[ It feels good to be hit. Every single blow is satisfying to his soul, somehow. He wants more, more brutally, more harshly, more ferociously. Wants her to hit him three times as hard four times as much. He leans almost lovingly into this latest slap. ]

Sonia, there has been no greater murderer - no greater abuser, murderer - of Barrayarans than Barrayarans. The Cetagandans are to us as a cold is to the plague.