Skulduggery gestured at Dante's chest, which somehow didn't look like someone had fired a shotgun at it any longer. "Apparently," he said, speaking to Anton, "you could have outright killed me, and achieved the same effect as you did monologuing at me."

Being in the Dreaming was certainly convenient.

Skulduggery didn't stick around for long, however. Solomon Wreath was going to be compromised as well, and if Skulduggery didn't do something about that, retrieving the stone was going to mean absolutely nothing. For that, he'd need Raine - who also had a boon from Asti, and was probably also going to be possessed.

If Skulduggery wasn't very careful, he was going to start considering fighting allies a favourite hobby of his.