Piotr only grunts in response at first. He's been in a perpetually dark mood since Sonia's kidnapping, and especially grim since the public funeral for Yuri's son. Piotr is hardly politically naive; Miles can surely guess that he's drawn the same conclusions about the now questionable succession as those two guards Miles had overheard. Everything is in a dangerous state of flux right now, nothing stable, and it doesn't bode well for anyone -- not Sonia, not Olivia, and certainly not Yuri.

"It's work," he finally answers shortly; not angrily, or at least not angrily at Miles. He throws his body into it, not that it takes that much effort -- merely an attempt to excise any of the tension that's building up high in his muscles and his mind.