It was Fletcher who snapped Valkyrie out of her stunned revering trance, and it was by leaning over to speak quietly into her ear. "Should, um... should I go and get Skulduggery and Ghastly?"

Valkyrie looked at them, at Saracen whom she'd only just met being reunited with someone who could only be his father, at Erskine Ravel who'd given up any and all pretense at being regal to practically tackle the father-son pair onto the floor, at Corrival who was fighting back tears and at Dexter Vex who was dancing with one of the strangest men she'd ever met.

"Yeah," she decided. "But don't tell them why." Valkyrie imagined seeing, actually seeing, Skulduggery's reaction, and smiled. "Just Teleport them here. Tell Skulduggery to have his skin up, too. And if Gabe is with him, bring him too."

"What about Shudder?"

Valkyrie hesitated. She didn't really think that was her call to make. "I don't know. Ask Ghastly if that's a good idea."

Fletcher nodded and vanished, pulling out his phone as he went. He just missed Saracen squealing on the floor under Erskine's sudden weight, and that was what broke Tanith - she doubled over laughing at the sight.

Valkyrie silently begged Fletcher to hurry up, because she really didn't want to break down laughing until she had a chance to see the full reunion. Skulduggery had told her some stories about the war, enough that she knew what sort of reputation the Dead Men had, but she didn't know why they had it. Watching Dexter and the man called Rover dancing together... she thought she could finally understand why.

Valkyrie's plan to keep from laughing failed when Erskine didn't get up from his tackle-hug and instead propped himself up on his elbows. "This doesn't count as incest, does it?" he asked. "Or... well, necrophiliac incest? What does this qualify as?"

It was suddenly obvious where the reputation came from.