Tanith took a moment, like she was trying to figure it out in her own head. Then she said, “Valkyrie’s my friend.”

“But you’re a Remnant. You have no friends.”

“Then I also have no loyalty, so my betrayal shouldn’t come as a shock to you.”

Darquesse sighed, and stood up. “I’m not shocked. Not really. I’m disappointed, though. I thought, out of everyone, you’d be by my side till the very end.”

“I had every intention of doing that. But then I realised I had a choice. I could either be a bad guy, or a good guy. So I’m a good guy.”

“And look where this choice has landed you. You don’t even know the trouble you’re in, do you? You think I’m going to chain you up, but eventually I’ll let you out because, hey, I’m a fun girl. But that’s not going to happen. Because of what you’ve done. Before today, I’d have found another way to do this.”

“Do what?”

“You’re right, of course,” Darquesse said. “My power’s coming back. I can feel it growing. It’s a nice feeling. But you know what I can’t feel? Ravel. He’s not there any more. Tanith, he deserves the pain I’ve been giving him, you know he does. But right now, Ghastly’s murderer is out there somewhere feeling fine. Feeling good. Feeling smug. He thinks he’s beaten me. He thinks he’s got away with it. But he hasn’t. I’m going to find him and I’m going to do far, far worse things to him than he could ever imagine.”

“Maybe he’s dead,” said Tanith. “Maybe he couldn’t take any more and his body gave up.”

“No,” said Darquesse. “I’d have felt that. He isn’t dead. He just isn’t here any more. He’s gone. They’ve taken him to the only place beyond my reach. They’ve shunted him.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“I need to find Argeddion,” she said. “I need to find him and absorb his knowledge. Then I’ll be able to shunt after them and bring Ravel back. Now, there are two ways to track down Argeddion. The first is to read the Hessian Grimoire. Unfortunately, that is locked away in the Sanctuary, so that’s not really an option any more.”

“And the second way?”

“I’m going to need the kind of knowledge that only Kenspeckle Grouse had.”

“So you want to ask my Remnant side some questions,” said Tanith. “Well, I’m all for Ravel’s eternal agony, so go right ahead. A lot of Kenspeckle’s memories are closed off to me, but I’ll answer what I can.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be enough, Tanith. I’m going to need Kenspeckle’s knowledge for myself.”