Komarr is actually a garden with one thousand more years’ work, or an uninhabitable wasteland if the terraforming fails. Right now, the solar reflection vital to the terraforming from the conquered globe continues to be shattered with a dispatch hurtling off course. The Emperor of Barrayar transmits his newest imperial auditor, Lord Kilometers Vorkosigan, to learn why.

The choice isn’t a popular one on Komarr, where a betrayal a generation before drenched the name of Vorkosigan in bloodstream. Thus, the Komarrans surrounding Miles could possibly be loyal topics, potential hostages, innocent victims, or rebels ready for revenge.

Lies within lays, treachery within treachery, Miles is caught inside a race against time to stop a plot that could exile him from Barrayar forever. His burning up hope is based on an urgent ally, one with wounds as deep and honor as beleaguered as his personal.