The Light of All That Falls (The Licanius Trilogy, #3)

by James Islington

Such was Shammaeloth’s nature, though. Those who were most steeped in his corruption somehow had the hardest time seeing it—something for which Caeden could barely blame them. He knew that myopic haze all too well.

Evil men rarely convince others to their side by asking them to perform dark deeds for no good reason. They will always start with the lightest shade of gray. They so often use what seems like a good cause.”

If something is not clearly right or wrong then it bears actually figuring out which one it is, not dismissal into some nebulous third category. If you have a basis for your morality, a foundation for it, then there will always be an answer—and if you do not, then trying to decide whether anything is right or wrong is an exercise in futility and irrelevance.”

impossible not to think of the enemy’s true weapons as merely words, something familiar that should easily be overcome. No one could imagine what it was like to have his focused attention, to have everything he said seep into the very pores of your mind, color every subsequent thought you had. Every subsequent thought you would ever have. Having Shammaeloth speak to you in his full power was nothing like listening to another human. He was older and smarter and more deeply powerful than anyone in this world could hope to properly conceive of without experiencing it for themselves. Which was exactly why he needed Asha with him.