"Oh, I knew," By shrugs. "I interviewed your Wash. And I know Cetagandans, at least to a certain extent. No, don't mistake this for an act of great bravery - I'm not prone to that sort of thing."

He pauses a moment, then gives a small shrug. "And yes, I hate Vor. Vor hate me. A Vor man is to be straight-backed and soldierly, and as you can guess, I'm nothing of the sort. Besides which, I can read the tea leaves, as they say - Barrayar can't win this conflict, I fancy. And I cannot love the thought of being on the losing side, especially when being on the losing side involves losing your balls to frostbite."