They split into three teams of one or two of his friends with a handful of Romans. Cade was loath to separate, but he knew they were running out of time.

Already, he could hear the sounds of the slavers working to clear the blocked passage behind them. As they gathered outside their respective tombs, Cade considered his choices, recalling the research he had done the night before the expedition.

Boudicca, the queen of the Icini who had slaughtered so many Romans in her British rebellion, was for Scott’s crew. It was Quintus who was most curious about her burial place, for she had a history with his legion, having virtually destroyed it in the Battle of Camulodunum some fifty years before Quintus had joined it. Cade had no doubt her tomb would be small, and Quintus could swiftly gather what treasures he could before moving on to the next.

Alexander the Great was left for later, for Cade knew his burial place had been moved several times before its location was forgotten, making it unlikely any of the original valuables were still there. In fact, Cleopatra, occupant of the tomb directly next to it, had pillaged his tomb to fund her war several hundred years later, and four Roman emperors had raided it for valuables too. No, there would be nothing left there.

Antony and Cleopatra’s tomb had been built by Octavian, the man who had defeated her, and though he would have been respectful, it was doubtful he would let it be filled with valuables. But Cade had Amber go in anyway, for one reason alone: Cleopatra was Caesarion’s mother. The emperor of New Rome had questioned Cade on his own history, and Cade knew it was likely something the man obsessed over. Possession of his mother’s body was a bargaining chip he could not pass up, should they come to a confrontation with the slavers once more.

That left Cade a choice: Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, or Atahuallpa.

Atahuallpa was the last emperor of the Incas, a civilization legendary for their wealth and known for burying their mummified dead with their possessions to take with them into the afterlife.

Cade had been excited at first, as the Codex had told him Atahuallpa had paid a ransom to conquistadors by filling his prison cell with gold and another two with silver to secure his release. Enough to summon a legion of Cade’s own, had he wished to.

But sadly, his tomb was easy to dismiss, for the conquistadors had baptized, garrotted, and burned him anyway, and then given him a Christian burial. No gold or jewels to be had there.

That left the two famous emperors of the steppes. Men who had conquered most of Europe in their times, though they had lived seven centuries apart.

But there was no doubt in Cade’s mind which would bear the most fruit. Genghis Khan. A man so virile, one percent of the world’s population was descended from him. He was the ruler of the largest empire that the world ever saw, one that would stretch from the Sea of Japan to Poland and contained over a quarter of the world’s population—having killed one tenth of it to conquer them. He was responsible for more deaths than Hitler and Stalin combined. The planet had literally cooled after he was done killing.