Skulduggery nodded slowly. "That's usually how I start with investigations like this. If there's a connection anywhere there, China will know about it. Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she's figured out who you are by now."

Well, that was a slight exaggeration. Skulduggery would be surprised. Just not for very long. No sorcerer would suspect God's angels at work within half a day of meeting one; China, however, was known for breaking the curve. She tended to believe some of Skulduggery's more outlandish claims, even if she didn't expressly say so. But those outlandish claims had never turned out to be incorrect, and religion was so much more of a gray area. China had probably never given God's possible existence a second thought before. Until Landel's untimely trans-dimensional experiment, neither had Skulduggery.

He didn't try to hide the surprise flickering across his unfamiliar features as he glanced sidelong at Gabe. "I was saying you weren't a psychopath. I was complimenting you." He paused, and tilted his head to the side. "Are you jealous? Because I do think you pull off the cowboy act better than he does."