Since he was four. His grandfather died, his dad was already dead. Uncle Aral's got a better claim to it, according to some, but-- ( ivan sighs, and figures he might as well explain the whole damn family tree. he's not used to this -- everyone knows this on barrayar. ) I've never had to explain this before, so just-- you know, draw it all on a flimsy or whatever. My great-grandfather, and Miles', was Prince Xav Aral Vorbarra. Son of Emperor Dorca and half brother to Emperor Yuri. Yuri didn't have any kids, at least none left alive by the time he became Emperor, and Xav had three -- two daughters and a son, and all of them had kids.

So, because we don't call him Mad Emperor Yuri for nothing, he decided to kill off the rest of his family in one go on the same night. My dad's first birthday. He, Uncle Aral, and Prince Xav were the only ones to survive -- and General Count Piotr Vorkosigan, who married one of Xav's daughters. ( STILL WITH HIM, CLARK? ) Which was a stupid thing to do, considering that the old General Count grabbed a distant Vorbarra cousin and teamed up with Prince Xav to overthrow Yuri. They succeeded, by the way -- the distant Vorbarra cousin was Gregor's grandfather. Anyway, Yuri ends up dismembered and scalped and Emperor Ezar marries Yuri's sister to help strengthen his claim to the camp stool.

But there's still all three of us, still hanging around. And Gregor won't name any of us as heir because he doesn't want us dead as much as we don't want him dead.

( he's third, clark. third. )

Yeah. Miles too, and Uncle Aral. None of us want it, and Gregor's the one that has to deal with it.