55. Jasmine

55

JASMINE

T he prince's desperate plea to see his sister tugged on Jasmine's heartstrings. She turned to Bridget. "What if we wheel his bed into the other room?"

When the doctor started shaking her head, Jasmine looked up at her. "Before you say ‘no,' I think that seeing his sister might jog his memory."

Bridget hesitated for a moment. "It's worth a try. The rooms are small, and these beds are bulky. Before I call Julian and the nurse to see if we can make it happen, I need to measure the space we have to verify that it is doable." She looked at the prince. "Don't worry, we will find a way for you to see your sister even if Julian has to carry you."

When he nodded, Bridget pulled a measuring tape from her coat pocket and stepped out of the room.

Jasmine stood next to the bed and took the prince's hand. "I keep trying to refer to you as Cedric in my mind, but it doesn't sound right. I want to know your real name."

"So do I." He squeezed her hand. "Thank you for suggesting rolling my bed to my sister's room."

"It was nothing." She chewed on her lower lip. "I saw her earlier. She's beautiful."

He smiled. "For some reason, you sound guilty."

"I do?" She closed her eyes. "I snuck a friend of mine in to see her."

The prince's smile evaporated, and his eyes started glowing. "What friend?"

She knew now that it wasn't a display of jealousy, so the response must have been about him perceiving what she had done as dangerous to his sister.

"Edgar, the guy I took to see her, was the pilot who worked with the gods and me on the mission to rescue you. After all he has done, I thought he deserved to see how well the two of you were doing."

And just like that, the smile was back, but only for a moment, and then he frowned. "You said that gods accompanied you on the missions. Who are they?"

"Aru, Negal, and Dagor. Why?"

The prince nodded. "Aru was one of my visitors. I suspected that he was a god."

"Good." She patted his hand. "Your memory is starting to come back if you can tell gods from immortals."

"It is not easy. They look a lot alike."

"Tell me about it." Jasmine rolled her eyes. "To me, Kian looks like a god. He is so incredibly good-looking."

"I was not sure myself whether he was an immortal or a god," the prince admitted, and again, there was not an iota of jealousy in his tone.

It was a little disappointing.

Jasmine didn't like Edgar's excessive jealousy, but a little bit would mean that the prince was interested in her as more than just a friend.

"Okay." Bridget walked into the room with Julian and Gertrude in tow. "Let's do this."

As Julian and the nurse worked together to quickly and efficiently disconnect the tubes and wires that tethered the prince to the monitoring machines, Jasmine slipped outside so she wouldn't be in their way.

When they were done with that part, they wheeled the bed out into the hallway and maneuvered it to pull it inside the other room.

From the open door, Jasmine saw that they had already moved the princess's bed to the side to make room for the second one, and she wondered if they planned on leaving the prince in his sister's room. He would be overjoyed if they did, but Jasmine preferred to have him all to herself and not to have to worry about his sister hearing them talking or doing other things, even when unconscious.

What other things?

It would take weeks until the prince was well enough for that. Besides, he hadn't shown any romantic interest in her yet.

He's been awake for one day. Get a grip.

Patience had never been Jasmine's strong suit.

The moment his bed was aligned with his sister's and his eyes fell upon her face, the prince's eyes filled with tears, and as he reached with a trembling hand to her, Julian helped him by moving the princess's hand closer and putting his on hers.

"Morelle," he whispered.

Jasmine stood at the doorway, unsure whether he wanted her there. "Morelle," he said louder and turned to look at Jasmine with a grin spreading over his handsome face. "My sister's name is Morelle."

Jasmine clapped her hands. "You remembered her name. That's amazing." She was giddy with happiness for him, and yet her eyes stung with tears.

She squeezed to stand on the other side of his bed and placed a hand on his shoulder, hoping he would find it supportive rather than intrusive.

"Can you try and remember your own name?" Bridget asked.

"Ell-rom. We are each other's mirror image."

Ell-rom, Jasmine repeated in her head. She didn't know what it meant, but it suited the prince much better than Cedric.

"Anything else that you remember?" Bridget asked gently.

"No. Morelle and Ell-rom. Those are our secret names, but I guess we don't need to keep them a secret anymore."

"Why were your names a secret?" Julian asked.

"I do not know." Ell-rom's eyes were focused on his sister's face. "I hope you wake up soon, Morelle, and I hope your memory didn't suffer as much damage as mine."