"Maybe," she offers, after a moment or two of watching Byerly shudder, "it doesn't spread here."

For that matter, maybe it's not here at all. What if the pathogen disappeared somewhere on the way to Barrayar? There's no way to know, but she can hope. It bubbles up in her, the possibility that it could be gone. That Byerly won't have to stab her in the eye when (if) she dies.

"I'll come back later," she promises, to Byerly and the head alike. "So we're sure."