Tanith watched Sanguine for a moment. “You look like you have something to say.”

He kept his voice low. “You know she killed some people just to look at their energy, whatever the hell that means? She’s killing people, but not seeing it like killing people. Tanith, that ain’t safe. She’s tipping over the edge.”

“Of what? Sanity? Billy-Ray, what does sanity mean to someone like her? How does it apply?”

“She could kill us just as easily as anyone else.”

“No,” Tanith said. “She won’t kill us. Not till right before the end.”

“She can do no wrong in your eyes, can she?”

“Actually,” said Tanith, “she’s doing plenty wrong. She’s wasting time, for a start. I mean, what’s the problem? She has enough power to turn the world into a blackened, charred husk.”

“Is that what you want?”

“You know that’s what I want.”

“I know that’s what you wanted,” said Sanguine. “But that was before you talked to that guy who’d learned to control the Remnant inside him.”

“His name is Moribund. And he doesn’t control the Remnant, OK? How many times do I have to say it? After a few days, the Remnant stops being a separate entity.”

“OK, sorry, but my point remains. He said you didn’t have to be this way. He said you could rebuild your conscience if you worked at it.”

“Why would I want to?” said Tanith. “I’m happy being me.”

“No you’re not.”

Tanith laughed, put the coffee down. “Oh, really? You’re the expert on how I feel and what I think, are you?”

“I saw you working alongside Valkyrie and the Monster Hunters and the Dead Men. You were having fun, sure, but it was more than that. You were where you belonged.”

“Why don’t you just admit it? You don’t want Darquesse to destroy the world, do you?”

Now it was Sanguine’s turn to laugh. “Of course I don’t.”

“Then why are you helping us?”

“Because I love you and I wanna be there when you realise you’re wrong, because on that day you’ll need someone to have your back.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Love makes a fool of us all.”

“Will you please stop saying that word?”

“Why? It making you uncomfortable? Maybe the more you hear it, the more you’ll remember it. Maybe that’s the problem here.”

“There is no problem,” said Tanith. “I just want Darquesse to hurry up and kill everything.”

“You want the world to end now because the longer it takes, the more time you have to think, and doubt, and question yourself. See, you’re coming off a wonderful certainty, where you knew for sure that you wanted the world to end. But you don’t have that certainty any more, and that scares you.”