The final chapter of the Inca conquest was not written in glory, but in a series of brutal betrayals that saw every major figure—from Francisco Pizarro to the last Inca king—meet a violent end. As the Spanish turned on one another in a blood feud, the indigenous population faced a demographic collapse fueled by European disease and the lethal silver mines of Potosí. The saga concludes with a chilling account of how the pursuit of gold ultimately devoured the victors and the vanquished alike.