The Silver Wolf novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Stop

"Eighteen is the number you wrote on the back of that page," I said.

"Yes."

"It's the number on the doorframe."

"Yes."

"And this is what it's for."

I held the knife out in front of me, with both hands, and it didn't shake.

"Yes," Cormick said. "It was made for a silver wolf. I was sworn to use it on the day she woke."

"On me."

"On whoever she turned out to be."

"It turned out to be me, and you took me to bed last night."

"Yes."

"Don't say yes to everything."

He closed his mouth.

Rain came in through the open door and wet the boards between us.

"Tell me all of it," I said. "From the clearing."

He picked up the kindling and set it by the stove, slowly.

"I was sworn to your mother before you were born," he said. "She was the last silver. When she died, the oath passed to the next one who woke."

"You were at the rite to see me wake."

"I was there to count the first night."

"So you could kill me."

"So I would know the day." He turned around. "I was hoping it wouldn't wake. Every year I hoped."

"And then Alder said the words and it woke."

"And then I stood under the pines with a knife on my back and watched it happen."

My throat closed.

"That's the thing I'm angriest about," I said. "That one. You stood there."

"Yes."

"He tore me open in front of two hundred people, and you stood at the edge with your hand on that blade and you didn't move."

"If I had walked into that ring," Cormick said, "every wolf on the mountain would have seen the Guard and the knife. Edric would have known a silver was waking, and he'd have had a cage on you before the moon set."

"So you let him."

"I let him do the thing that sent you out of the clearing on your own two feet." His voice cracked. "It was the worst choice I ever made, and I'd make it again, and I'm sorry."

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