Three years after her famous husband's death, Cordelia Vorkosigan, Vicereine of Sergyar, stands ready to spin her life in a new direction. Oliver Jole, Admiral, Sergyar Fleet, finds himself caught up in her web of plans in ways he'd never imagined. Meanwhile, Miles Vorkosigan, one of Emperor Gregor's key investigators, this time dispatches himself on a mission, into a mystery he never anticipated--his own mother. Plans, wills, and expectations collide as the impact of galactic technology on the range of the possible changes all the old rules and Miles learns that not only is the future not what he expects, neither is the past"