In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Count Aral Vorkosigan is the Regent of Barrayar. He meets his wife Cordelia in the book Shards of Honor when they are on opposite sides of a war, and in the next book, Barrayar, they have a son, Miles Vorkosigan, who is the hero of most of the subsequent books in the series. Aral has been falsely accused of being the "Butcher of Komarr" and of having murdered his first wife.