Considering they've been imprisoned in a single tent for two weeks, a legitimate knife seems like a far-off dream. The Barrayarans didn't trust them more than a few feet past their fire; why would they let her have a knife? Stealing one seemed like her only option. But that's nothing compared to his next idea, her brows rising dubiously as he offers it.

"Think they'd believe nobility with an accent from Georgia?" Everyone back on Earth--everyone alive, anyway--would see the lie immediately. An unmarried American aristocrat demanding a weapon to fit her title? No one in their right mind would agree to give her a knife under those circumstances. They're not on Earth now, but it might still be a ridiculous plan; just because Byerly doesn't know much about where she comes from doesn't mean others won't.