It was possible Tony didn't have to wait very long. Zanru's public appearances lately had been getting more and more haggard. Skulduggery wouldn't have been surprised if something in the company fell apart within the next few months.

But he refrained from mentioning it. Not because he didn't trust Tony to be patient - although, to be brutally fair, he didn't - but because he might be completely wrong.

The news that Gene and Bakura were getting along, on the other hand, came as a surprise. Skulduggery hadn't been paying very much attention to them lately. Unforgivable, really. "What would you teach?" he asked, intrigued in spite of himself.