Winterfair Gifts

Lois McMaster Bujold

Chapters (4)

Title Page

Winterfair Gifts

Lois McMaster Bujold

Cover design by Passageway Pictures, Inc.

“Winterfair Gifts” - first appeared in the anthology IRRESISTIBLE FORCES, edited by Catherine Asaro (New American Library 2004) and also in MILES IN LOVE (Baen Books 2008)

Books by Lois McMaster Bujold

Vorkosigan Series

Falling Free

Shards of Honor

Barrayar

The Warrior's Apprentice

Borders of Infinity

The Vor Game

Cetaganda

Ethan of Athos

Brothers in Arms

Mirror Dance

Memory

Komarr

A Civil Campaign

“Winterfair Gifts”

Diplomatic Immunity

CryoBurn

Chalion Series

The Curse of Chalion

Paladin of Souls

The Hallowed Hunt

The Wide Green World Series

The Sharing Knife, Vol. 1: Beguilement

The Sharing Knife, Vol. 2: Legacy

The Sharing Knife, Vol. 3: Passage

The Sharing Knife, Vol. 4: Horizon

Winterfair Gifts

From Armsman Roic's wristcom the gate guard's voice reported laconically, "They're in. Gate's locked."

"Right," Roic returned. "Dropping the house shields." He turned to the discreet security control panel beside the carved double doors of Vorkosigan House's main entry hall, pressed his palm to the read-pad, and entered a short code. The faint hum of the force shield protecting the great house faded.

Roic stared anxiously out one of the tall, narrow windows flanking the portal, ready to throw the doors wide when m'lord's groundcar pulled into the porte-cochère. He glanced no less anxiously down the considerable length of his athletic body, checking his House uniform: half-boots polished to mirrors, trousers knife-creased, silver embroidery gleaming, dark brown fabric spotless.

His face heated in mortified memory of a less expected arrival in this very hall—also of Lord Vorkosigan with honored company in tow—and the unholy tableau they'd surprised with the Escobaran bounty hunters and the gooey debacle of the bug butter. Roic had looked an utter fool in that moment, nearly naked except for a liberal coating of sticky slime. He could still hear Lord Vorkosigan's austere, amused voice, as cutting as a razor-slash across his ears— Armsman Roic, you're out of uniform.

He thinks I'm an idiot.Worse, the Escobarans' invasion had been a security breach, and while he'd not, technically, been on duty—he'd been asleep, dammit—he'd been present in the house and therefore on call for emergencies. The mess had been in his lap, literally. M'lord had dismissed him from the scene with no more than an exasperated, Roic . . . get a bath, somehow more keenly excoriating than any bellowed dressing-down.

Roic checked his uniform again.