"I had hoped you wouldn't," he says - but his tone is a little wry, not self-pitying. "Didn't Vorkosigan do his best to make me seem like a rotten ne'er-do-well? I thought I could count on him for that."

He twists a lock of her hair around his hair, stroking his thumb along it.

"I'm sorry for all of it," he says softly. "I hadn't wanted you to suffer. Naive, I suppose."