nothing left to lose

Kassander listened as she spoke of her children, and her son's children, and he felt a faint stab of pain in his heart. Hadn't Svetlana joined that pack to be with Leo? Were those... her children? Did he have nieces and nephews that she had never bothered to find him to tell him about? Was she even still alive? All questions he refused to bombard his infirm friend with, questions that he carefully tucked away. This wasn't about him and his problems. This wasn't about his dysfunctional, disappearing family, however much missing them might make him ache. He needed to focus his entirety on Epiphron, who deserved gentle reminiscences rather than desperate questioning.

"I'm glad you have gotten so much time with them," he told her softly. "I can't think of anything more important than family, and if yours are anything like you they must be amazing."