"Maybe he stole it," Gabe suggested innocently. "Skulduggery, if all you wanted was a brain I could've found one for you. I couldn't guarantee the place from which it came, but at least you'd have had one."

"A secondhand brain?" Dexter rolled over, lifting his head from Saracen's side. "Skulduggery, what have you been teaching your boyfriend? Angelfriend? Soulmate? We might have to steal him to indoctrinate him into the proper way of seducing someone."

"Oh, I already know how to do that," Gabe said. "Skulduggery's easy to seduce. I'm just being gracious. And for the record, I wasn't bothering to fool him because I knew I wouldn't be able to. He cheated."

"Not that I'm arguing, but how'd he cheat?" Corrival demanded, taking a seat on the sofa Dexter had used, right by the pile of Dead Men on the floor.

"He has a direct connection to my intent," Gabe grumbled. "He was spying on my soul."

"I can't massage my own back!" Rover protested, but then with a grin he glommed onto the tailor. Ghastly wasn't as tall, but in comparison to Rover he looked twice as big. Rover hung on him easily. "But I'll accept a massage from you, Mr Boxer Sir. We can probably even find some extra-virgin olive-oil somewhere."