It's all very much over Matthias' head, how power like that works. Power as an entity in its own right, not just the product of something you can easily grasp like coal or kerosene. Magic, people around here call it. Despite his best efforts, it makes him uneasy. He was only just beginning to understand Grisha power — a connection to the makings of the world, something innate in a person. It cannot exist beyond the boundaries of a person's body to take on a life of its own, not like this.

Which is all to say that there's a lot of frowning going on over here. But that's also sort of Matthias' default expression, staying in place even when Sam lightens up.

"Matthias," he answers, completing the handshake. Firm grip, single shake. "I just got here."

There isn't much else to say about that, he thinks — well, nothing he'd want to unload on a stranger — so he turns back to the initial topic. "Whatever they decide to do with it, at least we'll have hindered Thorne."

That may be the one thing he's certain about in this conflict he's been thrust into: a monarch who hopes to shape the entire world to his liking strikes him as Very Bad.