Miles can't really deny that last point. Imperial Security does a damned good job of keeping the Empire's secrets, and there are a lot to keep. He flinches at that shift in accent, wondering if it sounds just as jarring and abrupt to others when he switches -- but he couldn't possibly have that stinging effect that his clone does.
But he doesn't lean away, just moves to fiddling with his coffee cup, swirling it idly, seeing if there are any last drops he can gather. One cup might not prove to be enough. He can feel some of the energy returning to him, but it feels disconnected, disjointed. It's not quite reaching the rest of his body.
"The charges against me were, specifically, conspiracy against the Emperor and the violation of Vorloupulous's Law -- an edict against assembling private militia beyond a certain capacity -- both of which constituted treason. The conspiracy plot was concocted by some other scheming Vor lord to be used against the Prime Minister -- dismissed once I actually managed to show up and made my case to Gregor. The whole plot sort of hinged on me not making it back on time for my hearing, or at all, because it was utter nonsense. But I did, technically, very much break Vorloupulous's Law by amassing the Dendarii in the way I did -- without even thinking about it."
Yes, he'd been seventeen, and yes, he'd been in a constant panic, trying to take things one crisis at a time, and yes, hindsight might be twenty-twenty -- but he still thinks about that private conference with Gregor and his father and Vorhalas and Henri, how agonizingly tense it had been.
"Vorhalas," he says, studying his empty coffee cup with an odd expression, "had a very serious grudge. He wanted my father to suffer in a very specific and exacting way. Even if they couldn't get me up on conspiracy, there was still plenty of rope to hang me with -- so to speak. As I'm sure you know, the official sentence for treason on Barrayar is death by public starvation and exposure." The thin smile on his face is bleak, razor sharp, but inward. "I explained it all to Gregor, how the Dendarii came to be, that entire debacle at Tau Verde -- everything. At that point, no official charges on that count had been brought before the Council. Gregor certainly had no interest in it. No one in the room but Vorhalas...Vorhalas made my father get on his knees in front of him and beg him for mercy. And my father did."
no subject
But he doesn't lean away, just moves to fiddling with his coffee cup, swirling it idly, seeing if there are any last drops he can gather. One cup might not prove to be enough. He can feel some of the energy returning to him, but it feels disconnected, disjointed. It's not quite reaching the rest of his body.
"The charges against me were, specifically, conspiracy against the Emperor and the violation of Vorloupulous's Law -- an edict against assembling private militia beyond a certain capacity -- both of which constituted treason. The conspiracy plot was concocted by some other scheming Vor lord to be used against the Prime Minister -- dismissed once I actually managed to show up and made my case to Gregor. The whole plot sort of hinged on me not making it back on time for my hearing, or at all, because it was utter nonsense. But I did, technically, very much break Vorloupulous's Law by amassing the Dendarii in the way I did -- without even thinking about it."
Yes, he'd been seventeen, and yes, he'd been in a constant panic, trying to take things one crisis at a time, and yes, hindsight might be twenty-twenty -- but he still thinks about that private conference with Gregor and his father and Vorhalas and Henri, how agonizingly tense it had been.
"Vorhalas," he says, studying his empty coffee cup with an odd expression, "had a very serious grudge. He wanted my father to suffer in a very specific and exacting way. Even if they couldn't get me up on conspiracy, there was still plenty of rope to hang me with -- so to speak. As I'm sure you know, the official sentence for treason on Barrayar is death by public starvation and exposure." The thin smile on his face is bleak, razor sharp, but inward. "I explained it all to Gregor, how the Dendarii came to be, that entire debacle at Tau Verde -- everything. At that point, no official charges on that count had been brought before the Council. Gregor certainly had no interest in it. No one in the room but Vorhalas...Vorhalas made my father get on his knees in front of him and beg him for mercy. And my father did."