Barrayar recap

Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan enter Barrayaran public life as Aral becomes Regent for the child emperor Gregor. A revenge attack exposes their unborn son Miles to a bone-damaging poison treatment, and Cordelia transfers him to a uterine replicator. Vidal Vordarian then launches a coup, captures Kareen and the replicator, and falsely claims the throne. Cordelia leads Bothari and Droushnakovi into the capital, where Kareen dies after learning Gregor is alive and trying to kill Vordarian. Bothari executes Vordarian, Miles is recovered, and the rebellion collapses. Gregor returns as emperor under Aral and Cordelia's guardianship. Miles is born alive with severe skeletal damage and brittle bones. Five years later, his energy and desire to ride begin a cautious reconciliation with Piotr, who had rejected him at birth.

Previously: Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan are married. Koudelka carries severe neural injuries from defending Aral during an earlier political mutiny, while Bothari and Koudelka share the bond of surviving service aboard the General Vorkraft. Bothari's past intervention saved Cordelia, but coercive treatment left important memories uncertain. His infant daughter Elena was born through a uterine replicator and placed in foster care under his responsibility.

Aral Vorkosigan accepts appointment as Regent for the child heir Gregor, with his pregnant wife Cordelia serving as Regent Consort and liaison to Gregor and his mother, Kareen. The Council confirms Aral shortly before Ezar Vorbarra dies, making Gregor emperor and putting the Regency into force. Cordelia also brings Droushnakovi into her household as a bodyguard and supports Koudelka as he adjusts to lasting neural injuries in a society hostile to disability. Aral survives a sonic-grenade attack, but its sponsor remains unknown. Vidal Vordarian, a wealthy conservative count, openly resents the new political order. His familiarity with Kareen could give his ambitions added force if he became Gregor's stepfather. After Vordarian tries to unsettle Cordelia with insinuations about Aral's past, she asks Imperial Security to treat him as a serious concern.

Bothari asks Cordelia for help with fragmentary memories and his fear of his own violence. She reminds him that he has made moral choices before and grounds him in his service to House Vorkosigan. Koudelka survives a brutal street attack but falls into suicidal despair. Aral then refuses to pardon Count Vorhalas's younger son for a fatal duel, insisting that the law bind powerful families as well as ordinary people. After the execution, the dead man's brother attacks Aral and Cordelia with sultoxin. They survive, but the antidote threatens their unborn son's bones. Cordelia rejects abortion and undergoes a dangerous placental transfer, placing the fetus in a uterine replicator under Vaagen's experimental care. Piotr tries to destroy the fetus and later expels Aral and Cordelia rather than accept a disabled heir. The crisis widens when the mortally wounded chief of Imperial Security reaches the Vorkosigan estate with five-year-old Gregor. He identifies Vordarian as leader of a coup before dying.

Aral evacuates as Vordarian's forces seize the capital. Captain Negri has rescued Gregor but dies after delivering him to safety. Cordelia, Bothari, and Gregor hide in the mountains, where a retired Ranger uses his mail route to shelter them and helps divert a large search force into old caves. Esterhazy later takes Gregor to a separate refuge while Cordelia and Bothari reach Aral's loyalist base. Droushnakovi is cleared of sabotage, and Illyan returns to become the new chief of Imperial Security. Most districts support Aral, but the space forces remain undecided. Vordarian falsely announces Gregor's death, claims supreme authority, and presents an engagement to the captive Kareen. His troops have also taken Elena and seized Miles's uterine replicator from the hospital. Vaagen warns that the replicator will soon fail without expert servicing. Aral's larger strategy cannot move before that deadline, so Cordelia accepts Droushnakovi's offer of secret routes into the Imperial residence. With Bothari and an unwillingly recruited Koudelka, she leaves on an unauthorized rescue mission.

Cordelia's party enters the blockaded capital and intervenes when Vordarian's security arrests Lord and Lady Vorpatril. Lord Vorpatril is killed, but Cordelia delivers his son Ivan while the group escapes. Koudelka takes Lady Vorpatril and the infant toward loyalist territory, while Cordelia, Bothari, and Droushnakovi enter the Imperial residence through concealed tunnels. Their first attempt finds a decoy replicator and ends in capture. Cordelia proves Gregor is alive by showing Kareen one of his shoes. Kareen reveals where the real replicator is hidden, then dies trying to shoot Vordarian. In the struggle, Cordelia's team takes Vordarian hostage and recovers Miles. At Cordelia's order, Bothari executes Vordarian and suffers a severe traumatic relapse. The team escapes with the nearly exhausted replicator, and Vaagen confirms that Miles still lives. Koudelka also brings Lady Vorpatril and Ivan safely through. Vordarian's death collapses organized resistance, although scattered disorder remains. Gregor returns to the capital, mourns Kareen, and is publicly shown alive. The Council appoints Aral and Cordelia as his guardians.

After the war, Droushnakovi returns to Gregor's service and marries Koudelka. Bothari reports that Elena is thriving with Mistress Hissopi, while improved medication helps him sleep and think more clearly. Vaagen ends the uterine-replicator treatment when the placenta can no longer support Miles. Cordelia and Aral open the replicator, and their son is born alive. He is extremely small, with spinal and hip damage and dangerously fragile bones that will require continuing treatment. Piotr rejects Miles and dismisses Bothari from his household. Bothari instead gives his loyalty to Cordelia, who appoints him Miles's bodyguard. Five years later, Miles is energetic, mechanically curious, and determined to be physically active despite repeated treatment and fracture risk. He falls from a horse and breaks his arm, but his enthusiasm gives Piotr a way to approach the grandson he once rejected. With Cordelia's permission and Bothari's supervision, Piotr begins teaching Miles to ride on a gentle pony. The family chooses managed risk and training over confining him for safety.

Cordelia's raid recovers Miles's uterine replicator, but Kareen is killed while trying to turn on Vordarian. Bothari executes Vordarian, and his death breaks the coup's leadership. Loyalists retake the capital, Gregor is publicly restored as emperor, and Aral remains Regent. The Council makes Aral and Cordelia Gregor's guardians, with Cordelia responsible for his household and education. Koudelka and Droushnakovi marry, Lady Vorpatril and Ivan survive, and Lord Vorpatril, Captain Negri, Kareen, Vordarian, and Avon Vorhalas are dead. Miles survives treatment and birth but remains very small, physically deformed, and vulnerable to fractures. Bothari, aided by better medication but still carrying severe trauma, becomes his bodyguard. Five years later, Miles is active and determined. After a riding fall breaks his arm, Cordelia permits supervised lessons, and Piotr begins to replace his rejection of Miles with guarded involvement.