"It would have been nicer if I'd been enough of one that he hadn't broken my hand." His hand which he was now using to hold that glass, for which he was grateful. Any pangs he hazily remembered from Corrival waking him up were gone.

China's question, however, revealed what she'd truly wanted when she agreed to host him for the evening. Solomon sipped at his water, slowly until the ache in his throat had gone away, but also to try and think over his answer. Or whether he wanted to answer at all. China Sorrows was not a woman one tended to trust--or hadn't been, two weeks ago.

Yet now, to Solomon's vague surprise, he found he had very little cause not to tell her the truth. China was bound up in far too much now to simply go about blurting the Sanctuary's secrets. That wasn't even taking into consideration the shallow weaving around her soul, like a cocoon--an intent to be discreet. And, again, assuming she didn't already know enough details to figure it out herself. In that case, the surprise was that she hadn't.

"Yes," he said at last, "and no. Tesseract's death triggered a craving in Skulduggery. It was him resisting the urge to use Tesseract's soul which activated the armour. The power had to go somewhere, since Skulduggery refused to use it."