Darquesse smiled. “Do you really? Do you really like carrying around all that shame and guilt? I doubt it. I bet you anything that being Lord Vile was the most fun you’ve had in years.”

“You’d be wrong.”

“I think you’re fibbing.”

He let the chest plate fall. Beneath it, his shirt was rumpled, and his bow tie was askew. “The most fun I’ve had recently was St Patrick’s Day last year. You remember it?”

Darquesse frowned. “Did we do anything on St Patrick’s Day?”

He continued to strip the armour away. “We were on a stake-out. It was you, me and Fletcher. For the first hour, he wouldn’t shut up. Then you started insulting him.”

“Oh,” Darquesse said. “I remember.”

“It was five hours with the three of us stuck in a room, and then another four hours with just the two of us, after Fletcher couldn’t take it any more.”

Darquesse laughed. “I’ve never seen him sulk so hard.”

“That was a good day for me,” Skulduggery said. “I didn’t have to hit anyone. I didn’t have to shoot anyone. I just sat around and talked to my good friend and partner, Valkyrie Cain.”

“And insulted her boyfriend,” Darquesse grinned.

“Indeed.”

Valkyrie shrugged. “Ex-boyfriend now, of course.”

“Fletcher was always going to be your ex-boyfriend, from the moment you met him. He’s just finally caught up with where he’s supposed to be.”

“What a nice way of looking at it.”

The last bit of Skulduggery’s armour joined the pile. “Maybe you should share that with him the next time you see him.”

“Maybe.” She looked round at the shattered glass and the mess. “I’m tired.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“People saw us. That taxi driver. He saw me.”

“That’s what people like Scrutinous are for.”

“I’m me again, by the way.”

“I know.”

Valkyrie let out a deep breath. “Did you see what I did? I was practically dead and I healed myself. How did I do that? I don’t even know what kind of magic it was. It certainly wasn’t Elemental, and it was like no Adept discipline I’ve ever heard of. It didn’t follow any of the rules.”

“I don’t know, Valkyrie.”

“I wonder what else I can do?” she said, and heat rose in her face. “I mean… I don’t want to know. I don’t want anything like that to happen again, I just…”

“I know,” Skulduggery said. “You’re just wondering.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Exactly. It was… amazing. I was flying, for God’s sake. Me. On my own. I was doing all these incredible things…”

Skulduggery held his hand over the armour, and the various sections melted into each other. He picked up what was left. “Power is intoxicating.”

“That’s a good word for it.”

“And like any intoxicant, it’s also addictive.”

She fell silent.