Skulduggery's silence was more telling than anything else, and Solomon sat there watching him with a deprecating smile. It was difficult at the best of times to tell when the skeleton was surprised, but the fact that Skulduggery absorbed the comment and then changed the subject said he at least realised the wisdom of not prodding the bear, even if he hadn't known details previously.

"The idiot boy with the armour and the Hun complex," Solomon said with a wave of his hand. "Khan. Did you really think an apology would serve to fix things? The only reason Bakura walked away is because he realised there wasn't any reward in either remaining or attacking."

It was impossible to accept an apology from someone who didn't understand why they were apologising, or were apologising only for themselves. That rather defeated the point of it. Khan had claimed to be sorry about the murder--but he hadn't seemed to realise the injustice was as much in play as the harm.