“He believed the answer was to allow Mevolent and his lot to worship the Faceless Ones openly, as a religion. He was certain that, given time, they would learn to curb their ruthlessness and to behave with…civility.

“Meritorious didn’t agree. He didn’t trust Mevolent or any who stood with him. And while Vanguard had started out as a lone voice, preaching understanding and acceptance, it was a voice that echoed and carried. Soon it was a roar.

“The dream of peace, you understand, is a dream that comforts everyone except the soldier on the battlefield. He can’t think about peace. He can’t hesitate. The soldier lives in the war. In combat, war is his mother, his friend and his god. To believe in anything else is suicide.

“I think Meritorious came to the conclusion that the voice that started it all had to be silenced. It was getting too dangerous. Too many people were starting to believe that there was an easy way out. Too many soldiers were starting to have doubts. Meritorious needed them fighting Mevolent, not dreaming of peace.”

“But this is all guesswork,” Ghastly said. “Skulduggery, I had my issues with Meritorious, but he was a good man. What you’re suggesting here is cold-blooded murder.”

“I know,” Skulduggery said. “And something like that, if it got out, would tear the Sanctuary apart. Which is why he would have assigned the job to Thurid Guild.”

Ghastly took a seat – heavily. “Of course. Guild headed the Exigency Programme.”

“What’s that?” Fletcher asked.

“Exigency Mages are highly trained individuals used for covert strikes against the enemy,” Skulduggery said. “Assassination. Sabotage. Dirty tricks. It’s not pretty, what they do, but it is necessary.”

“They tried to recruit us,” Ghastly said. “Skulduggery, me, a few others. We were an independent unit in the war. Guild tried to recruit us, but we didn’t like what he was asking us to do.” He looked up. “So you think Guild assigned the job to one of his guys?”

Skulduggery nodded. “It makes sense. Meritorious needed an assassin who could completely disappear afterwards and Guild would have volunteered his people. He’s always been brave like that.”

“Do you know who it was?” Valkyrie asked.

“No. Every single shred of evidence pointed to Mevolent’s men and Scarab in particular. By the time it registered that this was all too neat, too easy, we’d already captured Scarab and thrown him in prison.”

“You could have said something.”

Skulduggery didn’t answer.