At first Anton didn't answer, gazing around the Hotel. At where the walls had been broken by pipes yanked through, and where the floor had buckled by stone drawn up, and the lines and lines of sigils in view because they had been damaged. In some way, some way not even Anton could quite tell, it helped to have that obviousness pointed out to him.

His emotions may be loose for now, but he still had them. That was important. It didn't make him feel less empty, but it helped him recognise the ways in which he was, still, full.

"Have you?" he asked finally, quietly, and looked at Skulduggery. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? You know I could not have punished you. Not in the manner you expected. In others, yes, but I wouldn't have abandoned you. Why did you believe I would?"