Pal nearly laughs, not in the least offended. Hell, he would be shocked if Gideon had felt otherwise. “Of course I’m the wrong necromancer,” he says ruefully, trying not to think too much about the hole left in his own heart where Camilla should be.

“Nonagesimus is going to be awfully put out that she didn’t get her first,” he adds with a bit of mischief. The Ninth House necromancer did love to turn everything into a competition.