"Oh, don't say that," Skulduggery groans, although if the captain had had any influence on this, then he certainly couldn't be as bad as everyone says.

Finally feeling like himself again after that brief foray into madness, Skulduggery adjusts his hat and straightens his jacket as though his hysteria somehow rumpled it. "I appreciate your fantastic sportsmanship. If you can handle this, you can handle anything the ship throws at you."

And look. To show there are no hard feelings, Skulduggery sticks out his hand across the table. "It was a good game, Maximilien."