Silence now.

“I would never use such a weapon,” Marius finally said. “Would you have us caught in its web, for the sake of the destruction of our enemies? I would not turn such a weapon on those forced into battle the way that we are.”

“Were the Tritons any different?” Cade retorted.

Marius glared at him, anger and shame apparent on his face.

“We had no choice,” he said in a low growl. “And they had already used a similar weapon against us.”

Cade shook his head. “Don’t you get it? If we have the bomb, then Abaddon’s rivals in the pantheon will know we do. How could they ever attack us again, knowing we could destroy their contenders easily?”

Marius took a step back, and Cade hammered him with his words.

“Imagine if we’d had this weapon against the Tritons,” Cade said. “Not a single one of your men would have had to die. We wouldn’t have even had to place it that close to their gates. We could’ve just hidden it in the long grass, retreated to a safe distance, and then…”

He clicked his fingers.

With each word, he felt more ashamed of himself. He had forced himself to turn to the darkest of his thoughts, that cruel, selfish side of his human soul he had not known he possessed, in order to appeal to that same nature in the man before him.

Marius held up a hand. “You say this … weapon … it is out there?”

Cade nodded. “And more. We think we know where to find treasure we can use to barter with Abaddon. We could get more troops. Even more advanced weapons.”

Marius shook his head, disbelief stamped across his features.

“Give me an hour, just me, you, and the Codex,” Cade said. “Let me show you the future.”

CHAPTER

36

Cade jerked awake, then groaned as his back spasmed with pain. He was in a rickety chair, one that pressed into his spine as he levered himself upright. Sleep had overcome him, and Marius had suffered the same, collapsed on the bed’s edge.

They had spoken long into the night, the Codex droning in its monotone voice, proving again and again in meticulous detail the horrors of the weapons of Cade’s world.

There was no discussion of an expedition. Cade didn’t think he even needed to bring it up. Marius grew more fascinated and horrified with every word, even as Cade’s stomach grew sicker.

He felt like Lucifer in the Garden of Eden, tempting an innocent soul with knowledge of evil. Yet he had achieved his aim. Marius was now interested in expeditions into the jungles. Now he had to convert it into permission.

Cade descended the stairs with heavy steps and even heavier eyelids. All he wanted was to go to sleep. To just not … be, for a while. The discussions through the night had weighed heavy on his heart. With every detail Marius wrung from the recesses of human history, the world seemed a little darker, a little crueler.