No matter how China tried to pretend otherwise, none of her reactions were hidden. Solomon wasn't quite able to parse them as well as usual, because even this brief bout of relative activity was exhausting enough that trying to unravel the layers in China's words and her reactions both wasn't worth the effort. Except when her reactions were honest.

Like with the fear.

Solomon didn't answer for a moment in favour of looking at her. Finally he said, "The manner in which he died. I can't use Necromancy anymore, but I don't have to. Souls and the manner in which they're bound into a body ... are more accessible to me now than they ever were when I was a Necromancer."

His voice, not gentle but resigned, and soft, and almost as tired as he still felt. Being able to kill on a whim wasn't a talent he'd wanted even as a Necromancer.