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they take care of unfinished business, including seventeen uterine replicators that were bestowed upon the withdrawing forces by Escobar, containing fetuses formerly engendered upon female Escobaran prisoners by Barrayarans. Sergeant Bothari's daughter, Elena, the product of a rape he was ordered to do by Vorrutyer, is born from one, and he vows to raise her as best as he can. Aral and Cordelia are summoned to an audience with the dying Emperor Ezar, where Aral is made Regent of Barrayar, to assist in keeping the planet safe for when Ezar's grandson and heir, Gregor, currently five years old, takes the throne. In an epilogue, an Escobaran Personnel Retrieval Team moves through the former battlefield in space, recovering bodies and cleaning up the leftover debris, and a mother says good-bye to her daughter for the last time.

Barrayar (1991)

Winner of the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel

The day after Aral Vorkosigan is named Regent by Emperor Ezar Vorbarra, Cordelia and he travel to the Imperial Residence to meet the heir to the throne, Gregor, and his mother, Princess Kareen. The meeting goes well, with Cordelia being given one of the princess's personal guards, Ludmilla Droushnakova, as her bodyguard. Life settles into a routine, with Aral up to his neck in administrating the affairs of the Empire, and Cordelia attempting to navigate the confusing intricacies of Barrayaran social life. One bright spot in their lives is Cordelia's pregnancy, which has drawn her closer to Aral's father, Piotr. When Aral goes before the Council of Counts to be approved as Regent, Cordelia meets Evon Vorhalas under unpleasant circumstances when his brother insults Aral's secretary, Clement Koudelka. Aral is approved with little difficulty. Emperor Ezar dies a week later, and the job of running the Empire until Gregor comes of age begins in earnest. Cordelia gets her first idea that it might be dangerous when someone shoots a grenade at Aral's armored groundcar, narrowly missing it. She also learns of the long list of people and groups that might want to kill the Regent of Barrayar. At a celebration of the Emperor's Birthday, Cordelia meets Count Vidal Vordarian, who tries unsuccessfully to shock her by telling her that Aral is bisexual. Cordelia counters by obliquely threatening him, and has Simon Illyan keep closer tabs on him as well. She also has her own issues in running the household, dealing with Sergeant Bothari beginning to remember his time served under Admiral Vorrutyer, Koudelka depressed and suicidal over his physical handicap, Droushnakova in love with Kou, but him oblivious of her, and Aral having to make decisions that will slowly destroy him, such as ordering the execution of Evon Vorhalas's younger brother for dueling, which is strictly prohibited under Barrayaran law. In revenge, Evon attacks Aral with a soltoxin grenade that severely damages Cordelia's unborn child. The embryo is saved by transferring it to a uterine replicator and giving it experimental calcium treatments. This course of action, however, divides Cordelia and Piotr, who is aghast at the idea of a deformed heir to the Vorkosigan family being born. Piotr even tries to order the doctors in charge of the project to destroy the child that will be Miles Vorkosigan, but fails. He threatens to cut Aral and Cordelia out of his estate, but that doesn't faze them. His tirade is interrupted by a mortally wounded Captain Negri crash-landing on the country-house lawn with Gregor. Before he dies, Negri tells them Count Vordarian has launched a coup to take the throne. Cordelia takes Gregor into hiding, guided by Piotr into the mountains, where she uses a clever ruse to draw away the Imperial men looking for them. In time she is reunited with Aral, and they face the potential civil war together, up to the point when Vordarian declares himself Regent. But when Doctor Vaagen escapes and says that Vordarian has confiscated Miles's uterine replicator, Cordelia launches a secret rescue mission to recover it using Bothari, Droushnakova, and Koudelka when he stumbles on