“I’ll keep practising on my own, thank you very much.”

“You might need this,” he said, and tossed her a black ring, identical to the one Melancholia had destroyed. “It’s empty, and waiting for you to pour your magic into.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled. “It’s hard, isn’t it? Giving up power like that?”

She looked away. “You have no idea.”

The Bentley pulled up beside them. Skulduggery got out.

“Detective Pleasant,” Wreath said. “All’s well that ends well, eh?”

“I don’t want to see you around for a while,” Skulduggery said. “Nothing personal, you understand.”

“I do, of course,” Wreath said, and bowed slightly. He looked at Valkyrie. “I’m expecting great things from you, my dear.”

She nodded, didn’t answer. The shadows swirled, and he was gone. She walked over to the Bentley. “Is it time?”

“Yes it is,” Skulduggery said. They got in the car, and slowly pulled away from the kerb.

Valkyrie frowned. “We’re going the wrong way.”

“Are we?”

“The Sanctuary’s behind us.”

“Oh dear.”

They kept going. Valkyrie smiled. “Are they going to be upset?”

“Probably,” he admitted. “But I just couldn’t subject you to an entire afternoon of people telling us how great we are. We don’t need people to tell us that. We know. If I were you, though, I’d turn off your phone.”

“Good idea,” she said. As she dug her new phone out of her pocket, she asked, “Where are we off to?”

“China’s library. She left me a message to come and see her as soon as we can. I think that takes priority over a needless ego boost, don’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

They left Roarhaven by the dusty road that linked it to the outside world.

They were lying, of course, and they both knew it. It wasn’t the speeches that kept them from the ceremony, or the hand-shaking or the polite smiles. It was the fact that they were being celebrated for actions they couldn’t be proud of. The only way to beat Melancholia had been for Skulduggery to become Lord Vile, and the only way to beat Lord Vile had been for Valkyrie to become Darquesse.

“There’s something wrong with us,” Valkyrie murmured as they drove.

“Yes, there is.”

“What are you going to do with the armour?”

“Seal it away. It’s the only thing I can do.”

“You might need it again.”

“Hopefully not.”

She turned her head to him. “If Darquesse comes out again and I can’t regain control, you’re going to need some way to stop me. You can’t let me kill my family, Skulduggery.”

He looked at her. “That’s not going to happen.”

“We saw it happen.”

“We saw a vision of one possible future.”

“You have to stop me,” she said, switching her gaze to the road ahead.