Page 95 of The Bastard Prince

I craned my neck up to watch him.

My daddy was super tall.

He was young, too – and pretty.

Not old and stinky like his friend Fabio.

Miss Charlotte told me that my daddy was super handsome. She said that I was lucky to have Royce as my daddy and not mean old Fabio. I knew she was right.

My dad was the strongest, biggest, prettiest man in the world and he was all mine.

I smiled proudly at him and pinched my own bicep, wondering when my arms would grow big and strong like his.

Maybe when I was big, I could get someone to draw on my arms – the same pictures as my daddy had on his arms.

"Come look at this," Daddy said, waving a hand for me to follow him to the fireplace.

Without a second thought, I squirmed off my chair and danced over to him, twirling and pirouetting as I moved.

"Like my dance moves, Daddy?" I asked, working extra hard just to show him. "I'm getting good, huh?"

"Concentrate, Ashton," he scolded quietly as he knelt down in front of the fireplace and reached for the poker. "This is important."

My face felt hot and I quickly stopped dancing and closed the space between us, embarrassed. "Sorry, Daddy." He patted the floor and I knelt down beside him. "I'm concentrating now."

"Good girl." He sighed heavily and patted my head. "I know this is going to be hard for you to understand, but I need you to be prepared, okay?"

I nodded happily. "Yup."

"If something ever happens to me, I want you to –" he began to say and my breath caught in my throat.

"Daddy, no –"

"Do not panic." He turned to look at me, giving me a stern look. "You're a Northwood. Northwood's remain calm."

Swallowing deeply, I forced myself to nod back at him.

"If something happens to me," he continued, turning his attention back to the fireplace. "Something that takes me away from you, then I need you to remember what I show you tonight."

"What's gonna happen, Daddy?"

"Shh," he coaxed. "Just listen."

I snapped my mouth shut and nodded.

With the fire poker, he cleared the soot and remaining glowing embers from the dying fire out of his way.

"Watch what I'm doing," he instructed softly. "Pay attention."

Setting the poker down, he slowly removed his shiny cufflink and rolled up the sleeve of his white shirt.

"If something happens, Ashton, if I'm not around anymore, I want you to find your way back to this house," he whispered, reaching far up into the chimney. "No matter how difficult it may be, I need you to come home, and I need you to do exactly what I'm doing now."

Rummaging around with his arm, he slowly withdrew a black, fireproof box from inside the chimney.

"You come in here, and you retrieve this."

He looked at me, eyes burning with something I couldn't understand.