Valkyrie’s throat was raw, her mouth haunted by the bitter aftertaste of the dried leaves she’d been given to ease the pain of the gunshot wound. Her leg was stiff, but numb, and already healing. She was so incredibly tired, though – like she’d already burned through a day’s worth of energy.

“It’s temporary,” she said to the room. “It’s temporary.”

And it was. It was temporary. Smoke’s corruption, it hit and overwhelmed and then it faded. She hadn’t lost him. Skulduggery wasn’t gone. Not forever.

She lowered her hands, looked at them while they trembled. She’d get him back. She didn’t give a damn what Lethe or the anti-Sanctuary wanted out of all this, but she was going to stop them and get Skulduggery back, and the corruption would fade and that’d be that. Easy. Simple. Straightforward.

She forced herself to breathe deeply, to calm down. Eventually, her hands stopped trembling.

“Can’t leave you alone for a second, can I?” Darquesse said, walking in.

Valkyrie ignored her, and carefully swung her injured leg off the bed.

“It’s true, then? He really has turned?” Darquesse asked, and sat on the bed beside her. “You must be terrified. Are you? You must be. You’re all alone now.”

Valkyrie experimented with putting some weight on to her foot.

“He shot you,” said Darquesse. “He actually shot you. Yes, he’s under the influence of a bad, bad man, but even so – that has to sting, doesn’t it? The fact that he is fully capable of hurting you? You’ve gone all this time thinking the bond between you was so strong it would survive anything … but he fails at the first real test of your friendship.”

“He hasn’t failed,” said Valkyrie.

“Tell that to your leg.”

“And our friendship has been tested before.”

Darquesse dismissed the notion with a wave. “You mean when you found out that he was Lord Vile? That’s nothing. He sinned. Sins are committed in order to be forgiven. But this … this was a real test.”

“Don’t you have someone else to haunt?”

Darquesse smiled. “Just you. So do you think he’ll go after Alice? Do you think he already has her?”

“He won’t. He told me.”

“You believe him?”

“Skulduggery wouldn’t lie to me.”

“So he’d shoot you, but not lie to you? Well, I suppose boundaries are important.”

“He doesn’t want me distracted,” Valkyrie said.

“Who’s distracted?” Reverie Synecdoche asked, walking in.

Darquesse moved out of the way and Reverie walked right by her.

“I am,” Valkyrie said. “Sorry. Just talking to myself.”

“First sign of madness,” Reverie said. “Can you stand?”

Valkyrie pushed herself off the bed. Her leg didn’t buckle, but Reverie was too busy making notes to notice her grimace.