Ives’s face is thoughtful, but I see the hunger in her eyes and know I have her. At this point, she’s confirmed that Altair has already given the go-ahead. If she hesitates much more, he’ll get all the glory. After a few moments, she gestures for me to sit, and I happily obey, slinging my jacket over the back of the chair again.

“Okay,” she says. “If even half of what you’re saying is the truth, I cannot allow this weapon to slip out of my fingers. I’m prepared to offer you five hundred thousand credits for it.”

It takes every ounce of my willpower to keep my jaw from dropping. I was expecting this weapon to sell for a lot… but that’s more credits than I’ve possessed in my entire life. No wonder Momma is all set to retire on this deal. I could retire with this on most planets, if I had anywhere I could retire to.

I’m so shocked that I let the silence last too long.

“I’m not sure if you’re familiar with local manners, but this isn’t a bargaining situation,” she says, shifting in her seat. “I’ve made my offer. Take it or leave it.”

“I see.” I already knew that, but I’m willing to let her believe I’m ignorant to explain away the shocked pause. “In that case… yes. That price is acceptable.”

Ives smiles that sharp smile again.

“Excellent.”

My heart thumps with nervous anticipation. This is it—I’m about to close out the biggest deal I’ve ever made in my life. With this amount of credits in my account, I’ll be able to take care of my siblings once Momma is gone, no matter how things go.

“This will save a lot of good people like your brother,” Ives says.

I pause as a sudden, sick feeling surges up inside my gut. I think of Corvus out on that battlefield, and of everyone else out there right now, fighting in the never-ending war without knowing why they’re risking their lives. And of all the people like Leonis, sitting on her pretty little planet and selling shit like this into the war.

People like her look at the Titans the way they look at all off-worlders, the same way they look at me—like something less than human. But they are human, and it’s humans that will suffer at the hands of this weapon. Ives says I’ll be saving people like my brother when I make this deal… but I’ll be killing just as many. Their blood will be on my hands. I may be a lot of things, but I’ve never been a killer, and selling this weapon is no better than using it myself.