Chapter 18: Every Word, Out Loud

"Say that again," I said.

Cordelia laughed and tipped her head to one side.

"You heard me, Had. Don't look so stricken."

She refilled my glass.

"It's an old story, and you're the only one I've ever wanted to tell."

I kept my hands flat on the tablecloth.

"Start at the beginning," I said.

"Oh, you'd like that." She turned her glass slowly by the stem. "My father taught me the Law before I could read."

"I knew what a mate was at twelve," Cordelia said. "And when you turned eighteen, I knew you were his."

"How?"

"Your scent changed on your birthday. I smelled it across the hall, and so did he."

She smiled at the memory.

"Ansel went white as milk. And I thought, well, there it is."

She sipped her wine.

"Then Papa told me the rest. An Alpha can never tell. The mate has to come to him on her own."

"And you thought you'd help."

"I thought I'd wait," she said, and smiled. "Do you know what a mate does when nobody tells her? She guesses."

She said it like a gardener describing a vine.

"I invented the game at seventeen, for fun. After your birthday, I saw what it was good for."

My stomach turned.

"You used the game on purpose," I said.

"I kept it going on purpose. Ten years, Had. You never missed once. It was like watching a dog find its way home."

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