Those words in that passage are clearly delineated in my Kindle copy.
Is there any chance that the ePub version is using an embedded (alternate) font for its main text? I know I've run across several cases where the kerning on certain fonts makes it
look like there's no space between the last letter of an italicized word and the first letter of the next (un-italicized) word. In those cases, I've often gone to the effort of correcting the "mistake," only to find that there was, indeed, a space there.
Not that that would excuse the publisher, mind you. A space you can't see, isn't really a space after all. I'm just curious.
