“I should hope so.” Mayor Elland considers me before closing her notebook and standing up. She bows her head to Constantine. “I’ll make sure our facilities are ready for you, sir,” she says. “Everyone will want a look at those artifacts.” She winks at the Premier. “Maybe they’ll steal the thunder of your arrival.”

I watch her go before turning back to the Premier. Through our link, I can sense the lingering ache in him. Only I really know what kind of pain lances through him on a daily basis. It is his illness that has consumed him in recent years, an ailment that eats away at his strength and leaves him unable to sleep well at night.

As I watch him lying in bed, a deep weariness comes through our link. The day’s activities have exhausted him, and he will need a good night’s rest before we board the train tomorrow to head back to Cardinia.

As his servants close the door and leave us alone, Constantine nods toward the maps. “You’re imagining the world before us,” he says in Maran. “The Federation.”

His use of my languages is his way of signaling whether or not he’s happy with me. Whenever he uses Basean, it is because he’s upset and cruel, eager to taunt me with the sound of my old home. When he uses Maran, though, he is in a good-enough mood to dole out small kindnesses. Or he’s lonely and in need of a friend—even if it’s the illusion of one.

I stare back at him without moving a muscle, hating the way he can interpret my emotions. At least he can’t read my mind—yet.

He gives me a subtle, sidelong smile as he settles back against his pillows. “You must be wondering how much lovelier it was in the past.” He sighs. “Before we expanded, you know, this continent was covered with warring nations. Tanapeg quarreled with Hover every decade. Larc tried to invade Kente. Everywhere, people hid behind their walls and died throwing themselves against their enemies. It’s like that across the oceans too.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “Did you know that?”

There’s little we know about the rest of the world’s nations, other than that they war too. I remember hearing about the breaking up of a country across the ocean that now exists as a dozen separate territories.

“I know you survived horrors in Basea during our invasion,” Constantine tells me. “I know what you witnessed. But since the Federation united all the nations on our continent, there has never been another war. No blood shed, no battle fought. No lives lost. Do you understand?”

A lie, I want to say. There have been uprisings and riots in every country conquered by the Federation. And if today’s punishments in the arena are any indication, they have only gotten worse.

I understand, I reply through our link.

“You understand, but you don’t agree.” He sweeps his hand idly in my direction. “The Federation has brought peace, regardless of whether you choose to believe that.”