For a moment Potemkin is a government agent again, filing a piece of intelligence. It is immediately obvious why the First King having a covert spouse and offspring is something he's never heard of.

As a man, though, Potemkin is struck with a hurt that goes through his entire body, passing straight through his heart and landing at his feet on the ground. Because of who or what is a question the answers for disgust him. He would have scowled at his own emotions, but that would be interpreted wrong.

"That is something crucial," Potemkin tries to sound controlled but the strain tightens his voice. "You must have been suffering so much more than I knew," he says much more softly. Everyone had lost something, but now Potemkin realizes Ky feels the loss of a family