That was one of the most open hypocrisies regarding the Temple, actually. Any child could tell you that death was bad, and controlling death was therefore worse; yet necromancers claimed it to be a peaceful and malleable phenomenon for which they never received any backlash or ill effect. It was such an obvious thing to question. The fact that so few did was what alerted Skulduggery to the possibility of addiction in the first place.

"Yes," he said sardonically. "Death is sharp. Most powerful magic comes with a personal price, Wreath. Isolation, or insanity, or constant crippling pain. The difference with necromancers is that I've never heard one acknowledge that price." Except, perhaps, for Wreath himself, when he turned on the Irish Temple; and even then, he'd said nothing about the magic itself. Only the Temple. "Are you alright now?"