Sonia flinches, and there are so many things she wants to say to that -- that he hasn't been in war half his life, that he doesn't understand, couldn't possibly understand that unshakable loyalty to the cause is the only virtue that matters anymore, because without that there is no Barrayar, and without Barrayar, they are nothing. Nothing but dust.

"I thought you were dead already," she whispers, her voice wavering. She still doesn't know what would have been worse. And then, in a fit of emotion rising up hot in her throat, she bursts out, "You miss your home, so you try to destroy mine instead? Where is the honor in that, Byerly?"