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eliyesTitle: The Apology
Characters: Kou (Clement Koudelka, here a lieutenant and Vorkosigan's secretary) and Aral Vorkosigan (here the Imperial Regent, a retired admiral, and a Count's Heir). Both of Aral's wives mentioned.
Summary: Missing scene from Barrayar (aka the second half of Cordelia's Honor); Aral apologizes to Kou for his reaction in the library.
Author's Notes: Aral typically makes his actions serve more than one purpose, and this is no exception... not that Kou notices it here. Also, I wanted to call it The Library Incident, but that applies to so many things, and in this particular book really should be the night of the assassination attempt.
"I owe you an apology," Vorkosigan said.
Kou swallowed hard, trying to squeeze some words from his throat, but Vorkosigan continued, eyes aglimmer with emotion.
"It was not you I was seeing, Kou. My first wife cheated on me," he said baldly, voice quiet and controlled. "When two of her lovers died dueling, she killed herself. It was that -- ghost of the past that clouded my eyes. I know neither you nor Cordelia would betray me that way, and I beg your forgiveness for the insult of thinking it of you for even a moment."
He was so gravely sincere, it was all Kou could do to keep the prickle in his eyes from turning to tears. He felt so damned guilty, because he knew, as Vorkosigan did not, that he had been contemplating taking his own life that night, and he sensed that suicide had been the greater of the former Lady Vorkosigan's betrayals.
"I forgive you, sir," he said around the tight knot in his throat. And he vowed, to himself, 'and I will never betray you again.'
.
Characters: Kou (Clement Koudelka, here a lieutenant and Vorkosigan's secretary) and Aral Vorkosigan (here the Imperial Regent, a retired admiral, and a Count's Heir). Both of Aral's wives mentioned.
Summary: Missing scene from Barrayar (aka the second half of Cordelia's Honor); Aral apologizes to Kou for his reaction in the library.
Author's Notes: Aral typically makes his actions serve more than one purpose, and this is no exception... not that Kou notices it here. Also, I wanted to call it The Library Incident, but that applies to so many things, and in this particular book really should be the night of the assassination attempt.
"I owe you an apology," Vorkosigan said.
Kou swallowed hard, trying to squeeze some words from his throat, but Vorkosigan continued, eyes aglimmer with emotion.
"It was not you I was seeing, Kou. My first wife cheated on me," he said baldly, voice quiet and controlled. "When two of her lovers died dueling, she killed herself. It was that -- ghost of the past that clouded my eyes. I know neither you nor Cordelia would betray me that way, and I beg your forgiveness for the insult of thinking it of you for even a moment."
He was so gravely sincere, it was all Kou could do to keep the prickle in his eyes from turning to tears. He felt so damned guilty, because he knew, as Vorkosigan did not, that he had been contemplating taking his own life that night, and he sensed that suicide had been the greater of the former Lady Vorkosigan's betrayals.
"I forgive you, sir," he said around the tight knot in his throat. And he vowed, to himself, 'and I will never betray you again.'
.