Diplomat, soldier, spyโLieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan of the Barrayarayan Empire, a.k.a. Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, is a young man of many parts. Miles and his handsome cousin Ivan are calle dupon to play a simple diplomatic role on the capital world of Barrayar's old enemy until murder and deceit thrust them into Cetagandan internal politics at the highest levels, and Miles discovers the secrets of the haut-women's biological domain to be very complicated indeed.
Commander Elli Quinn, sent by Miles on the trail of those secrets, meets a man who marches to the beat of a very different drummer. Dr. Ethan Urquhart, obstretician from a planet forbidden to women, is on a quest at cross-purposes to Elli's missionโor is it?
Consequences of Cetagandan bioengineering continue to play out, this time on a Dendrii sortie to the crime planet of Jackson's Whole. When he encounters a genetically altered super-soldier, Miles's routine rescue strike takes a sudden hard turn for the unanticipated.
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