answered by a
silvery peal of laughter.
Rene sat up, and turned around; his lips parted in a half smile. "They're
back. And she's laughing. I haven't heard Tatya laugh in weeks. Bless Martya."
Had that been Martya Koudelka's voice? The thump of a surprising number of
feminine feet rippled up the stairs, and three women burst into Miles's
appreciative view.
Yes
. The two blond Koudelka sisters, Martya and Olivia, set off the dark good
looks of the shorter third woman. The young Countess Tatya Vorbretten had
bright hazel eyes, wide-set in a heart-shaped face with a foxy chin. And
dimples. The whole delightful composition was framed by ringlets of ebony hair
that bounced as she now did.
"Hooray, Rene!" said Martya, the owner of the alto voice. "You're not still
sitting alone here in the dark and gloom. Hi, Miles!
Did you finally come to cheer Rene up? Good for you!"
"More or less," said Miles. "I didn't realize you all knew each other so
well."
Martya tossed her head. "Olivia and Tatya were in school together. I just came
along for the ride, and to boot them into motion. Can you believe, on this
beautiful morning, they wanted to stay ?"
in
Olivia smiled shyly, and she and Countess Tatya clung together for a brief
supportive moment. Ah, yes. Tatya Vorkeres had not been a countess back in
those private-school days, though she had certainly already been a beauty, and
an heiress.
"Where all did you go?" asked Rene, smiling at his wife.
"Just shopping in the Caravanserai. We stopped for tea and pastries at a cafe
in the Great Square, and caught the changing of the guard at the Ministry."
The Countess turned to Miles. "My cousin Stannis is a directing officer in the
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