Fletcher stared at her. “You what?”

“He attacked my mother. What was I supposed to do? Let him get away with it?”

“He didn’t get away with it, Valkyrie. He got caught. He was arrested. He was in a cell. What did you do?”

She met his eyes and didn’t answer.

“What did you do?” he asked again, stepping forward.

“I hurt him,” she said. “I could have killed him, too. He’s lucky I didn’t.”

Fletcher shook his head. “You don’t mean that.”

“Again, I’ll say it because you may have missed it the first time. He attacked my mother.”

“You nearly killed him?”

“He deserved it.”

“What? What did you say? He deserved it? Are you serious? You went in there with your magic and your training, you almost killed him, and you’re OK with that? You’d do it again?”

“Nobody hurts my family.”

“You’re spending way too much time with Skulduggery. I’d expect this from him, wading in, leaving a trail of bodies behind. But you? This isn’t you. This isn’t who you are.”

“You don’t know me well enough to say that.”

“No, obviously I don’t. The Valkyrie I thought I knew would argue with me every time I even implied that she was violent. She certainly wouldn’t do what you did.”

“If you’re going to give me another lecture, save your breath.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do. You know it all, don’t you? You know exactly what you’re doing, and everyone around you is so very happy to let it continue.”

“What are you on about now?”

“Did Skulduggery scold you for breaking into that police station? Did he caution you against beating up a prisoner? No? I’m not surprised. That’s exactly the kind of thing he’d do.”

“Oh I see,” said Valkyrie. “Now that Kenspeckle’s gone, you’ve taken it upon yourself to tell everyone when they’ve crossed a line, have you?”

“Someone has to. It’s not going to be Skulduggery. Ghastly’s too busy. I was relying on Tanith, but I can’t do that any more. You need someone to rein you in.”

“And that’s you?” she laughed. “You are my moral compass? My God, things are worse than I thought. And I haven’t told Skulduggery yet. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to talk to anyone.”

“Well, I’m not going to just stand around while you go down a path you’re going to regret.”

“Do yourself a favour, OK? Stay out of it. You think we’re in this together? We’re not. I’m in this. That’s all.”

“I’m your boyfriend, Valkyrie. It’s not as simple as that.”

“Well, we can make it that simple.”