“We should really stop throwing each other through windows,” she told him. She reached up to the counter, pulled herself to her feet. “You know what the funny thing is? I actually don’t care any more if you kill Melancholia. Isn’t that funny? In fact, if you’d be agreeable, maybe we could pop back for a moment and I’ll kill her myself. What do you say?”

He stood there, a dark shape, unmoving.

A shard of glass had managed to sneak into her belly, between her trousers and jacket. She gripped it with two fingers and pulled it out slowly. It was much longer than she’d expected. When it was out, she dropped it and pulled another shard from her forehead. “So that’s a no, then, is it? Pity.”

He walked down the steps.

“Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?” she asked. “Don’t you want to kill the Death Bringer? What about me? Do you want to kill me? I’m going to kill the world, after all. This might be your only chance to stop me.”

He reached the bottom and just stood there, looking at her.

“I’m only going to get stronger,” she said, “and you know it. This is your only chance. No? You’re not going to take it?” She laughed. “I’m disappointed. I’ve heard so much about the great Lord Vile, and now look at him. He’s not even going to kill his enemy when she’s right in front of him. What do I have to do? How do I provoke such a scary, scary man like you into doing what needs to be done? Do I go out there and kill someone? What about those cops? Do you need me to kill those cops? I’d like another go at that helicopter, actually. I’d like to see it crash and burn. Or maybe something else. What else could I do, I wonder?”

“Valkyrie,” Lord Vile said. His voice was a whisper.

Darquesse smiled. “I’m Valkyrie. Whatever you’ve got to say to her, you can say to me. What was it Skulduggery said earlier? I’m her bad mood.”

That whisper again. “Let her out.”

“But I’m not repressing her. I know you understand this. I am Valkyrie. I’m just embracing my potential. If my conscience never reasserted itself, I’d stay like this for ever. Just like you’d stay like that, Skulduggery.”

Vile tilted his head. Then his hands went to his mask and she heard the clasps open, one by one. Shadows leaked, dissipating in the air. He pulled the mask away, revealing the gleaming skull beneath.

“I wouldn’t stay like this,” Skulduggery said. “I like being me.”