40. Jasmine

40

JASMINE

T he prince was awake, and his eyes were the brilliant blue she remembered from the moment he'd opened them.

Jasmine's heart was pounding so loudly that she had no doubt Bridget and the prince could hear it, but she didn't care.

This was the moment she'd been waiting for.

She wasn't a medical professional, but it seemed to her that he was out of the coma for good. He was keeping his eyes open and talking in whole sentences.

It would have been nice to hear his real voice and how he sounded in his own language, but she didn't dare defy Kian and take the earpieces out. They were staying no matter what, but not because she feared the prince's compulsion. She just didn't want to give anyone an excuse to kick her out of the room.

Her prince was still painfully thin, but he was breathtaking, with his chiseled features and regal bearing, his skin smooth and unblemished despite the ravages of time and stasis. Julian had cut short the tufts of long hair that had stayed attached to his head through thousands of years of stasis, and the bald spots were starting to sprout new hair.

Brown. It was a beautiful shade of chestnut brown, not black like Jade's.

Regrettably, by the time Bridget was done with her checkup, the poor male had fallen asleep again, but the doctor reassured Jasmine that he was resting, not unconscious.

"I'm going to dim the lights," Bridget said. "Now that he's conscious, he will be more comfortable sleeping without direct light shining into his eyes."

Jasmine nodded.

"He is very weak," Bridget said. "I expect he will be drifting in and out of sleep for the next day or two. Right now, it seems he only has the energy to stay awake for a few minutes."

The doctor sounded apologetic, as if it was her fault that Jasmine hadn't had a chance to talk with her prince yet.

"That's okay. I'll wait until he wakes up again."

Bridget chuckled softly. "It will most likely take a while, so I would have suggested that you take a break and go for a walk to stretch your legs, but I have a feeling that wild horses won't be able to drag you away from this chair."

"Your feeling is spot on," Jasmine admitted. "Now that he's finally awake, I'm not going anywhere."

She had a bottle of water and a couple of energy bars in her purse, so she was all good.

"Very well," Bridget said. "I will call Kian and tell him the good news."

Jasmine nodded, excitement and trepidation mounting inside her, making her gut clench with worry about what was still in store for her fragile prince. Kian would be thrilled to hear the news, but he would also have questions and exhaust her poor guy, robbing her of the few precious wakeful minutes during which she and the prince could get to know each other.

When the doctor left, Jasmine rose to her feet and stood over her prince, admiring the incredible progress he'd made in a few short days.

"Were you the one I heard in my dreams?" He startled her when he spoke.

His eyes opened, glowing blue in the dark room.

"Yes," she answered before remembering that the teardrop wasn't on.

"Sorry," she murmured. "Kra-on. Yes."

"Your voice kept me tethered to life," he said. "I followed it out of the void."

His admission filled her with warmth. "The doctor, Bridget, said it was good to talk to people in a coma. I didn't have the teardrop or the translation device, so I just sang and recited plays and poems in my own language, hoping that my voice would soothe you and make you feel less lonely. But then William brought me this." She lifted the device. "And it translated what I said to your own tongue. It didn't work with singing, so each time I wanted to sing to you, I had to turn it off."

The prince smiled, a soft, gentle curve of his lips that made Jasmine's heart skip a beat. "I loved the singing and the talking even when I couldn't understand it. You have such a lovely voice."

"Thank you."

As a wave of emotion washed over her, Jasmine felt tears prick at the backs of her eyes. She had never felt so needed as she did in that moment, with the prince's eyes fixed on her face.

"I am the one who should be thanking you," he said in a near whisper. "You brought me back." The prince's eyes began to drift closed, his lids heavy with exhaustion and his breathing slowing to a steady, even rhythm.

Jasmine's heart sank, a flicker of disappointment washing over her. But then she remembered what Bridget had said about the prince drifting in and out of sleep for the next couple of days, and she sat back down.

Hopefully, he would wake up again before Kian arrived so they could talk some more.