"I didn't say if you ran into anything more dangerous than you were," said Skulduggery, fully aware that he was now speaking to the throne instead of to Valdis. "Why does everyone always assume I'm offering help when I say that?"

Probably, Skulduggery answered himself, because that's precisely what it sounds like.

Oh well. Maybe the throne also hid a secret passage. Skulduggery spent a few minutes searching for a lever, came up empty, and then wandered around the throne room, trying to see if he could piece together exactly how a large-scale fight had occurred. The problem was that none of the pieces, none of the signs of damage, and none of the thick layers of dust upon the floor seemed to fit together.