"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.

He was silent for a moment. "I will," he promised, his voice soft. They drove the rest of the way in silence.

China and Eliza Scorn were fighting in the street when they reached the tenement building. The Bentley screeched to a halt and Skulduggery and Valkyrie leaped out.

"Hey!" Valkyrie roared. "Get away from her!"

Scorn rammed China into the side of the car. China staggered, caught a punch right on the hinge of the jaw that dropped her to her knees. Scorn kicked her full force in the belly and China folded.

Skulduggery's gun was in his hand. Scorn crouched low, using China as a shield.

"Don't shoot," Scorn called.

"Stand up and move away," Skulduggery ordered.

"So you have a clear shot? I don't think so."

China moaned as she sucked in air. "Kill her," she managed. "She's... got a... bomb."

"I have a bombsh.e.l.l," Scorn corrected, "of information."

"What's that in your hand?" Skulduggery asked.

Scorn smiled. She was holding a small black cylinder with a red b.u.t.ton on top. "OK, fine, I do have an actual bomb too. A few bombs, in fact. Small ones, but you work with what you've got. They're spread around the library, and there are a few in China's apartment, too. Don't worry, there's n.o.body up there. No one's going to get hurt."

Skulduggery thumbed back the hammer of his gun. "Drop the switch."

"I'm not going to do that."

"If you press that b.u.t.ton, you'll end up in a cell."

"I don't think I will. I think, when I do press this b.u.t.ton, you're going to let me walk away."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I have information you're going to find very interesting. I've been researching this over the last few months, actually. Do you remember the day your family died?"

"It's always amusing," Skulduggery said, "when someone tries to use that to goad me into doing something."

"Oh, I'm not goading you. I'm genuinely asking." Ever so slowly, Scorn stood up straight. "I wasn't even in the country at the time. I think I was in Spain, doing a thing. Anyway, Nefarian Serpine a great guy, by the way a needed to throw you off balance, needed you distracted, needed you to get angry and stop thinking straight. So obviously, killing your wife and kid in front of you was the only reasonable way to do that. He wasn't well, that man. He had issues, you know what I mean? He needed to distract you and the only thing he could come up with was to murder your family? Not have someone wave to you, or something? But that was him all over, wasn't it? He went to extremes, and this was one of them."

China suddenly moved, grabbing Scorn's leg, but Scorn just leaned down and punched her. Skulduggery took a step forward, but Scorn held up the switch. "The thing is," she continued, "Serpine was so busy organising a whole range of a.s.sa.s.sinations and murders that week that he just didn't have the time to go out and round up your family himself. So he sent a group of people he knew he could count on. He sent the Diablerie."

Valkyrie went cold, and saw China sag. Skulduggery's gun didn't waver.

"I'm sure you remember who was in the Diablerie back in those days," Scorn said. "There was Vengeous a before he became one of Mevolent's Generals, of course a Gruesome, Murder Rose a delightful lady a Jaron Gallow, may he rest in peace a a few others... and China. The leader of the pack, as it were. If I'm right, and I think I am, Rose went after your child. That wasn't much of a problem. To be honest, from what I've read, the biggest danger there was whether Rose would go too far and kill the kid. But for once, she obeyed orders.

"China, because she enjoyed that kind of thing, went after your wife. By all accounts, it was a knock-down, drag-out fight. There was blood, sweat, tears, hair-pulling, even some name-calling. Things got pretty heated, but eventually China emerged triumphant, and she shackled your pretty little wife and hauled her all the way back to Serpine's castle. Then she stood in the shadows, and watched you run in, saw you scream when they died. She was there while Serpine was torturing you. Apparently, different members of the Diablerie liked to stop by every now and then to watch. That's pretty dark, isn't it?"

Skulduggery lowered his gun.

"Of course," Scorn said, "this probably makes no difference to you in the slightest, does it? I mean, you're already friends with her. You've already forgiven her for the things she did during the war. This is just one more thing, am I right? Just one more thing to forgive her for."

She held up the switch. Skulduggery didn't move. Scorn smiled, and thumbed the little red b.u.t.ton. The windows on the top floor of the tenement building exploded, spraying gla.s.s all the way across the street. Flames licked the air. Black smoke billowed. Burning pages rained down. China shook her head slowly and Valkyrie stared, but Scorn just smiled and Skulduggery still didn't move.

China tried to get up and Scorn drove a knee into her face. She started kicking her, lashing her boot in. China gagged and curled up.

Skulduggery turned round, started walking back to the Bentley.

People were stumbling out on to the street, staring at the fire and calling the fire brigade, looking at Scorn beating China and calling the cops. Valkyrie ran over, shoved Scorn back. China lay gasping between them.

"You want to take her place?" Scorn asked, eyes narrowed.

"If you make one move towards me," Valkyrie said, "Skulduggery will kill you. Leave. Now."

Scorn observed her for another few moments, and then that smile returned. "Of course, Detective Cain. Whatever you say."

She cast another glance down at China and her smile widened. Then she moved off, disappearing into the crowd.

China turned over on to her back. Her face was a mess. Swollen and cut and b.l.o.o.d.y. She held her arm against her ribs, and every breath seemed to hurt. She grimaced, forced herself to sit up. She didn't raise her eyes. "I won't blame you," she said, her voice tight with pain, "if you walk away."

"Good," Valkyrie said, and she did just that.

Chapter 61.

My Twilight

he first time she'd met China, Skulduggery had warned Valkyrie not to trust her. She could only be relied upon to serve her own best interests, he had said, and people like that were the most dangerous kind.

But since then, even Skulduggery's att.i.tude towards China had softened. They'd all been through so much together. They'd fought side by side. They'd faced death and overcome certain destruction. China had been shifting, ever so slightly, from her throne of neutrality to being an ally who could be depended upon. And ever since Valkyrie had lost Tanith, China had become something even more a she'd become a friend.

But now all that was over. Because of his own past, Skulduggery could forgive a great many sins. But this? Being directly involved in the murder of his wife and child? Valkyrie feared that it would be asking too much of him to forgive a crime of that magnitude.

She hadn't heard from him in two days. She kept expecting a call from Ghastly, informing her that Skulduggery was in custody, charged with the unlawful killing of China Sorrows. But as the darkness drew in on another day her phone, thankfully, remained silent.

She was in no mood for Caelan that night. He tapped on her window and she stared at him for the longest time, then pointed behind him, at the pier, and he nodded, and vanished. She got dressed, sneaked out.

"I'm sorry," he said when she neared.

"For what?"

"For not being there when you needed me. You went through all of that without me."

"It's grand, OK? Forget about it."

"But I failed you, Valkyrie."

She sighed. "I can't do this any more."

"You can't do what?"

"Caelan, whatever we have, it's over, all right? We never went out, but we're breaking up, even so."

His beautiful eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"You're way too intense for me. I mean, for G.o.d's sake, every word out of your mouth is how much you love me and how we're meant to be together. I don't look forward to seeing you any more because I know exactly what I'll be getting."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, Caelan, I do. We're not Buffy and Angel, or Romeo and Juliet, or those two from West Side Story. We're not even Edward and Bella, OK? You're far too freaky for me."

He looked at her. "We're meant to be together..."

"And this is exactly what I mean."

"Our love is written in the stars."

"And there you go again."

"I love you."

"You bore me."

He faltered. "What?"

"Seriously. You do. I hate to be so mean, but you're just not hearing this. You bore the h.e.l.l out of me. At first, you were cool. But my G.o.d, you got boring really fast. There's only so much of this brooding loner thing a girl can take before she really just needs someone to make her laugh. You're not a funny guy, Caelan."

"I don't understand."

"You can't tell jokes."

"No, I mean I don't understand why you're saying these things."

"And you just missed another joke. See?"

"It's Fletcher, isn't it?"

"Fletcher has nothing to do with this, other than I can't believe I've had to break up with two guys in the s.p.a.ce of a week."

He grabbed her arm. "I can change," he said. "That's not going to do it."

"Then you can change."

"Excuse me?"

"You can do what I say for once. Have you never thought that the reason you are unhappy is because you never obey me?"

"Seriously? No, that thought never entered my head."