[ dangerous alone has never been a deterrent for them. Slackjaw is dangerous. Lizzy Stride is dangerous. but this, Roth? Roth is (was) something else altogether. Jacob laughs, hollow, quiet, at the assessment. ] He knew I was coming and made it as much of a spectacle as he could manage. If he wasn't mad, I... I don't know what else to call him.

[ it must have been madness. right? surely. but somehow he isn't convinced. ]

I... [ what was he doing there? he shakes his head, but he straightens in his seat a little, looking up at Evie before he fixed his eyes upon the floor. ] It's a long story. I... I'd been working with him. Sabotaging the Abbey in whatever way we could think of. [ and it had been fun, spirits help him, it had been good. he shakes his head again. ] At least until... until I found out what he did to the Overseers.

[ the look he casts up at Evie is haunted. he gestures at the dismantled rune on the table. ] That... isn't whale bone.