Page 71 of Kortlek

“Back when your dad started…’’ she pauses, looking for the right word. “courtingme, he used this exact blade to stab me.’’

“Pardon?”

She nods.

What the fuck?

“It definitely wasn’t the most conventional type of courting.’’

I snort. “Yeah, there’s a term for that.’’

“Oh?” She raises an amused brow.

“Attempted murder.’’

She laughs, throwing her head back. The sound reverberates through the basement, and it takes her a moment to collect herself. Another few chuckles slip past her lips, and she gives me a wide grin.

“I’m Noelle Campbell. Do you truly think a blade could kill me?”

“How about we keep that part a mystery, alright? I’m not too keen to find out if a blade could kill you or not.’’

“Fair enough.’’

“I am curious, though. Why did Dad stab you?”

She lifts a shoulder. “To be precise, he stabbed my thigh. A while before that, I killed his brother, so it was sort of his revenge since he needed me and couldn’t kill me.’’

“Wasn’t Uncle Franco a really terrible person?”

Mom’s eyes widen slightly, and she releases a deep breath of nervous laughter. “When I killed him, I had no idea he was bad. I did it just because I could, that’s all. Thank fuck it worked out in the end, and he ended up being a sick bastard, so no one really held it against me.’’

“Still, Dad just forgave you for killing his brother?”

This story isn’t anything new to me. I asked mom a few times in the past how she and dad met, and that’s when both Arlo and I sat down, and we got the entire explanation. Before our parents got together, their families were at odds. They were killing each other constantly for generations, and it wasn’t very pretty.

“We had a lot going on back then, Aria,’’ she sighs. “As terrible as it sounds, his brother’s death was the least of his worries.’’

“Speaking of you and Dad,’’ I sprawl on the mat across from her, looking up at the ceiling, “how did Dad propose to you? Arlo was around three during your wedding, right?”

From the corner of my eye, I see Mom standing up and sitting right behind me. She gently puts my head on her lap and starts playing with my hair, braiding two small Dutch braids from the curtain bangs. My eyes close, and I smile in content.

“I was pregnant with Arlo before he proposed. Your grandfather was furious,’’ she chuckles softly. “He dragged Hudson and me to get married the same day we told him. Your father did know that the marriage certificate didn’t save him from a proposal or an actual wedding. We did that just to appease our families.’’

I hum, and she continues.

“Call me shallow, but I wanted the prettiest rock there is. The biggest, too. I wanted it to be extravagant, but also not a real diamond. I prefer lab-made ones; they’re far more ethical. So, he got my birthstone on a pretty golden band.’’

My eyes open, and I look up at her. “He got you an emerald?”

She nods with a wide grin. “The biggest one on the market at the time.’’

I laugh. “That must’ve stood out in crowd.’’

“Definitely,’’ she continues to thread her fingers through my hair softly. “But the proposal itself was perfect. We had a mission, and Arlo was around two at the time. He was with Hudson’s parents, and the two of us flew to Los Angeles. It was in the middle of an abandoned warehouse; we were covered in blood, and he just… got on his knee and popped the question.’’

“Honestly? Sounds fitting.’’

She shrugs. “I loved it.’’

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