Olivia hadn't condoned it, of course. But Miles isn't about to breathe a word in that direction until he has to. Even a vague answer will be troubling to Betans who should have a much longer lifespan than seventy or eighty more years.

"As am I," he quips dryly. "He came around in the end. But faced with a deformed child as his heir was too much for him to contemplate, at first." His expression becomes rather tired for a moment, the pain lines deep and stark. "Even in my era, that prejudice is vicious."