Skulduggery Pleasant_ Death Bringer - Derek Landy [80]
“You… you told me you did terrible things.”
“I did.”
“I didn’t think they’d be so…”
“I know. We can talk about this later.” He turned back to Tenebrae. “If my subconscious is controlling the armour, and the armour wants to kill your Death Bringer, then why haven’t you killed me?”
“Well,” Tenebrae said, “let’s face it, I might be wrong. The armour might be operating completely independently of you – it might have gained a higher degree of sentience. In that case, killing you would deprive me of a valuable asset in taking it down. The second reason and, quite honestly, the most pertinent, is that I don’t know how to kill you. If I try, a bungled attempt on your life might redirect the armour against me. And I have no intention of dying before the Passage is brought about. Not when I’m this close.”
“So you’ve been hoping that Melancholia brings about the Passage before Vile gets to her? That’s your whole strategy? You’ve been hoping?”
“The centuries have changed all of us, Skulduggery. As Cleric Wreath delights in pointing out, we Necromancers are used to sitting back and not actually doing anything. We’re a very lazy lot, now that I think about it.”
“No,” Skulduggery said, “you’ve waited too long for this lunatic scheme of yours to come true. You wouldn’t leave anything to chance.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not,” Tenebrae said. “Melancholia is the Death Bringer. She is the only Necromancer to ever reach that level of power. You left before you reached it, and the Lord Vile that’s walking around right now isn’t even you. It’s an echo of you, not fully charged. If you were in the armour, yes, I’d be worried. But you’re not. So if Vile attacks Melancholia, she will destroy it. Or him. What are we calling Vile – an it or a him? Ah, I suppose it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you two stay locked up here until all this is over. I hope I’ve given you enough to talk about. I do hate those awkward silences.”
Tenebrae turned, and the door closed as he walked away. Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie. “You have a right to be upset,” he said.
“Oh do I?”
“I should have told you. I know you understand why I didn’t, but I should have.”
“You let me go through this Darquesse thing, with all the guilt and the fear and knowing the things that I’m going to do, and you didn’t say anything.”
“What did you want me to say? Look at me. I was Lord Vile, but now I’m OK? It would have made things worse. You would have looked at the things I did in that armour and you’d have assumed that in order to pass through and emerge on the other side, you’d have to do the same. But you don’t. That’s the thing. Violence and hatred and bloodshed became my reasons for existing. I stopped caring about anything else. I didn’t care who my enemy was, as long as I had an enemy. I was falling, and I didn’t know how to stop.”
Valkyrie put her back to the wall, slid down to a sitting position. Her legs wouldn’t take her weight. “You murdered all those people. How many? Do you even know?”
“I don’t. I lost count. Everyone lost count. I was like you. Necromancy came far too easily to me.”
“You’re one of those sorcerers you told me about. The Elementals who can switch to being an Adept.”
“It’s rare, but it’s possible.”
“But… Skulduggery, you’re the good guy.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry you found out this way.”
“What do we do now?”
“Well, we escape. I’m not sure how yet, but—”
“No,” said Valkyrie. “What do we do now? We’re partners. You’re my best friend. I love you. You were my… I looked up to you. What am I supposed to do now?”
He trned away. “You need to find yourself a new hero.”
Chapter 30
Tenebrae
e had to admit, that had been fun.
Tenebrae wasn’t a sadistic man, but the look on Valkyrie Cain’s face and the pain in Skulduggery Pleasant’s voice were just… delicious. He had been carrying that secret around with him for centuries, had come close to spilling it a few times before this. But he was glad he hadn’t. It was like an itch that you put