
Three days of rain had turned the River Nith into a brown torrent when you saw two expected horsemen reach the wrong ford. If they enter there, the current will drive horses and riders straight onto the hidden boulders. You step into this one-chapter preview with Nigel Graheme at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. Nigel left every list untouched until the morning answer he had promised Munro. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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