Valkyrie squeezed her hand. “I’m going to leave you alone for a bit, let you think about it. It’s a huge decision to make. But at least you get to make the decision.”

Melancholia had tears in her eyes she was trying to fight against. “Your face is stupid.”

Valkyrie squeezed her hand again, and left.

48

A NEW ROARHAVEN

anith woke.

There was the taste of blood in her mouth, and she had the king of all sore throats. She felt sick, like someone had stomped on her insides. Apart from that, though, she seemed to be fine. Unhurt.

She took a look around. She was sitting on the floor in a small room, shackled to a radiator. She didn’t remember how she’d got here. The last thing she remembered was …

She shook her head. Unimportant. What was important was getting out. The shackles were tight, and the radiator solid. There were scrapes where her chain was looped. Someone had been in this exact same situation, and recently, too. She wondered if they’d managed to escape.

Footsteps. She pressed her back against the wall. Billy-Ray Sanguine walked in.

“Should have known you’d be involved,” Tanith said. Her voice was rough. It surprised her. “What the hell is going on? Where are the others?”

“Others?” Sanguine said, closing the door behind him. His shirt sleeves were rolled up. His tie was loose. He looked comfortable, like this was home to him.

“Yes,” she said. “Others. As in the people who are going to tear your head off when they come to get me. Skulduggery. Valkyrie. Ghastly. The others.”

She didn’t get a smirk in response. She’d been expecting one. Instead, he nudged his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose. He almost seemed shy. “What’s … what’s the last thing you remember?”

Tanith hadn’t been expecting that, either. She was going to dismiss the question, ignore it and bombard him with questions of her own, but the fact was …

“Fighting,” she said. “Fighting alongside Valkyrie and Skulduggery against … against everyone.”

“The Remnants,” Sanguine said.

It came back to her. Christmas. The Remnants taking over. She sat forward. “Is that what you are? Did they get you, too?”

“No, Tanith,” Sanguine said. “I ain’t a Remnant. But all that … all that happened a little over two years ago.”

“What?”

“The Remnants, most of them at least, were trapped in that Receptacle thing. Everyone woke up with sore heads and no memory of what had happened. Everyone except …”

He trailed off.

Her frown deepened. “You’re lying.”

“No I’m not.”

“You’re lying,” she said. “You really expect me to believe that I’ve had a Remnant inside me for two years? Then answer me this – how the hell did I get rid of it?”

“Wasn’t your choice,” Sanguine said. “Darquesse re-formed it inside you and dragged it out.”

She sneered. “Oh, so now Darquesse is loose.”