Felice caught Miles's distracted look. She must have misinterpreted it for unease. "Raina-and-Alex … can be quite a handful. Is there anything else you want to know about them?" Her tone was cautious, though tinged with calculation.

Miles frowned. "Well. Um. It occurred to me, last night, that possibly their treatment is, ah, ongoing? Or was?"

"Perceptive," Cora nodded. "They have to take a whole plethora of drugs to stabilize some of their symptoms. Even if we could synthesize them in time, the doses change from day to day. Too specialized for us."

Felice said, "Without the drugs, it shouldn't be overtly dangerous. But then there's Raina..."

"What about her?" Don't tell me this gets worse.

"When they were on Eta Ceta, Raina went behind Alex's back and only had her germ cells treated. Not her somatic cells, though she had them enhanced, just like Alex. By the time he found out, it was too late."

Miles sipped his coffee. "So they can both have normal children---"

"They both do," Felice said.

"---but Raina is still … sick?"

Cora answered. "Compared with her teenage years, no; compared with, say, Alex, definitely yes. Though Alex is still not quite with us, sometimes. But then, that may be the ImpSec influence... Our problem now is that only Leo can truly stabilize Raina. Leo actually brings out the decent human being in her, and right now they can't talk to each other."

To Miles's ears, Cora sounded harsh, but Felice did not gainsay her. "Couldn't they talk through that transceiver?" he asked.

"It wastes a lot of energy. Besides, I hear they're leaning towards placing Leo into temporal stasis."

"Will that reverse the effect of tagging?"

"I wish it were that easy. I'm afraid not even Guardian intervention can reverse it. However, since Laisa and Gregor are tagged, and not Leo, there's a chance to save Leo's children. Even if he dies, as a fetus."

Miles leaned forward. "I see. As long as Leo's existence isn't threatened, at least within temporal stasis, then their children can still survive in the future."

"Unless something happens to you or Ekaterin," Felice added. In which case Raina wouldn't exist. Agh!

"Our top priority is keeping the Vorbarra line going, preferably through Leo and Raina's children," said Cora. "Next is to win the Imperial War. For that, you still need Raina."

"And our enemy's the guy with the future-made weapons and the insatiable thirst of revenge." Nothing like starting the day as a sitting duck. "Wait. Why Raina? Was that battle that she won so important?"

A knock on the door startled Miles. It was Alex. "Quiet!" he murmured.

Raina entered, right behind him. She made no sign that she'd heard Alex, or Miles. "The Count and Countess have returned from the Residence," she said. "Some decisions have been made. The replicator transfer will happen this late this afternoon, at ImpMil. Even though it puts Leo in a situation we can't control." She was frowning.

"Is our security really that transparent?" asked Miles.

"Believe it or not, yes," said Alex. "It's harder to penetrate the defenses around a single, stationary replicator, as opposed to a mobile person. But once through, its termination is a simple matter. There are a dozen new tricks from the future that bypass present ImpSec protocol. Pentacrine, for one, has several forms; most have a very fast absorbency. The inoculant we cooked up doesn't work for all of them."

Meanwhile, Felice came to Raina's side. "They've downgraded him, haven't they?"

Raina's lips thinned. "The Emperor… the Emperors thought it best." She said to Miles, "Leo's been classified expendable. They're going to place him in temporal stasis, at the corresponding time of the replicator transfer. So at least our children will survive."

"It puts Laisa in less danger," Alex pointed out.

"Laisa probably disagrees with it," Raina snapped. The Empresses were on the same side, it seemed. With a look from Alex, Raina subsided. "You swear an oath to an Emperor… but, strategically, it's a better gamble, one for the whole. Five possible Vorbarras against one living." Gregor and Laisa's future children? Yes.

The library door swung open. "There you all are," said the Countess, sweeping in. The atmosphere lightened instantly. "Out," she ordered cheerfully. "I need to talk to Miles, and Aral wants to talk to all of you."

The siblings exchanged pleasantries and filed out. The Countess touched Raina's arm briefly. She managed a wan smile, and shut the door behind her.

The Countess took a seat. "How are you holding up, love?"

"Fine. A little off-balance. I'm still getting used to my putative offspring, all at least ten years older than I am."

His mother smiled. "Good. The girls and I stayed up, long after you went to bed, talking. It was… informative." Miles grinned. The Countess had always wanted daughters. "But that's not why I'm here. Aral and I are coming with you to the Surleau--- no but's! We need extra people to keep an eye on the Armsmen, and vice versa. For everyone's peace of mind."

"What does Allegre think about all this?"

"ImpSec will go along with it. Especially since the genetic tests came back, and confirmed their lineage. Alex also met with Allegre overnight, and got back very early this morning . . ." The Countess looked abstracted, for a moment. "And, since Allegre needs to divert more men to ImpMil anyway, we're all going to join them tonight. To keep Gregor and Laisa company. Only Laisa's parents will be there, besides us. No one else is allowed in."

Miles thought back to the gala at the Imperial Residence. It seemed so long ago, but it had only been a few days. All of Laisa's close Komarran friends were in town; the members of Gregor's smaller, tighter circle were likewise present to lend their support. But instead it was going to be a strictly family affair. . . "The sibs are coming too, aren't they?"

Countess Vorkosigan said, discerningly, "They'll be there. Besides the security measures, they've got a right, as family."

Quite. Miles asked, "What happened with Gregor? They told me about the decision."

"Like the rest of us, he's had a sleepless night, between calming the populace, and working with Allegre. There are some wild rumors still floating around. And then this morning's session with Leo and Laisa. We weren't in on it, by the way. Whatever they said, behind closed doors, Gregor's mind was made up when we met with him."

"I don't like it. It all depends on whether or not Sebastian follows Raina."

His mother frowned. "I'm sure Raina knows Sebastian better than we do. Aral is testing their certainty now. It's practically a moot point anyway… What isn't certain is whether or not Ekaterin will join us."

Miles stared at his coffee grounds.

"Do you want me to talk to her, or do you want to try?" the Countess asked, gently.

Funking out, boy? "She won't want to hear it from me, right now. And she won't like it at all. We can't take Nikki, can we?"

The Countess nodded. "Too dangerous. But far more dangerous to let her stay with the Vorthys'. Apparently it's not securable."

"She has real fears. If it's not safe there, then there's nothing to stop Sebastian from using Nikki as a hostage."

The Countess grimaced. "From what I understood, Nikki has been classified expendable as well."

"What?!" Their own half-brother?

"Truth be told, I don't like any of this. I don't know if they're trying to appear desperate, or really are, but . . . even for Barrayarans, the tactics don't make sense. The littlest and most helpless hostages shouldn't be expendable."

She's thinking of the Pretendership, Miles realized. He said, "But they're not hostages, as yet."

The Countess raised her eyebrows. "Aren't they? You know better than that. We all are. While that man, Sebastian, lives, we're all at his mercy."