Title: The Second Son.
Author: lannamichaels
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga
Series: Part 10 of Liegelord
Rating: G
A/N: Content warning: a minor character gets an off-screen unspecified injury and is no longer able to have children. Cast list and timeline.
Archives: Archive Of Our Own, SquidgeWorld

Summary: For Prince Richard Vorbarra, the choice has always been clear.



1.

For Prince Richard Xav Vorbarra, the choice had always been clear. He could be the Emperor's stirrup-man or he could be a traitor.

He's watched his Uncle Aral his entire life. He's seen how Uncle Aral treats Richard's father. And Richard could do that for Ivan. He could be his one loyal man. Or he could be a backstabbing Vorbarra like so many before him. There's really no middle ground. Being a loyal prince is for Alexander and Nicholas. Richard's too close to Ivan. It's either one extreme or the other. And he doesn't want to be a traitor.

Emperor Ezar's dead now and Ivan is the Crown Prince. It's what Richard's been expecting his entire life. He and Ivan had insisted on sharing a room after they left the nursery, but with Ivan's title comes the Crown Prince's suite. Richard's not allowed to share it with him. But all that means is that Ivan sneaks into Richard's room whenever they're home from school. Father doesn't like it, says that Ivan can't keep reverting under stress, but he doesn't order them to stop. But they're getting a little too big to share a bed and Father, pointedly, won't give Richard a bigger one. It just means they have to coordinate whose room they're sleeping in. It's usually Richard's. Father gets very pinched when they use Ivan's. Richard isn't allowed to make incursions or encroach on Ivan's territory.

"I'd give you the District if Father wouldn't then rise from the grave and strangle me," Ivan tells Richard. "His ghost would kill me and the last words I'd ever hear would be that an Emperor can't be a guest in his own home. But still. I'd give you the District if I could. I'd make you Count Vorbarra in name, instead of just having you do the job without giving you the title."

They'd both gotten that lecture, when they were seven and eight and Ivan had mentioned the idea to Father. They'd both learned to be really glad Ivan hadn't mentioned it where Emperor Ezar could hear. Richard had been able to avoid Emperor Ezar for the most part. Ivan, the eldest, hadn't been so lucky. Emperor Ezar had liked to give him little tests, although Father had stepped in to stop some of them.

"If you want more ghosts to rise, remind Father that he can choose any of his sons to be Emperor after him. It doesn't have to be you." Richard smiles as Ivan smacks him. They both know Father never would. Picking Ivan is the easy choice. If Father decided to pick a different son, the wars would never end. Primogeniture is harder to argue with.

Now that Father's the Emperor, Richard's allowed into more than he was before. Father and Mother had both always allowed the Richard and his siblings into the less official of their meetings, so long as they didn't make any noise or disrupt anything. Mother always has more of those, except after Emperor Ezar dies, Father starts inviting them more. At first Richard tries to fool himself that it's because he and Ivan are older now, but even the littles are invited to some of them. Ivan's old enough now that if he sneaks in, he'll have to sit at Father's right-hand at the table and contribute, but Richard doesn't have to do that. After Ivan's done it a few times, Richard gives in to his curiosity and sits in on a ministerial briefing. He keeps to a couch in the back of Father's office and works through his schoolwork and when Father asks him what he learned from the experience, Richard is able to say, with complete sincerity, "that I don't ever want to be a Minister."

Father laughs at him for that and makes him stay for the next five ministerial briefings that follow. But it's not that bad. Father makes the Minister of Education help with Richard's homework.



2.

Richard grows to be taller and broader than Ivan, but the Crown Prince is naturally the one the girls flock to. Ivan shocks everyone but Richard by falling in love with Lady Helen Vorkalloner. They've all been told they can marry for love if they keep it to someone suitable, so trust Ivan to find the least-suitable suitable woman possible. Both Lady Helen's father and grandfather had died for treason. Ivan had only even met her because he likes giving his security a migraine.

"If Father ends up having to execute her brother as well, you're in trouble," Richard tells Ivan the night before Ivan gets up the courage to tell their parents that he's already proposed and been accepted. Everyone around Ivan is a spy; their parents definitely already know. But until Ivan officially informs them, they can pretend not to know. It must be nice to be able to pretend not to know.

Ivan gives Richard a withering look. "Father did everything but execute our grandparents himself."

And, well, that's also true. Father hadn't given any order, but he hadn't needed to. Their mother had made sure the both of them were in the room when she'd demonstrated to them that you couldn't always trust family. It was an important lesson and definitely aimed at the both of them. And it had been their secret, the two of them against the littles, until Sonia had gotten old enough to know and promptly told everyone else. She didn't believe in keeping secrets from siblings. That's probably Ivan and Richard's fault, for trying to keep so much from her and all the other babies. Mother and Father had had Ivan and Richard too close together, everyone always said. And then they'd started waiting a reasonable amount of time between children, but all it meant was that Ivan and Richard had always been a force to themselves, allied against their siblings. Father and Mother had never approved of that. The lesson about trusting family... well, it also was probably also supposed to teach them to stop giving the little kids reasons not to trust their older brothers.

"I'm just saying, ImpSec's going to try to put a bodyguard inside your marital bed," Richard says.

"I'm going to remember this when you fall in love," Ivan says. He prods Richard with his foot. The crown price should keep a suitable amount of distance between himself and others, a necessity of maintaining respect, but there's no distance between Richard and Ivan. Sometimes that's literal. "Revenge will be mine and will be sweet. What happened with the Vervani ambassador's niece?"

"She left," Richard says shortly. He'd been thinking about marrying a galactic, just to make it absolutely clear that his children wouldn't be seen as a threat to Ivan's. Then Uncle Aral had gently pointed out that Prince Xav had thought that, too. But Richard doesn't think that should stop him from trying; it's not like Ivan's anything like Emperor Yuri.

Richard's not sure what he should do. He has to let politics guide his decision, that's the role of second sons. He's the spare, he has to pick up the slack for the heir, and the heir isn't marrying politically, so Richard probably should. He's not sure what Uncle Aral would say about that, but Uncle Aral's always been full of good advice on how to avoid looking like a challenge.

"There's always the next ambassador," Ivan says philosophically.

"Or a Vor political marriage," Richard says. "I'm still not sure."

Ivan prods him with his foot again. "Come on, Richard. Be happy for me."

"I'm very happy for you," Richard says. And he is. Trust Ivan to have a romance out of a ballad. But that's what's Ivan's always been like. No one should be surprised. "You're sure Father won't tell you that you can't?"

"I've been dating her for three months, he's had plenty of time," Ivan says. "I haven't been hiding it like Sonia and her prole, I've been public about my intentions."

Richard shrugs. That's probably true. But Father can sometimes be subtle. Or maybe it's just Richard who doesn't always understand what Father means by things. Ivan gets a lot more intensive tutoring about, well, everything than Richard ever will. It's probably why Ivan then turns around and acts out by falling in love with a traitor's daughter. "Well. Best of luck with that audience."

"Do you want to come?" Ivan asks. "Get in some practice for when you fall in love with a Komarran and have to explain that to our parents?"

"I'm not going to fall in love with a Komarran," Richard says primly. The only Komarrans his age that he's ever met are a few academics that Sonia hangs around with. None of them are remotely his type.

"There's still time," Ivan says ominously and kicks Richard again.



3.

Alexander gets sent out on ship duty straight out of the Academy. Richard is bitterly jealous until he realizes that Ivan isn't.

"What happened with Alexander?" he asks Ivan.

Ivan shrugs. "Nothing except what he got himself into."

"You're the one who gets security reports," Richard says, frustrated. "Come on, Ivan. What happened?"

"He's mad we never played with him when we were kids," but it's glib. It's also probably true. But that can't be why Ivan's treating this like Alexander got sent to his room for insulting someone, instead of getting ship duty.

"Father's getting him away from friends?" Richard asks. He could ask Father directly, but Father wouldn't tell him. But Ivan should tell him. It shouldn't be hard to get information out of Ivan. Unless Ivan was specifically ordered not to tell him. Which Father wouldn't do if this weren't serious.

Richard doesn't want to think about what it means if this is serious.

"Getting him away from himself," Ivan says. "Away from us, he doesn't have our shadow to break out of."

Getting him away from himself? Enough to send him off-planet, when the furthest Father's ever sent either of them was having Ivan on the South Continent for a few months? How bad was this? What could have happened that was so bad that Alexander was sent away and that Ivan can't discuss it?

And it's not friends? It's Alexander himself?

Richard feels suddenly very, very cold. He'd never paid attention to when security's in a room or not. His entire life is surrounded by security. There usually isn't any in the room when it's just them, because what could the Imperial siblings do to each other? Except for what generations of Imperial siblings have already done to each other.

"We... should probably talk to Nicholas more," Richard says. Nicholas is really young, fifteen years younger than Richard. But he's not a baby anymore.

"There's nothing wrong with Alexander," Ivan says unconvincingly. "He'll come back covered in decorations and-- and everything will be fine." Ivan sounds like he even might believe that. But he's a better liar than Richard is, and if Father told him to lie, then Richard won't get anything more out of him. And he probably shouldn't try. He can't wear Ivan down over an Imperial order, and if he does somehow manage it, Father will be angry at him for doing it. Richard has to accept that there's things he can't know, things that being the second son means he won't know. He has to accept that Ivan being the heir means something. That Richard needs to shut up and obey his liegelord and not pester the Crown Prince for things he's not allowed to know.

But that doesn't mean he can't ask someone else.

Sonia's always been closer to Alexander, so Richard goes to see her at her apartment. Sonia's doing graduate work at the university and telling everyone she'll never get married. She'd cut her hair short a few years back, but it's suited her.

"Wow, you and Ivan finally noticed our parents had more than two children," Sonia says. Richard bristles, but there's a kernel of truth to that accusation that stings and won't go away. "Can you even name them?"

"Yes," Richard says. "It-- it seems that bad to the rest of you?"

"The fact that you both still call us the 'rest of you'? Yes."

"We call you the littles," Richard says, but it's a terrible defense. Sonia's three years younger than him. That's not a huge difference. It had only just seemed that way when he was five. "Sorry. Is it too late for us to fix this?"

"Well, not with the babies, they don't know better. You could stop snubbing Julia, Anna, and Tamar, though."

"I don't snub them," Richard says. He doesn't. He's nice to them. He's their older brother. They'd also all started being old enough to be interesting when Richard had gone off to school. That gap's natural, right? He'd had Ivan with him at school, and when he'd gone home, he'd still played with the girls, he hadn't ignored them. And then once he was out of the Academy, they were the ones away at school. "It's not like we did this deliberately."

Sonia shrugs. "Well, I guess I should be glad you two noticed you were doing it. I'm not losing Alexander because you think being five years older than him makes him invisible."

Father and Mother had stopped at ten kids, four boys and six girls. By the time Margot and Galina had been born, there'd been ways to choose if you would have a girl or a boy. But they'd had two girls after Nicholas anyway. Was that on purpose? Was that because Ivan and Richard were being mean to Alexander and they weren't risking more princes?

Wait.

Losing Alexander.

Losing Alexander.

That's-- that's a lot worse than what Ivan had insinuated. That's a lot worse than Richard could have ever thought. Losing Alexander means... it means...

"I think I'm going to be sick," Richard says. Sonia pushes him toward the toilet with enough time for him to noisily vomit into it.

"You really didn't realize," Sonia says, sounding actually surprised. "Shit, Richard, what did you think was going on with him? You never overlapped him at school, you never played with him when you were home. Now Ivan's gotten married, so he has an excuse, and you're looking to get married, so that's your excuse, and you still pay no attention to anyone other than each other. Alexander's prime picking for anyone who wants to create a coup, and you two did that to him. He could be on planet, where you'd keep ignoring him, or he could be somewhere else. So he's somewhere else."

"Why didn't Mother--"

Sonia pushes him back toward the toilet. "Heir and spare, remember? That was her job. Peace in the family is Father's. Blame him."

And Father's definitely too busy to start conducting delicate diplomatic talks between his sons to make them start getting along. He'd given them time to snap out of it. He'd even given them, Richard realizes now, increasingly blunt suggestions. And now he's sent their brother away so no one ends up dead.

And Richard wants to object, wants to say that Alexander had plenty of siblings to play with, that he'd clearly been fine playing with Sonia all those years. He wants to say that being jealous of your older brothers doesn't mean you're prime to be exploited for a coup, or to-- to try to create one yourself. He wants to say all of that. But he doesn't really know Alexander, he realizes. And that's, that's probably really bad.

"I honestly cannot believe the two of you didn't know what you were doing," Sonia says. "If you'd tried to push all of us away on purpose, you could hardly have done it better. I've had my own apartment since I was nineteen, this is, what, the third time you've visited?"

"I see you every week at home for family dinner," Richard says. "I see everyone every week." And he, well, he talks to Ivan and Helen, mostly. And Father and Mother, of course. And-- "It's a really big table, but I know. I didn't realize and I should have. I'm sorry, Sonia. I didn't-- I really didn't realize."

Family dinner is three times a week for the little kids, reduced to once a week once you go off to school. Richard's assigned to the capital, so there's no reason why he couldn't start going to every family dinner. Except he's not sure that would fix the problem. Sibling dinners instead? He doesn't have the authority to take anyone out of school, but Julia's in university, and Anna will be starting next year. Richard won't get his own house until he gets married, but he has his own quarters. He can host his own sibling dinners.

"Pop quiz," Sonia says, because she's found weakness and she's going to pursue it until her quarry falls over and dies. She always was better at hunting than Richard was. "What am I studying?"

"Architecture," Richard says promptly. He knows that. Except she looks disappointed in him, so Richard wracks his mind. "Uh. Dono Vorrutyer. The use of landscape to inform security concerns and siege warfare and how that turned into his battlements. You dragged us all over the lookout tower in the Grey Hills estate and Galina nearly fell through the floor. And then you made Father open up some of Yuri's files for you and he was so angry, he nearly tore them up"

"I needed them for my thesis," Sonia says, unrepentant.

But that's mollified Sonia enough that she starts inviting him to things. The first time Richard goes over to Sonia's apartment for a party, she has a look in her eye that Richard normally sees on the floor of Vorhartung Castle and then she introduces him to Adam Sokolov. Who is studying oceanography. And who is clearly his sister's boyfriend that he's heard everyone in his family whisper about, but none of them have ever, officially, met.

Richard has had manners trained into him since birth, so he does not disgrace his family or his sister's new-found, completely-being-tested, faith in him. There are ten people here, all clearly Sonia's friends. Only one of them is Vor.

And Father isn't reopening the Vor. If Dorca hadn't started giving the title out once Yuri had started promoting proles to be officers, if Yuri hadn't stared doing it once he was Emperor, if Ezar hadn't done it when he was putting proles on the General Staff, then no one is getting the extra syllable. The Vor are closed. Even if it weren't, it was never going to be going to a scientist instead of a soldier. There's no way Sonia can ever marry Sokolov. There's no way they could ever have children.

Sokolov is probably also on his best behavior, and he can't actually be dangerous, or otherwise Father would have intervened. And it's not like it's Emperor Ezar's day. They're on modern Barrayar. A princess can date a prole. She can't marry one, but she can date one. That's pretty good progress, right?

Richard sighs. No, it's not. If Sonia wants to get married, Richard's got to be on her side. That's the bargain. If he wants his siblings to start thinking well of him again, then he has to fight for them. He has to earn their trust in him as their big brother.

So. Public support. That means public acknowledgment. That means treating this like he would if Sonia were dating someone suitable. Assuming Sonia wants him to.

"I'm playing host at the banquet next week," Richard says. Their parents are touring Vorkalloner's District with Helen and Ivan. "Do you, uh, want to bring him as your date?"

Sonia gives him a withering look. "He hasn't met our parents yet, but you want him to meet the planet."

"I want to do whatever you want me to," Richard says sincerely.

Sonia looks like she doesn't know what to do about that. "Your complete surrender is really off-putting, Richard."

This kind of surrender had been covered as a tactic at school, as a way of reminding the enemy about the obligations of honor. Richard hadn't intended to ever use it on his siblings, and he's not doing it on purpose, it's coming a little too naturally for him. But he hopes it will work anyway. "Is it working?" he asks.

"I'm not scaring him off by having him introduced as the Princess's companion," Sonia says. "Ask me again in four years or when you get married."

Richard bows in acknowledgment.



4.

ImpMil is one of the most heavily-secured buildings on the planet, so when the security abruptly doubles, Richard hurries back to the waiting room. Father's here.

By the time he gets back, Father is sitting next to Ivan on the bench, his hand rubbing the back of Ivan's neck. Feeling like the worst intruder, Richard wavers by the door, but then Father sees him and orders him inside with a sharp jerk of his chin.

"I deserted my post," Ivan is confessing. He's supposed to be with his engineers in Inton right now. Richard had deliberately not asked any questions. He's not deserting any post by being here; he was detached to help Mother with the Betans. Mother, not needing much help with the Betans, had sent Richard to ImpMil to provide what help he could as soon as word had come down of Helen's condition. Richard probably would have thought less of Ivan if Ivan hadn't deserted his post to come, but Father's not likely going to share that opinion. "It was the only way I could think of to come in time, and I had to come."

"I'll smooth it out with the brass," Father says. Ivan's commanding officer isn't Vor. It's going to be intensely political. Under any other circumstances, Father would be enraged. Richard supposes that it's good to know that Father puts their personal relationship above their Vor one when it comes to things like this. Either that, or Father's actually enraged right now and is very good at hiding it behind fatherly concern.

"You told me you'd have my hide if I pulled rank," Ivan says.

"You can't pull rank," Father agrees. "I can. You were probably too young to remember, but I missed Julia's birth because Ezar had me supervising Fleet repairs and wouldn't let me come back. I never forgave him. Ivan, if you heard that your wife was dying and didn't come, I'd remove you from the succession for heartlessness. Yes, you shouldn't have done it the way you did, and believe me, we'll have words about that later, but it can wait. What news from the doctor, Richard?"

Ivan looks up, his eyes red. "No change from before," Richard reports.

"If she dies, I'm not remarrying," Ivan says. "Don't tell me I have to, Father. Please don't."

Richard braces himself, but Father just keeps stroking Ivan's hair. "You won't have to remarry. You're allowed to grieve, Ivan."

"I'm not talking about mourning and then getting over it. I mean it. Never."

"You may notice your spare is standing in front of you," Father says dryly. Richard startles. He's been the spare his entire life, yes, but that's been repeated so often, he hasn't paid any attention to it since it was explained to him when he was a toddler. It's just one of the details of his existence. Father and Mother had ten children to repopulate the Vorbarras. It's never occurred to Richard that they'd also had ten children to provide options for their children.

Ivan's the one they had to raise to want to be Emperor. Richard was raised to want to help Ivan be the Emperor. The idea that he could some day be Emperor doesn't sit well in his stomach.

"Oh," Ivan says. He's blinking back tears. None of this is getting through to him. "Do you have to go back soon?" Ivan asks their father plaintively.

"You have four hours of my time, undivided," Father says. "After that, your mother gets you, and I get to talk to your commanding officer and bribe him into not laying charges against you, and then find a new one who'll be willing to take you after this." Finding commanders who are both willing to take princes and are someone their father is willing entrust them to is a delicate balance. It's especially hard for Ivan as the Crown Prince. The army, after all, is their father's, and Ivan is his heir. Yes, Richard thinks, Father's not only going to be angry about this later, but he's probably very angry now and is just keeping it from Ivan for now for the sake of not having a gigantic screaming argument with someone who can't stop crying and absolutely doesn't care what he did and what plans he ruined. "Richard, go rest. Be back in eight hours."

Richard salutes. He looks back as he leaves to see his father murmuring gently into Ivan's ear.

It takes six days for Helen to recover enough to be transfered to the care of the medics at the Imperial Residence, and Ivan's a complete mess for every single hour of it. If this is what love does to you, Richard wants no part in it. He'll get himself a political marriage after all. Perhaps it's time to think of interplanetary unity. It's the Vor way to fight battles but it's also the Vor way to celebrate treaties with marriages. If Richard marries a Komarran, that would only be keeping with tradition. He doesn't know any Komarrans he'd be willing to marry, but he could fix that.

But he doesn't get too far with that plan, only a few conversations with his parents about candidates and with Negri about security issues, before it's a few months later and Ivan's inviting him to a friend's estate and, with the revelry around them hopefully enough to drown out even the best ImpSec and Political Education have to offer, whispering, "forget what you were saying about Komarrans. Helen and I can't have kids. Succession's your duty now."

Richard has heard exactly nothing about the injury affecting Helen in that way, and he's been listening. If Ivan's keeping it this close, he really must be worried. He must be working Father and Mother and the more important Counts to avoid any pressure to divorce Helen. "All right," Richard agrees. And that's it for that plan.

It comes out in fits and starts after that. Helen and Ivan will become patrons of galactic medicine, Helen tells him. Everyone else in the galaxy has solutions that Barrayar won't touch for fear of mutations. The Crown Prince and his wife will bring them to Barrayar, but will not use them. That's the bargain. They will use galactic medicine to give other people children, but will not use it for their own. Helen says confidently that there will be a uterine replicator clinic in every hospital under Ivan's authority by the end of the decade.

But they won't have their own children. There's no way Ivan would risk having his son refused by the Counts, and a son created by galactic technology would certainly be refused in favor of a nephew who wasn't.

But... but if all of Ivan's brothers had their children in the same way, the Counts couldn't refuse, they'd have no other options. If Ivan does it, they'll all have to do it. And Richard doesn't want to do it. He's not having his children come out of a machine. That's disgusting.

But Ivan and Helen are clear. Mother is clear. Ivan's not having children. And in exchange, Ivan will spend his energies revolutionizing maternity care on this planet.

Ivan can't use it, Richard translates, so he's taking revenge by making sure everyone else can.

"Ezar should have started this process with his own impotence," Mother says, smiling a little. Richard doesn't know why she's so amused at Emperor Ezar's impotence. "If he had, we'd be far enough along that Ivan probably could use it. But Ezar didn't, so here we are. Ivan is remedying that, but he can't take advantage of it. Perhaps your own children could use it. I certainly wouldn't have minded being able to put my pregnancies into a locked bunker."

As the result of one of Mother's pregnancies, Richard doesn't know how to begin to address that. But Father agrees with her. "Security would have been overjoyed by it. That's one aspect that works in Ivan's favor."

And so that's it. That's the end of it. Ivan won't have children. Ivan will have to find his heirs somewhere else. And Richard is his nearest brother and not yet married. Anyone who marries him could be marrying a future Emperor.

He's not handling it that well, he thinks, and so he shouldn't be surprised when it follows him to the family retreat after Winterfair.

Uncle Aral is waiting in the sitting room in the family wing of the lake estate, going through briefing papers when Richard leaves his bedroom. It's clearly family time, Richard can hear both of Uncle Aral's sons playing outside with Nicholas. And Uncle Aral is wearing House uniform, not civilian clothes, so Richard is probably not about to be interrogated by Political Education.

"I was the spare once, too, you know," Uncle Aral says.

And Richard knows that, he really does, it's just hard to remember. It was a really long time ago. The last time that was relevant, his father was a baby and his mother hadn't been born yet.

"My promotion to heir was somewhat more abrupt than your father's was, but at least we had the cause in common," Uncle Aral continues, apparently still talking to the wall. "You're going to have decades to get used to your own promotion."

Then he stands up and clasps Richard on the shoulder and makes as if to leave.

"Well, boy. Time to go another round with your father about the Academy. Enjoy the sunshine."

"What about the Academy?" Richard blurts out.

Uncle Aral smiles. It's kind of intimidating. "I'll let him put me in charge of it if I can have proles in there next year, Komarrans in five years. We're fighting about timelines. Avoid his study, it may get loud."

"I didn't think you ever fought with my father," Richard says suspiciously. The Prime Minister is the Emperor's public arm. The Minister of Political Education is the Emperor's private arm. Uncle Aral doesn't do anything without Richard's father wanting him to. That's what's always important to remember about Uncle Aral. If he's doing something, even if it seems really weird, it's because the Emperor wants him to do it. If the Emperor allows it, it is the Emperor's will that he do it.

"Only with the door closed," Uncle Aral assures him.

Richard does sneak by his father's study later. He can't hear much, which is probably less to do with soundproofing than with the fact that there's no way Uncle Aral ever actually shouts at Father, and Father only shouts when he's really mad, and he never gets mad at Uncle Aral. The armsmen standing guard ask him if he wants admittance, which Richard doesn't, so he lets them shoo him along.

But the armsmen definitely told on him, because Mother takes him to the side later. "Richard," she says, an invitation.

Richard was supposed to be Uncle Aral. He was never supposed to be the Emperor. That's not him, that was always Ivan. He's not sure if he's in shock or if a part of him is stuck mourning for the reality he thought he knew, one where he would be a disposable Vorbarra and not the one responsible for providing Ivan, and the Imperium, with an heir. "I think I want you to arrange my marriage," he says. "I need to be smarter about this than I have been." He's been fluttering around, mostly thinking about galatics of one kind or another. But if he's going to provide a Vorbarra heir, he needs to marry Vor. And that means politics. And Richard's never been the political one in this family. His parents have always handled that.

"If that's what you want," Mother says, sounding reluctant.

Richard shrugs. "I can't keep going with the plan to disqualify myself by my children. Not if I need to have sons for Ivan to use."

"There's a lot of room between an arranged marriage and you marrying a galactic," Mother says. "The entire Vor class fits into that room, Richard."

"Yes, but," Richard starts. "I'm not Ivan. I'm not going to fall in love. If I were, I'd have done it already." Richard's twenty-seven. He's had his share of flings, but nothing lasting. If he were going to fall in love, like the kind of love from the ballads like Ivan and Helen have, he'd have done it by now, right? He falls in love for an afternoon or a week, but is over it by the end of the month. That's nothing to build a marriage on. He falls in and out of love too fast. He knows he can't rely on it, not the way Ivan does without even thinking about it.

"And you don't want to choose for yourself?" Mother asks.

"I don't know what to look for," Richard says. "I don't know who I'll need. All I know is that I'll need heirs. If there's some political advantage you or Father want, I'm willing to be used for it. I want what you and Father have."

"What I have with your Father was a great deal of luck," Mother warns. And Richard knows that. He knows there's a reason that Mother isn't making any of the girls get married if they don't want to, it's only the boys who have to. But Richard isn't too concerned about that right now.

"Maybe I'll get lucky, too," Richard says. There's no way of knowing if Richard will outlive Ivan, but if he's going to end up as Ivan's heir, he'll need someone to stand next to him. Mother knows what that should look like, why not leave the choice to her? Any marriage is a risk. Look at Ivan and Helen. They love each other, but their marriage won't provide heirs. Richard will take the risk.

In a choice between the woman he'd pick, and the woman his mother would pick, he'd go with his mother's choice any day. He's had a decade to pick for himself. He hasn't. But he needs to marry. Why not go with what his mother thinks would be best for him? Mother can't make a worse choice for him than he could make for himself.



5.

Richard marries Marina Vorparadijs on a bright sunny day with all his siblings around him. Alexander hadn't been recalled for the betrothal, but he arrives five days before the wedding. He's come back a lieutenant and he rebuffs every overture Richard makes him. "You don't have to be friends with all your siblings," he says, sounding exhausted, "sometimes you can just be related." And Alexander treats Ivan with all respect and deference due to his Crown Prince and none of the disrespect and sarcasm due to an older brother you never much liked. It shouldn't bother Richard. It wouldn't have, before. He wouldn't have noticed it before. He wasn't paying attention before.

It's a distraction on his wedding day, one he doesn't like or want. But Alexander has three months home leave. They'll have time. Richard will make sure they do. It's up to someone to keep the siblings together, and Ivan's clearly not going to do it.

The wedding night is more peaceful than the wedding. "Do you want to take the pills or try our luck?" he asks Marina. He'd gotten a very confusing lecture about sex from his father, which had been heavy on telling him to do his duty and very light on anything else. It's not like Richard doesn't know how to have sex, but surely a pre-wedding lecture would be about more vital things? Mother had taken Marina to the side as well; Richard hopes that his mother had provided better wisdom than his father had. Marina had been clear that she wasn't going to be coming to the wedding night as a virgin either, so they both knew what to expect. Richard isn't anticipating any problems and he isn't sure why his father was so concerned about it.

Marina is still working on taking off her jewelry. Richard's completely naked, lying back in the bed, watching her. "Your mother said she never took the pills," Marina says. "It worked for her, two sons in a row."

Having two sons in a row, Richard is increasingly convinced, was a really bad idea. Oh, it's been good for Ivan and Richard. Richard's perfectly happy with how it turned out for him. But spacing them out more, or having some kind of buffer, might have been better for the family. In the course of six years, they'd gotten themselves three sons and a disaster waiting to happen. Nicholas was lucky; by the time he came around, he could be an honorary Vorkosigan and just play with Uncle Aral's kids. But it might have destroyed Alexander. And Richard doesn't know how to fix it. He doesn't know if he can.

"All right," Richard says easily. "Whatever you like." All he needs, after all, is one son. It's not like his parents, who'd needed an army of children to plan for the future. He just needs a son for Ivan. And if Richard and Marina can't manage it, there's still Alexander and Nicholas. There's a lot more contingencies built into the Vorbarra family now, thanks to his parents.

Richard has a great time on his wedding night; he's not sure why his father was so concerned. Helen comes over the day afterward to talk to Marina about marrying a Vorbarra, and Richard says to Ivan, "that wasn't as hard as Father made it sound."

Ivan laughs. "He gave you the same speech?"

"Maybe it's a family tradition," Richard wonders. "Remember Ezar? He was the type who'd tell you to do your duty."

"I doubt it. Father's done his best to destroy most of Ezar's family traditions," Ivan says. He's got his feet up on the sofa like he always does. Richard had only moved into the house yesterday and it's been fully redecorated, but Ivan will always treat Richard's possessions like his own. Richard doesn't mind. Ivan had gotten the Crown Prince's apartments in the Residence when their father had moved the rest of the family into the Emperor's wing, and had hated the change, since it had taken him away from Richard. Richard's the first one in the family to get a house for his wedding, and it's Prince Xav's old house. Their father had grown up here for a time, but Uncle Aral had told Richard more about it than Father had. But Uncle Aral had started taking all the younger Vorbarras even more under his wing after whatever happened with Alexander.

"Then I have no idea," Richard says. "I'll have to ask Alexander when it's his turn."

Ivan makes a face, but doesn't say anything about Alexander. Ivan's been avoiding Alexander, or Alexander's been avoiding Ivan, or they've both been doing it to each other. They were together at the wedding and at the banquet, but at the wedding, Ivan had been standing as Richard's second, and at the banquet, Ivan hadn't said a word to Alexander. He'd covered it well; Richard doesn't think anyone would have noticed if they weren't looking for it. Richard had been looking for it.

The family spends a little more time together through the rest of Alexander's leave. Marina has cleaved herself to Helen and to Mother, which, Richard thinks, just shows that she was a good choice. There's a chance that Marina could be the Empress one day, and so following Mother's example is the best thing for that. That's important, and it's far more important than Richard worrying himself over his younger brother.

Richard tries to play peacemaker as much as he can, feeling like the family rift was partially his fault, but Alexander doesn't want him to. Ivan, when Richard finally gets him to say anything at all about it, just shrugs it off. "He's determined to be the black sheep of the family," Ivan says. And there's far more to Alexander's banishment than Richard was told, and it's really a banishment now. Coming back a lieutenant for Richard's wedding would be a great opportunity for Father to reassign Alexander and set everything up for Alexander to start looking to get married, but instead Alexander's going to head right back to his ship.

Alexander likes turning the knife, reminding them all that they aren't in perfect harmony. And Ivan's not helping. Alexander probably wants attention from his older brother. Ivan refuses to give it to him, not for Alexander's antics. Richard would be stuck in the middle, except Father hadn't let Alexander on-planet all that much. Which just means there's a lot more going on here than anyone's telling Richard and it feels like a rock in his stomach. He wants to make it better. He doesn't think he can. He doesn't know if anyone can, if Alexander doesn't want it to be fixed, and Ivan won't let it. But it should be fixed. It needs to be fixed.

Richard was given Prince Xav's house as a wedding present. The legacy is terrifying. He's never going to betray Ivan. But everything is a reminder. This has happened before. It could always happen again.

And, from the looks of things, it seems like that his father and Ivan both think that if it happens again, it's going to be Alexander who does it.



6.

"Why is Alexander writing to you under a captain's seal to tell you he's marrying a Komarran?" Ivan asks. Richard finishes waking up and decides he's not going to shoot his brother. Any of his brothers.

"What?" Richard asks. Then that filters in to his brain. "Um, at a guess, to test the security of his captain's seal."

Ivan waves that away. Neither Political Education nor ImpSec are supposed to open sealed correspondence, which means that either someone ordered them to or someone at HQ was really concerned about one prince writing to another one in a way that's supposed to bypass all security measures. Richard wonders if they were concerned about plots or about death threats.

But it's Alexander. Maybe everything he writes under seal is opened.

"Why are you reading my mail?" Richard asks, pulling the blankets back up. He's going back to sleep, just as soon as he can get Ivan to leave. Richard's been working nights at HQ, dealing with the supply problems in Vorreedi's capital, Ivan knows that. "Father's delegating?"

"I'm supposed to exercise my authority as heir to my House and deal appropriately with cadet members," Ivan recites.

"So you show up in the middle of my sleep cycle and ambush me with family gossip," Richard interprets, yawning. "So, who is this Komarran?"

"I don't know and neither does his security," Ivan says, which is probably why he'd shown up himself instead of dismissing this as family gossip or letting this wait. A prince getting married is a political event and a security nightmare, and that's without adding interplanetary strife to it. Richard hadn't spent much time looking for a Komarran to marry and even he knows that, and he'd never even started looking around for any actual Komarrans willing to marry a Vorbarra prince.

"Has he met any Komarrans?" Richard asks reasonably. That sort of contact would get reported back by about seventeen different people on Alexander's ship.

"Oh, hundreds," Ivan says. "He's been on escort duty, you remember."

No, Richard does not remember, because he wasn't granted need-to-know about his younger brother's assignment. "Voila," he says instead.

Ivan opens his mouth to give a no-doubt-scathing response to that, but before he can, the door squeaks open tentatively and Richard groans. Isabelle runs in.

"Uncle Ivan!" she shouts and throws herself at him. Ivan, dealing appropriately with cadet members of House Vorbarra, lifts his niece into his arms and swings her around, before dumping her on Richard's bed.

"This is your fault, she's supposed to be napping," Richard tells his brother, but obligingly sits up. Isabelle's nanny should be coming in soon. If Ivan had shown up trailing his security, there's probably only one place her charge would be.

"Your fault," Ivan returns, "you're the one getting weird mail from our brother. Is getting married to a Komarran some sort of code? Or is he serious?"

"Who's getting married?" Isabelle asks. "Is it Uncle Alexander? Can I come? I have a new dress, Uncle Ivan. I can wear my new dress!"

'Your fault', Richard mouths at his brother, then gets out of bed to put his daughter back into hers.

It takes thirty minutes and a lot of screaming, but Isabelle goes down for her nap, and Richard has to reassure Ma Rostov six times that he's not upset, that he knows an Imperial visit is an exciting thing for four-year-olds to deal with, even for a princess who sees her-uncle-the-Crown-Prince all the time.

"I am actually somewhat serious," Ivan says, over the coffee that Richard's servants had fetched them. "Do you know why he's writing you official correspondence under seal?"

"To make you panic," Richard suggests. There's no good reason for Alexander to be sending Richard official correspondence about anything short of congratulating him on a child, and Marina isn't pregnant. No wonder this got opened. "It's his latest revenge on me for being friendly." And it actually might be. "Or he's got a terrible sense of humor or he's still mad about when we were kids. Pick one. Can I actually see my mail, or is it confiscated for the good of the Imperium?"

Ivan begrudgingly hands it over and as Richard skims it, he sees why. It's short, extremely so. It has no details. It makes reference to no prior conversations or correspondence. Alexander's signature at the bottom doesn't have either of his ranks attached to it. No wonder Ivan's being paranoid. Alexander's being obnoxious and clearly knew this would be opened before it ever made it to Richard. This might have been addressed to Richard, but it wasn't for him. It was for their father. It was for Ivan. And Richard's in the middle again, and no way to fix it.

This absolutely is revenge on Richard for even trying to fix it in the first place.

"Well, at a guess, he's fallen drastically in love with a Komarran, in a way that ImpSec and Political Education haven't noticed, and he's decided to tell me that he's getting married instead of our parents. Either that or he's forgotten which of us is which and meant to send it to you."

"Did he ever talk to you about wanting to marry a Komarran?" Ivan asks.

Richard shrugs. "Oh, probably. I might have talked about it to him when I was thinking of doing it myself. I don't remember if he had any interest in it at the time. Maybe since then, he'd seen the appeal of distancing himself from plots." Unlikely, given that this is Alexander. "Or maybe he wants to invalidate his children from inheriting. The Counts might have accepted a Betan's grandson under duress, with no other option, but they wouldn't accept a Komarran's son. Maybe he's decided that since I was going to do it, then I'm sympathetic enough to tell first. And I also don't have the authority to tell him not to do it."

"Invalidate the children and leave the family propagation to you and Nicholas?" Ivan asks skeptically. "You've been married six years and have one child."

That stings. "We can't all be our parents," Richard says. "It's not that easy for everyone. Speaking of our father getting shoved through the Counts. None of us are sterile."

"Neither was Ezar, according to Uncle Aral, and if anyone would know, it's the Vorkosigans." Ivan idly pokes at the letter. There's clearly no more answers that could come from it. "Maybe Uncle Aral is the one who told him to marry a Komarran, then. You know how he is about Komarr."

"Yes, I know." Uncle Aral takes everything about Komarr extremely personally. Father's put him in charge of Imperial policy toward it and it's still not enough for Uncle Aral. It would be like him to get a prince to marry a Komarran. "You can ask Uncle Aral that if you want. I'll write Alexander back, ask him when the wedding is and tell him that Isabelle wants to wear her new silver dress. The rest of it is up to you, your highness," Richard says. "I'm going back to bed unless you object."

"By all means, don't stand on ceremony," says the man who had only been allowed to wake him up because he's the Vorbarra heir.

Richard stands, then rubs at his neck. He suddenly feels very old. "Honestly, Ivan, you know he did this to make me experience just one second of the suspicion he gets every single day of his life. If there's a side effect of informing our parents of his impending marriage, that's very secondary." And pulling stunts like this isn't going to get him out from under suspicion any faster. But try telling that to Alexander.

"He brought it on himself," Ivan says.

"Yes, but we didn't stop him." Richard doesn't know everything about what happened with Alexander, but he knows enough to know that something very, very bad happened and it shouldn't have. Richard's older than Alexander. He should have prevented it.

Ivan grimaces. "You're responsible for your own treason. You can't just blame your brothers. Alexander still blames us, but you shouldn't blame us, too."

The family-approved details of what had happened with Alexander could only, under very specific light, be categorized as treason. Richard would never use that word to describe what he had heard. But Ivan had gotten everything, and if Ivan is saying this, then Richard should believe him. And he shouldn't push for more. But Alexander's been constantly trying to pull Richard into his games and Richard's now in the middle of it enough that Ivan had come and woken him up just to make sure that it's only one of his brothers who likes treason and not two of them. "Was it something I could have prevented?" Richard asks.

"Alexander should have prevented it." Ivan rubs at his eyes. "Richard, I can't tell you more. Appeal to Father if you really can't live with your curiosity. But I will tell you that Alexander's antics aren't helping in the slightest to make me think he won't do it again. He's lucky he's testing Father's patience and not mine, because I don't have any left with him. You can try to make friends with him all you like, but I can't stand to look at him. His sense of humor is too much like--" and Ivan stops himself, and Richard winces in sympathy. He knows what Ivan was going to say. Emperor Yuri had, notoriously, liked his jokes. And his jokes were frequently lethal. That's not a comparison you make about your younger brother unless you mean what you're saying. Unless you're willing to stand behind those words to anyone. To the Emperor.

And Richard will stand behind Ivan no matter what. It's what he's done his entire life. And, when it comes down to it, he trusts Ivan more than he'll ever trust Alexander. It's not a choice for him.

And it wouldn't be a choice for Father either. And Father hasn't made it. So one probably isn't necessary.

Richard just wishes he could believe that as much as he used to. He'd thought this would blow over. It's been nine years. That should be long enough. But it hasn't blown over yet at all. Alexander keeps turning that knife and needling Ivan. And whatever Alexander had done, Richard is increasingly convinced, had had to do with Ivan. Not their father. Alexander had gone for Ivan.

Richard rubs at his forehead, wishing his headache would go away, wishing most of all that he could go back to when he was ten years old and hit himself over the head for doing this to his family. But that's not fair. It's only Alexander who is like this. None of his sisters are looking for husbands with the idea of overthrowing their eldest brother. And Nicholas is perfectly loyal. It's just Alexander who got himself into this mess and isn't getting himself out of it. That's not Richard's fault. It's not.

But he'll probably never convince himself of that.



7.

They give in to the inevitable and use the pills for their second child. If the Imperium is to eventually go to Richard's son, then Richard needs to have a son. It feels somewhat dishonorable, like he's cheating. But it gives them a son.

Father had given all of his sons the name Xav as a middle name both to honor his grandfather and to annoy Ezar, who couldn't complain about it no matter how much he hated it, but then Father had also named the colony planet after Xav. Xav's been honored. There's no need to continue the naming tradition. Richard should probably break the tradition now or Vorbarras for the rest of the eternity will have to bear that name. And Richard isn't going to doom generations unknown to that fate. It's time to make a clean break. He'll free his son from the legacy that Richard has to bear.

Castor Sebastian Vorbarra is born when Richard is thirty-two years old. By the time his father was his age, he'd already had six children. But Richard doesn't need that. One heir's probably enough; he does still have two younger brothers to do their duty for House Vorbarra, and Nicholas and Olivia's first son is due in a few months. If Richard can manage a second son, that would be fine, but he still feels guilty for cheating.

Marina takes the birth of their son as an excuse to spend more time in her family's district and, after Castor's turned eight months old and is spending more time with little Aral Vorbarra than not, Ivan comes over to visit, bearing truly vile alcohol.

"The ImpSec summaries were that concerning?" Richard asks him. But he doesn't refuse the maple mead. It's not like Marina's going to divorce him. It was a political marriage and there's still plenty of politics yet to be had. He supposes, maudlin, they can't all be like his parents, who had found some kind of love for each other. There'd been a time when Richard had been convinced his parents were a love match, because they'd gotten along so well. Maybe it had ruined his expectations. Maybe this is perfectly normal and his idea of normal was just screwed up by his parents being his parents. He's always idolized them. Maybe it's about time that came back to bite him.

"No, but the fact that I found out about it from one was," Ivan says. "You're supposed to tell me these things, you idiot. I didn't even know you were having marital problems."

"I'm not," Richard waves his hand vaguely. "We get along. We just don't have much to say to each other. But everything we say is very polite. But if she has other things she prefers to do..." Richard tips his head back and tries to think. "She's coming back in three weeks. She's not leaving for good."

"It's her fourth trip since Midsummer," Ivan says, and Richard knows that.

"We can't all be perfect and in love with our wives," Richard says dully. "My fault. I could have had a love match. Didn't want one."

"Do you want one now?" Ivan asks.

Richard snorts. "No," he says. Richard might have some regrets, but that's not one of them. That is, empathetically, not one. He doesn't regret his marriage. He couldn't have made a better one. He certainly could have made a worse one. "I've never fallen in love for more than a month, you know that. That's a terrible thing to build a marriage on. At least Marina came in with the same expectations I did. My god, to watch passion disappear and collapse into dust because there was nothing beneath it... I'd die. You and Helen are actually in love. How do you manage?"

"With a therapist at ImpMil sworn to secrecy on pain of quartering," Ivan says and Richard sits up from where he's been slumping.

"Are you-- really? You never said anything." Richard feels vaguely betrayed. Maybe that's how Ivan felt when he'd had to find out from a security briefing that Richard's wife is spending as little time as possible with him.

"Five people know," Ivan says. "Six, with you now."

"Where did we get a marriage therapist with the security clearance to talk to you?" Richard asks.

"We sent three military therapists to Escobar for training and then Helen and I chose from them. Do you want me to put you in touch with him or our discards?"

Richard shakes his head. "What's there to save? Sometimes things are disinterest, not disaster. She won't divorce a prince. And our marriage is a success, isn't it? We have two children and we never argue. So what that she prefers our mother's company to my own, or would rather be with her friends than with me. We've done what we've needed to. There's still Isabelle and Castor to raise, but we did all right without our parents being in love. And Helen is here all the time, and Isabelle thinks you hold the world on your shoulders. We're doing all right, for what we are."

"You could do better than 'all right'," Ivan says.

"You say that because you're in love with your wife," Richard dismisses. "Your standards for political marriages are wrong."

"Our standards for political marriages are our parents," Ivan corrects him, and damn him for being right.

"Damn you for being right," Richard says. "I don't know, Ivan. I think Mother's given up on me. But Mother and Father had to work together, and they had Ezar as a common enemy. They had to provide a united front. Marina can go off with her friends for two weeks without anyone official making it into something it's not. And you and Helen are always here, so Isabelle and Castor will see what it looks like when people are in love. And Nicholas and Olivia will probably be here about as often, and they're in love, too. It won't destroy the family."

Richard took so long to have his second child that Nicholas had time to finish school, get married, and get his wife pregnant. Castor and little Aral Vorbarra will be the same age, but while little Aral will get younger siblings, Castor won't. Nicholas had seemed a bit disgusted with his older brothers for failing their father's legacy. Alexander's married to a Komarran and all of his children will come out of uterine replicators in the Komarran style. Nicholas is the only one left to properly make more little Vorbarras. And Nicholas has made it clear that he fully intends to, and made it clear at how he feels about his brothers failing their parents's genetic legacy.

Poor Nicholas, Richard sometimes thinks. Richard has Ivan. Alexander has his bitterness. And then ten years later, there had been Nicholas, left alone at home with his sisters as his brothers left for school and ship duty. Nicholas has grown up watching Ivan have no children, watching Richard struggling to get any, and watching Alexander never being allowed home. It's no wonder Nicholas is practically a Vorkosigan. He married one, he had Piotr Vorkosigan stand at his second at his wedding, and he's named his son for Uncle Aral. Well, good. If anyone should desert the Vorbarras, best they go to the Vorkosigans, instead of what Alexander had done. Whatever Alexander had done.

Which makes Richard wonder. "Did Alexander get married for love? Or was that political? I never got any answer out of him." Alexander had had Richard stand as his second, but that hadn't meant anything other than that Alexander was determined to be annoying. It's not criminal, but it's also not helping.

"Political," Ivan says, his face twisted, and, oh, right, Richard's not supposed to make Ivan talk about Alexander. And Richard's so tired of that. He's tired of having to tip-toe around anything and everything to do with Alexander. This has been going on too long.

Richard's wife has mostly left him. He has two children, one of whom is old enough to realize what being a princess means. Ivan and Helen are practically Isabelle and Castor's second set of parents. And Richard is exhausted.

This wasn't what he'd ever expected. He's not sure this is what he'd ever even wanted.

But it was, wasn't it. He was the one who wanted a political marriage. And it's not even that his marriage is a disaster. It's not. It's perfectly fine. But maybe there's more than perfectly fine out there. But maybe there's not. Well, he's not going to look for it. He's going to be happy for what he has: a marriage that isn't a disaster, two children that he loves, and Ivan, who'll never abandon him. It's more than he'd have had otherwise.

"I'm so drunk," Richard says.

Ivan pats him on the shoulder. "Good, keep it up. Then we'll decide what we're going to do to celebrate me hitting my twenty next year."

Richard blinks at him. He thinks about that for a moment. "State visit to Komarr."

Ivan groans. "Stop being logical when you're drunk."



8.

Richard hits his twenty and immediately resigns his commission. Father had said he could have a few more years, but Richard doesn't need the favor. He's done what he's needed to do. And there's a lot more work at home. Father's starting to delegate more and more Imperial business to Ivan. Richard needs to be there to pick up Ivan's District work.

More and more, Richard is reminded of when they were young, when they'd both known that Richard would have to do the work of Count Vorbarra. He just hadn't expected that to start happening so soon.

They celebrate Richard's retirement informally at home. Richard's been given a new secretary for District matters. He has a full agenda ahead of him beginning tomorrow. But for tonight, he has his family. He has his children. He has Marina. He has Ivan and Helen.

Feeling maudlin, Richard goes out onto the balcony and rests his upper body on the railing. The lights of the city are spread out in front of him. It's beautiful. It's his.

"Regretting it now?" Marina asks him. The door to the balcony slides closed behind her.

Richard hasn't had all that many choices in his life, which is fine, he hadn't really wanted them. He doesn't regret letting his mother choose his wife. His destiny was chosen for him the moment he was born the second son. Sure, having to either be or provide an heir for Ivan was an unexpected detour, but in the end, it had still been like everything else in his life: in support of Ivan. At least it was easy. Richard never had to make any hard choices and he's glad for it.

"No," Richard says honestly. "Are you?"

Marina shrugs elegantly. "There were worse ways my life could have gone."

There's an excited shout from behind them as Ivan chases Castor and Isabelle around the room, Castor finally steady on his legs. It makes Richard's heart pang to see them, to know that Ivan can only have this happiness because he has family who can provide it for him. But he'll never have it himself.

When Richard looks back to Marina, she's still looking at their children, a fond soft look on her face.

"I've missed you," Richard admits. He doesn't need Ivan's marriage therapist to tell him why she's wanted to be away from here. The pressure of having to produce a future Emperor had taken its toll on them both. Richard had always loved sleeping with her, but doing it with the pressure of the entirety of House Vorbarra at his back hadn't been pleasant. It had been bad for both of them. It had been worse for her. He understands. He doesn't begrudge Marina's absences. But he misses her. He's never been good at sleeping alone.

But he understands now what his father was warning him about the night before his wedding. It's isn't that sex is difficult, it's that performing while the Imperium is relying on you is a completely different matter. In the end, it's consumed his marriage whole. But they have an heir for Ivan now. Richard would give his life for Barrayar; it's not too much to ask for him to have given his marriage for it instead.

"Have you been pining?" Marina asks. She slips her hand into his and squeezes it.

"Desperately," Richard says. "Withering away from the lack of you."

She laughs at him. "Poor Richard."

She's wearing the deep purple shawl that Helen had given her when Isabelle was born. It settles lightly around her shoulders. Her hair is graying and so is his. But they have an heir for Ivan. And that was what was needed from their marriage.

In that realm, at least, it's been a success.

"Will you stay?" Richard asks her.

She looks out into the night. She smiles slightly. "I think I might," she says.



9.

They're all huddled in the room, but only Ivan is near the bed with the doctors when their father breathes his last. Richard is watching as Ivan smooths his hands down his sides and turns.

"Richard," Ivan says, and Richard comes. He kneels and makes his oath to his Count and Emperor, his brother's hands around his for the first time. There is one long moment of perfect understanding between them before Ivan bids him stand.

Ivan works through their family in order, then the Prime Minister and the members of the government who had been called to attend the Emperor's deathbed. Only some of the children are in attendance, but Nicholas's youngest makes oath as well, needing no prompting.

Once the most urgent oaths are out of the way, Ivan dismisses them all, and bids Richard into his study. None of them have eaten since getting the call from the doctor that morning, but Richard only picks at the food laid out for them. They're only barely out of mourning for Mother, and now Father is dead. It's only them now. But this is what their lives have been meant for.

"I have to present my heir tomorrow," Ivan says, bone tired.

"You're thinking of skipping me and going to Castor?" Richard asks. It's not surprising; it's something he's been considering as well. He and Ivan are too close in age. It would be a waste of time for Richard to take up the duties of the Crown Prince. Castor's old enough now.

"It's occurred to me," Ivan agrees. "Of course, I could also drop dead next week and leave you bowing to your son for the next twenty years."

"True," Richard allows. "Although I suppose I could manage it. Dorca's father did, for however long it was that he had to." Dorca's father had managed to get himself spectacularly killed during one of Dorca's wars. Richard remembers one of their tutors suggesting that he'd done it deliberately because it was easier for an Emperor to not have his father watching his every step. But Castor isn't Dorca, for better or worse. Richard could live with it if he had to.

"Then there's the other idea," Ivan says. "Of not picking Castor."

Richard stills. "Is there a reason why not?" Ivan's been receiving the same intelligence briefings as their father for years, but what comes to Richard isn't ever complete. And now it's never going to be.

"I am troubled," Ivan says slowly, "by the question of if my highest responsibility is to ensure the best candidate is the next Emperor or if it's to ensure peace in the family. Primogeniture has no basis in Barrayaran law, it's only that it makes everything easier. But Counts don't do it, why should I? Why shouldn't I pick the best one of my nephews?"

"Or your brothers," Richard says. If Ivan's going to skip Richard all together, he may as well look elsewhere. "Nicholas is young enough and I have no objection to him."

"But then Alexander," Ivan finishes for him. "I could tear this family apart. I could undo what Father spent years doing, of rebuilding the Vorbarras. I could have civil war tomorrow. Or I could trust everyone to mean their oaths and keep them."

Richard would love to trust everyone to keep their oaths. He really would. But he's not sure if that's a foolish hope. "What did Father say about this?"

"That it was my problem to solve." Ivan shakes his head. Father had been delegating everything but the ceremonial bits to Ivan for years, and since Mother died, Ivan's been performing most of the ceremonies of the Imperium as well. It would make sense for Father to consider this one more thing for Ivan to decide for himself. "Castor's had twenty-seven years of thinking himself born to be Emperor. Would he really step aside for someone else?"

"Would you have, if Father had changed his heir?" Richard asks. It's nowhere near the same thing, but it's the closest they would get. Castor's never been presented as heir, but, yes, all his life, he's been aware that Ivan had had no children. All his life, Castor has thought it would come to him. And Ivan had doted on Castor. But Ivan's doted on all of the children.

"If Father had made the case to me why it was necessary, yes," Ivan says. "But it's easy to say that, when he never would have done it. And there are no direct objections to Castor, other than, well, young Aral is a better choice. Nicholas himself would be a better choice. But I can't delay the Counts. It would show weakness and there are too many vultures circling."

"If you cut Castor out, that would also show weakness," Richard says. "Everyone expects it to be him eventually, either directly or through me. They don't like surprises. They'll assume there is some sort of scandal. It would destroy Castor. And young Aral would have too much scrutiny on him. Every mistake he would make would be one that Castor would be perceived to never have done."

"Yes," Ivan agrees. "Hence my problem. Castor isn't-- if generals came to him with plots against Aral, he might agree with them. He would let his friends sway his mind. He could be convinced of anything. If someone wants to use him, he'll be used. If I don't make him my heir, I'll need to send him far away and I'll need to make it clear that he is in disgrace. But he's done nothing to deserve it other than not being the best choice."

"My son serves Barrayar," Richard says. "If that's how he's to serve, he'll do it."

"But he won't understand why," Ivan says. "If I sent you away, you'd know why and you'd accept it, you can see the options and why I made my decision. You wouldn't like it, but you'd keep your oath and you'd live with whatever I chose for you."

Richard shrugs, allowing the point.

"I suppose I also could not, in good conscience, allow someone to be Emperor of Barrayar who would allow himself to be a puppet." Ivan considers his hands, now holding the Empire between them. "Emperor Ezar did not allow it. Father did not allow it. Father would rise from the dead and kill me if I ever allowed it in myself. I can't give this to someone who wouldn't know how to stop it, who can't guard against it. You'll tell me your son can learn, but he's shown no sign of it. In any other family, I could consign him to being a member of a cadet branch all his life and leave him to enjoy himself in his pursuits so long as he didn't shame the House. There are enough listless Vor lords cluttering up my capital. But I can't make one of them the Emperor."

"You won't make one of them the Emperor," Richard corrects, because Ivan doesn't lie to himself and Richard doesn't want him to start lying to Richard to spare his feelings. "Well, very well. It'll have to be Nicholas, then. You can skip me for my age and you can skip Castor for being stupid, and you can skip Alexander for marrying a Komarran, but you have no reason to skip Nicholas in preference of his own son."

Ivan sighs. "But then Alexander," he says. "It would be clear that I'm deliberately skipping him. And everyone would wonder why. It would re-open every wound. Admirals would flock to him and offer him their support. They like him far more than they like me. And so I won't do that. I could make Alexander the viceroy of Komarr. I could make Castor the viceroy of Xavyar. And then I'd split the Empire into thirds, each one with their own power. And so I won't do it. But if I choose Nicholas, he'll have Castor and Alexander at him constantly."

"Alexander removed himself with his marriage and his children, everybody knows that," Richard says. "That's why he married Rachel. No one would expect you to let him give this to his half-Komarran sons. Alexander knows he's not a candidate. You can choose who you want, but even Alexander knows it won't be him. Not when there are so many other candidates. If you want to save face in front of Komarr, say that Alexander is too close in age to us. But Nicholas is sixteen years younger than you and he has a whole parcel of children. I only managed two. You managed none. An Emperor needs an heir and Nicholas has plenty for him to choose from, when it's time for that. Pick him instead." It would be so much easier if Ivan did. Richard won't fight for his own son, but there's no point in going to Aral when Ivan could simply choose Aral's father instead.

But it would be easier for Richard. It would be easier for Nicholas. It may not be easier for Ivan. Aral is young. That might matter more to Ivan than anything else. He never had a son of his own.

"You're right," Ivan says. "Alexander made his choices and so did the rest of us. It's only now left for us to live with them. It has to be Aral."

"Oh?" Richard asks.

"I'll skip you and Nicholas and you two don't deserve to be skipped. I'll skip Castor and Alexander and they do deserve it. Aral's young enough, his mother's a Vorkosigan, we're publicly acknowledging that Aral Vorkosigan had the same right, if not better, than our father had. It'll throw everything up into chaos enough that Castor won't be the one singled out as being unsuitable to rule. You'll keep an eye on Castor, I'll keep an eye on Alexander, and Nicholas will learn how to bow to his own son."

"Is that your decision?" Richard asks his Emperor.

Ivan nods. "Yes."

"All right," Richard says. It seems inadequate. He should have defended his own son's claim better. But Ivan's right. Richard won't ignore his son's faults. Castor wouldn't be the best choice and there's no reason to choose him when there are better ones. Castor and Aral are the same age and yet the differences between them are stark and undeniable. Young Aral's taken after his namesake. Castor's taken after no one in particular. Castor always was more interested in playing at his piano than playing soldier, and it's only gotten worse as he's gotten older. And as for Nicholas, Richard will leave it to him to fight over this with Ivan. "You'll have to tell them all individually or you'll have trouble. If I'm there when you tell Castor, he'll blame me. And he'll be right to."

"If you're not there, he'll leave my presence and immediately go to you, thinking you can convince me," Ivan says, and he's right. "It's always been the two of us, Richard. You can't break us apart and everyone knows it."

"I am, as ever, your loyal stirrup-man," Richard says. Ivan may have expected Richard to put up more of a fight, but what really could he say? Ivan will need an heir who could do the job tomorrow, if need be. That's not Castor. Castor might be able to learn, but he's not capable now, and there's no reason to risk it, not when he could choose Aral instead and not take the risk. Some things are more important than Richard's pride, and Imperial succession is one of them. If there's one thing their father ever successfully taught Richard, it's that.

"And so you'll witness. And if you can draw their ire, then by all means. But it's my decision and I am their Emperor and they will abide by it."

And Richard doesn't want to doubt his younger brother and he certainly doesn't want to doubt his son. But... "You'll want a visible ImpSec presence during their audiences."

Ivan nods, his face drawn. "If it comes to that. And I can restrict them to quarters tonight if I must. They're going to have to stand in Vorhartung tomorrow with the family for the formal ceremony to present Aral. If they need a knife to their back to get them to stand there, then so be it."

Richard had been thirteen when Father had presented Ivan to the Counts and Ministers as his heir. Father had taken them all to the floor the night before so they'd know what to expect. Anna and Tamar had been considered too young to attend. Nicholas, Margot, and Galina hadn't been born yet. There are a lot more Vorbarras now to wear mourning for the Emperor. They'd never really mourned Ezar; Richard misses Father so much it hurts.

"What does Helen think about all this?" Richard asks.

Ivan shrugs, too careful to be casual. "I've barely brought it up with her. It's been years since she really felt guilty about never giving me an heir, but now that I have to pick one, it's bringing up too many bad memories of the worst of our marriage. I suspect she'd rather I picked you and left the choice of what happened after that to you, and absolve myself of all guilt in the choice. She likes Castor more than Aral, but that's because she's spent more time with Castor. Being fond of Castor doesn't qualify him in my eyes. I'm fond of Castor, too. But I can't ignore--"

"You can't ignore that Nicholas did a better job than I did," Richard interrupts, not eager to hear more criticism of his son or his parenting, even if it is warranted. Isabelle had been the apple of her grandparents's eye, the first grandchild, and she had still moved to Earth and hasn't been home in a decade. And Castor is... Castor. Richard loves him, but he also knows him. If Ivan did have to send Castor away, Castor might thank him. He did always want to be a composer more than he ever wanted to be a soldier. But young Aral takes after Uncle Aral. He's proper Vor.

"Father would often talk to me of the problem of too many Vorbarras," Ivan says, forgiving the interruption. "I'm well-aware that I'm making it worse, Richard. I don't have an heir, so it's easy for me to pick and choose amongst my relatives. But Aral's children won't thank me for this precedent. Neither will their cousins. I'm aware that this could leads to another Vorbarra bloodbath. But I have to rule the planet I have and I have to choose my successor based on what I think is best for the planet right now, not how it will be in fifty years. Who knows, in fifty years, we could have a damned Betan democracy and all be dead. I can't be too scared of the future to act now. So it won't be Castor. And if I'm destroying this family, I'll accept the consequences."

"Your will, my liege," Richard says. "Aral first?"

Ivan nods. "Aral first."

"He try to might refuse," Richard says, standing up. Aral might think of Nicholas before he'd think of anything else.

Ivan shakes his head. "No," he says, sounding sure of it. "He won't."

Before the audiences, Ivan changes into his new House Blacks, the ones with the correct designation for him now as Count-and-Emperor. Richard feels his grief deeply looking at him. For most of Richard's life, that uniform has meant his father. It will now never mean his father again. At least his own uniform will never change. Ivan's spared him that, at least, by not making him his heir.

The audiences go quickly. Richard remains silent through them all, serving as Ivan's witness. And, perhaps, a reassuring presence, one that Ivan might feel he needs as he confronts his family. It should properly be Helen, but she's still on Komarr with Julia. And so it's Richard, as it always has been, the two of them standing firm against the tidal wave of their family.

Aral stammers his acceptance and the acknowledgment of the great honor done to him. He looks stunned, truly and deeply. Ivan must have investigated him even more thoroughly that the normal surveillance before making this decision, but it must not have been in a way Aral would think would lead to Aral becoming the Crown Prince. But Ivan's never let out a whisper of considering anyone other than Castor. There's no reason for Aral to have ever suspected.

Nicholas is only slightly less shocked than his son. He spends half the audience staring directly at Richard, which amuses Ivan. Richard doesn't understand the joke, but he'll let it pass.

Alexander hadn't expected it to be him. Richard can see in his face when he expects to hear Richard's name and then hears Aral's. It's very firm. Alexander hadn't expected it to be him, but to be passed over and like like, hits him deep in his pride. But he inclines his head to his brother and says nothing injudicious.

Castor cries. Ivan catches Richard's eye across the room and spreads his hands to present the scene before them without comment. Richard understands. It's his failure; he didn't raise a son worthy to be Emperor. Their parents had raised three sons worthy to become Emperor, and Richard didn't even manage that with the one son he did have.

Castor is still sniffling when Ivan calls in the rest of the family to tell them his decision. Ivan looks every inch the Emperor and Richard wishes their parents could have seen this. Ivan is doing what he must for the continuance of the Empire, what he has been taught every day of his life to do. And Richard is upholding his part as well, standing at his brother's side, ready to assist him in any way. It eases some of the ache. This is what their parents had wanted. This is what their lives have been sculpted for. And perhaps it's not ideal; Ivan has no sons of his own, Richard made a mess of his marriage. But success is what they make it and Richard will gladly die to give Ivan just one inch of ground in a battle. Giving up his son's claim doesn't, in the end, signify.

"Father," Castor starts, then his breath runs out and he can only stare at Richard.

"Aral will need your support now," Richard tells him. Castor rubs at his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Castor."

"Are you really?" Castor asks.

"For a great deal." Richard looks over Castor's bent head at Nicholas. Nicholas still looks slightly mystified, like he also doesn't understand how Richard could put someone else's son above his own. "Everyone will be looking to you, Castor. You need to show them the way. Do you understand? Your loyalty must be loud and public or the family will suffer."

Castor nods and Richard dearly hopes he understands. It's never been Castor's loyalty that was suspect, it was his sense. But his loyalty has never been tested like this.

"Come," Richard bids him. With the succession decision over, the family mourning can begin. Tamar has already started passing out Father's favorite whiskey and there's thankfully food set out; no one's eaten today and now they'll be drinking. Richard had heard Ivan give orders to the armsmen; no one will be permitted to drink to excess, not with emotions so high about young Aral. But they can still toast Father. "Did I ever tell you about the time your grandfather accidentally locked me and your aunt Sonia in the stables in the mountains?"

Castor shakes his head. "I miss Grandfather," he admits, his voice still shaking.

Richard puts his arm around his son. "So do I," he says.



10.

There are voices coming from the alcove. It's Ivan and Alexander, Richard sees. Drawn together now that Father isn't here to keep them apart.

"Oh? Might it be because you tried to kill me?" Ivan is saying, his voice rising on every word. The room immediately goes completely silent. Richard's never seen anything shut his family up like that before. He feels frozen, caught in place. It's everything he'd never dared think it could be. It's the worst nightmare. It's nothing he had anticipated. It's everything he should have.

"I didn't try to--" Alexander starts.

"You mean you didn't intend to try to kill me. There's a difference." Ivan's voice is cold, unyielding.

"I was--"

"Be quiet, Alexander," Ivan orders. He turns around to see the entire room gaping at him. He looks toward Richard. And Richard feels caught. He's never felt like he had to choose a side. His side was already chosen for him his entire life. It was always Ivan. But he'd tried to keep the family together. He'd tried to keep Alexander as one of them. And he'd known Ivan hadn't liked it. But he hadn't known-- he hadn't known this.

Richard takes a step forward without consciously deciding to do it. Marina catches his arm. He looks at her. She shakes her head. And she's right. There's no room for Richard here. This is between Ivan and Alexander. This is something that has been brewing since they were all younger than Richard's children are. This was something that was always going to explode. Father had held it back. But Father's not here anymore.

"Ivan," Alexander starts desperately, in defiance of the order they all heard. He looks about a minute away from going to his knees, the way he had an hour ago, the way they all had an hour ago.

Ivan looks back at him. "Now is hardly the time for you to decide to apologize." And then Ivan walks away from him.

Alexander sags back against the wall, but doesn't follow him. Richard wants to yell at him, to tell him to go after Ivan, to demand answers to any number of questions, but he's still frozen in place.

Conversation slowly picks up again around the room, but it's a lot quieter. Aral and Castor are huddled together in a corner and it relieves something deep inside Richard that their friendship, at least, has not been destroyed here tonight. Richard had never considered his family to be fragile, but-- Alexander had tried to kill Ivan. He'd never realized how far things could break. He hadn't realized--

But Father had. Father had known what kind of foundation he was building on. And he'd done what he could. No wonder Ivan had never blown up at Alexander before. Father must have been careful to never let it happen. Father knew the Vorbarras of old better than any of the family had. Father had done what he could.

And now Ivan's told the entire family what Alexander did. Ivan doesn't make mistakes like that; that was deliberate. Ivan hasn't merely passed over Alexander, he's now told the entire family why he did.

And Ivan's chosen Nicholas's son as his heir. It's nothing like what had happened between Ezar and Father. Ezar had had to adopt Father because he hadn't been a member of the House. Ivan could choose any member of his House with impunity. And he'd chosen the one he had considered the most worthy. But the precedent--

Richard had thought the family strong enough to handle the precedent. He hopes he was right. But he hadn't known.

But Ivan had known he hadn't known.

Richard finds a chair and lets his head drop back against it. The day's been long and it won't be over for two weeks, not until the end of formal state mourning. But it's all finished. Father's dead. Ivan's sworn his most vital vassals. Tomorrow, they're all going to stand in Vorhartung while Ivan collects the oaths of the rest of the Counts and presents young Aral. They'll bury Father. And life will go on. The Vorbarras will go on. They have to.

And throughout all of this, Alexander has been a traitor. And Richard never knew. What else doesn't he know? What else has Ivan had to keep from him that he never wanted to?

The room is slowly emptying out, Ivan speaking to everyone for a moment before allowing them to depart. They've all been confined to the Residence while Father slipped away; couldn't have any Vorbarra slipping out to set himself up as the Emperor. Richard had thought that paranoia to be quaint. But he hadn't known. He hadn't known.

But they can leave now; they've made their oaths. Richard sees Marina with Tamar. He doesn't see Castor or Aral.

Richard watches Ivan come over to him and makes to stand. Ivan gestures him down.

"Richard," Ivan says. It sounds, suddenly, like when Ivan would slip into his room back when they were children, when Ivan would huddle under the covers with him and shake and shake and shake, because of Father, because of Emperor Ezar, because of everything that came with being the eldest, because of pressures Richard would never experience, because Ivan would shelter him from them, while no one sheltered Ivan.

And Richard has only ever had one answer. "Here," he says.

"I owe you the truth," Ivan says, settling down across from him. "Father forbade me from telling anyone, but specifically from telling you."

Yes, but Richard should have taken a hint. He shouldn't have tried to make peace between Ivan and Alexander when he hadn't even known what was broken. When even he could see that neither of them wanted to. "I should have paid more attention," he says.

"How would you have known to?" Ivan says. "You thought more of Father than to think that Alexander would try to kill me and he'd do nothing about it because he was so worried about becoming Uncle Yuri."

Could that have been it? Could that have been all of it? "Was it truly accidental?" Richard asks.

"Alexander says so and Father believed him. Sometimes even I believe it," Ivan says. "And so Father gave him a very comfortable exile, which gave him the opportunity to consolidate a powerbase of his own. And Father allowed it. And Alexander speaks to me only to turn the knife of what he did and got away with and how he would do it again. And Father allowed it. But I won't allow it."

"What are you going to do?" Richard asks.

Ivan's eyes go distant. "I've thought about that a lot. Even if it wasn't an accident, he has never changed his behavior toward me. He played nice to Father, but I'm the one he tried to kill. And so I'm going to start with revenge for the silence: everyone is going to know he is a traitor."

"And after that?" Richard asks, not sure he wants to know the answer.

"That's going to rather depend on Alexander," the Emperor says.

Richard inclines his head. "Your will, my liege."

"Prince Richard," Ivan says in return. "You're allowed to tell me when you think I'm wrong."

"I don't know if you're wrong," Richard says honestly. "I don't think he's a threat to you, but an hour ago, I didn't know he tried to kill you. I don't know Alexander the way you do."

"You know Alexander much better than I do," Ivan corrects. "He's been needling me for our entire lives, but you try to get along with him. You've tried to be friends with him. I have spies, but you have experience."

In the five years since Alexander's been recalled permanently from his fleet and given a solid Headquarters position, Richard can count on both hands the number of times they've voluntarily socialized outside of family events. "Is the only time he tried to kill you when we were all kids?" Richard asks.

"Yes," Ivan says simply. "Everything else has been empty threats. I even have three intelligence services that are fairly certain he won't try to usurp me. If Father had handled this properly, I'd do nothing to him."

But Father didn't handle this properly. Richard understands. And there's still the chance that Alexander never tried to kill Ivan again because Father was careful to never give him the opportunity. "And so if he takes this humiliation well, you'll do nothing more to him?"

Ivan nods. "He lost his honor then, but no one knew about it. Now everyone will know about it. I'm willing to allow that to be all the cost he pays."

"All right," Richard says. He can't imagine having everyone know about his own dishonor, but then again, he never tried to murder one of his brothers. "That seems fair enough."

"I doubt Alexander agrees," Ivan says. "But then again, he's never thought he did anything wrong. I wronged him by being eldest."

Richard tries to remember how old they'd all been when Ivan had been named Crown Prince, when he'd been elevated above them all for good. How old was Alexander then, eight? Nine? "He couldn't have expected Father would break with primogeniture."

"I'm sure he thinks that if he'd been able to meet me on a field of battle to contest properly for the inheritance, he'd win," Ivan says. "But Father wouldn't let him compete for it, and the one time he tried the direct route, he failed. So he's settled for the lesser revenge of being annoying. And as Father would remind me again and again, that's not a threat. Mother told me once to be glad that Alexander was a coward, because if he wasn't, I'd wish he were."

Mother was never much for Alexander after his exile. But she'd been busy, and there'd been Nicholas and the girls, and then Helen, and then marrying off Richard, and-- "Father forgave Alexander and Mother didn't?"

"Mother wasn't the only survivor of a paranoid massacre," Ivan says. "So, yes. Mother saw his crime for what it was and what it revealed about him. Father would tell me to be understanding. Mother told me to never trust a traitor a second time. But you know how Mother felt about Vorbarras."

Mother always said she was descended from generals and knew how to lose, but Father was descended from Vorbarras, who refused to learn. Richard hadn't thought that was fair, but he also thinks his father agreed with her.

"You can tell me if I'm being too needlessly bloodthirsty," Ivan says. "I hope you will."

Richard finds it within himself to shrug. "You've been thinking about this a lot longer than I have." He looks around the room again, Helen's absence suddenly glaring. "Did you ever tell Helen?"

"I wasn't allowed to, but she knows how I feel about Alexander," Ivan says.

Oh.

"Is she going to come back while he's still alive?" Richard asks. Helen had gone to Komarr a month ago. That she hasn't come rushing back should tell Richard enough.

"She's going to wait and see," Ivan says. He nearly smiles. "She doesn't want to see what I'm going to have to do."

Oh.

"That's what you have me for," Richard says and Ivan smiles genuinely, full of relief.

"Yes, I do," he says, and grips Richard's hand.



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