18/02/2026 02:09

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Yet somehow it is. The second time was actually harder, because his hands had begun to tremble. You know better. “I understand ye’ve taken on an additional responsibility in our undeserving town, sai Jonas.

“No,” he had said simply. But this time when Jake held out the book, Roland took it. Three piles of goods at the foot of each, stacked up just as neat. His skin crawled—birds, bugs, bats, he hated them all—and he fumbled so energetically for the gas-lamp on the table by his bed that he almost knocked it off onto the floor.