Fun fact: According to an in-character interview on the HarperCollins site, Skulduggery hates to sing.

"Why don't you sing for me more often?"

Skulduggery stops in the doorway, hand almost to the light switch, turning around slowly and precisely. His head tilts. "Excuse me?"

Valkyrie sits up in her bed, adjusting the sheets. "Like when we thought I was going to jump dimensions in the middle of the night. You sang me that song, about..." she frowns, remembering the gentle melody but not the lyrics, not too clearly, at least. "What was it about, again?"

Skulduggery clears the throat he doesn't have. "It was...Does it matter?"

"Suppose not. But... You should do that again."

"Why, exactly?" He asks. Valkyrie exhales, feeling exasperated. Did detectives have to question everything?

"It's always harder for me to fall asleep here - don't get offended," she adds, as Skulduggery's shoulders stiffen. "I like this bedroom. It's nice, but it's not... I don't know, soothing."

"Soothing," he repeats, mulling it over.

"Yeah," Valkyrie affirms, nodding. She pulls her knees up, careful to keep the sheet around her middle. "I always wanted to hear you sing. And it really hoped me sleep." She glances at him. Still contemplating.

"Your voice is lovely," she says, and nods deeply. He is unmoved. Damn.

"Um ...Honestly, the first time I heard you..." she decides to lay it all out there. "I thought that I could listen to your voice all day." The words bring on a rush of heat and she backtracks. "This was before I realized how horribly ann-"

"You could listen to me all day?" Skulduggery says, amusement ringing through his voice. He walks towards her bed.

Valkyrie freezes. "I - not anymore! Listening to you boast all day now would be torture."

"Ah, of course."

She swats him away from her bedside. "I was twelve!"

"And now you're innocently requesting a lullaby? I see six years has not worn down your fascination."

"That has nothing to do with it," Valkyrie retorts, feeling her face go warm. She scoots away, towards the wall - he's nearly sitting on the bed now.

"Is that true, Valkyrie?" He puts an emphasis on her name - it's practically a purr - and she decides the actions of Lord Vile are nothing compared to what he's doing now, to her.

"Yes." She screws her eyes shut, willing him and this entire conversation away.

"So you don't like it," he says, kneeling in her bed spread, "when I do this?" She feels the slightest shift in the air, his gloved fingers gripping her bare arm... And then, dead quiet, low and soft, Skulduggery whispering in her ear.

"You, my dear Valkyrie Cain..." he pauses, and she can almost imagine a breath ghosting across her face- "Stephanie Edgley... Darquesse," he's never said her true name like this, like an intimate secret instead of the devil herself, and she's uncomfortable with the fact she really doesn't mind it- "... Think that my voice is sexy."

"I do not!" she yells, shoving him away, face burning.

He falls back on the floor, erupting with laughter.

(She is not going to think about his laugh.)

There is a brief, tense standoff, with her glaring at him on the bed and him laughing from the floor - she swore that if he could wink, he would - before Skulduggery dusts himself off.

"I suppose I should take my leave, then," he says, standing up and fixing his hat with both hands. "Before I distract you too much-"

"Oh my god, just... Just shut up. And leave. You didn't even sing-"

"Ah, how silly of me. Ahem." He paused, thinking. "Well, it is your lucky day, so ...Happy birthday to you-"

She threw a pillow at his head.