The Alpha’s Exclusive Stripper by Selena Madrid
Chapter 85
“IF ONLY your mother could see you right now, she would have been very proud,” Dad said after he put my mother’s ruby n*ecklace on me.
He was behind me, looking at me through the mirror. There were traces of pride and sadness in his voice.
“Dad…”
When our eyes met, he smiled. “It’s alright. Like I said before, your mother and I are one. She can look at you through my eyes. She can hold you and love you through me.” He planted a k*iss on my hair. “I know you are a grown-up now, princess. You probably don’t need your father anymore but I need you. I always will.”
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He didn’t wait for my answer like he didn’t want to hear it. Like he was worried to hear what I would say. He turned around and added, “If you are ready, we can go. I’ll be outside-”
“I love you, dad. I will always need you.”
This was my second time saying it. It was so easy to say back when he was still unconscious. But the words don’t come out when I want them to.
That’s why I tried practicing saying the words out loud each time I would go to his quarters early in the morning while he was still sleeping. It made the butler and the night guards laugh, they were saying that I was just like my father.
The butler confessed that dad would also visit me in my room in the middle of the night like he still couldn’t believe that I was finally home.
And then he would whisper how much he loved me.
The years we had spent apart made it h*ard for us to open up. Addison said that it was because dad was experiencing how to be a father for the first time. It was the same for me. I was still learning how to become someone else’s daughter, and a king’s daughter at that.
We knew it would take time. But both of us were trying h*ard.
After a few seconds of silence, dad cleared his throat. “I thought I would have to pretend to be sleeping first before I could hear those words from you again, princess.”
I smiled. I’d already known that he was only pretending these days. I would often catch his phone near the wooden crib that he made for me decades ago.
Everyone said that dad refused to let go of that crib even if he was not sure if his child was alive.
I also knew that he was recording my morning greetings. I heard he had been bragging about the recordings to the Council behind my back.
I caught him one time saying, ‘How many daughters would still say I love you to their parents these days? You can’t answer because they don’t do it anymore, right? In this world, you would not be able to find someone like Priscilla again. And I’m not saying this because she’s my daughter.’
The council and I knew he was saying those things exactly because I was his daughter. But of course, no one would ever dare complain in front of the proud king.
My smile grew wider upon the memory.
There were days when dad would visit mom and play the recordings from his phone like it was his way of making her listen to them, too.
“I love you, dad,” I told him again, my voice was louder this time.
“And I love you too, princess.”
Dad would never admit it. But I found out just recently from his assistant that he was the only one among the supernatural beings who had access to the Phoenix, the coven who turned Trevor into a hybrid.
He knew one of the members of the coven from way back. It would be h*ard for someone as young as Trevor to locate them in just a short span of time.
When Dad said that he would take charge, that he would fix things for me, was that what he meant?
But then if he wanted to tell me those things, he would have said it already. That was the first thing I learned from living with him.
I know one day, I would get to hear the answer from him.
I took a deep breath and stared at my reflection for the last time tonight.
I was wearing a long gown made of crimson silk satin which had hundreds of real diamonds sewn into it.
Who would have imagined that I would get to wear something as beautiful and as expensive as this?
“Are you ready?” Dad asked after a while.
There were countless people waiting for us out there. I don’t think I would ever be ready.
Still, I nodded and accepted dad s h*and. I was still a work in progress and somebody taught me that there was nothing wrong with that.
Dad put my h*and on his arm. We headed into the Great Hall.
Tonight, the entire castle was glowing with all the bright lights they prepared for this welcome party.
Tonight would also be the night that I would get to see the man who taught me how to embrace my flaws and how to k*iss the wildness and the darkness inside me because all those were the parts that made me unique, that made him love me.
There was an emergency in the shifter’s realm yesterday when Trevor and I were supposed to meet. That’s why he had to leave. I heard he had just returned.
That’s why tonight, I was wearing that same smile and confidence he had shared with me.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the king and the protector of the realm, His Majesty Jeremy Blanche along with Her Highness, Princess Priscilla Blanche!”
The doors opened and together, dad and I walked inside. Everyone was holding a glass of wine in their h*ands as they lowered their heads to greet us.
In the middle of the hundreds of people celebrating with us, I saw him. And it was not that difficult.
Trevor would always stand out wherever he was. He stood near the stage. In his navy-blue three-piece suit, he looked like he was ready to conquer the world.
Our gazes locked. I saw a spark of surprise in his blue eyes and then a mischievous grin curved his l*ips as he raised his glass.
Amid the noise around us, I heard his voice clearly.
“Are you in the right room this time, love?”