Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his uneventful bachelor's life as a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. He is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. Thankfully, new heirs have directed that headache elsewhere, leaving Ivan to enjoy his life on Komarr, far from the court politics of his home system. But when an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect a young woman who may be on the hit list of a criminal syndicate, Ivan's chivalrous nature takes over.