Page 18 of Dark Princess Emerging

He needed his Jasmine back.

He had memorized every detail of her face during his long vigil—the arch of her eyebrows, the curve of her cheeks, the slight parting of her lips as she breathed.

So, when there was the tiniest change in her breathing pattern, he noticed it immediately, and his heart rate accelerated rapidly.

He jumped out of his chair and stood at her side in a split second. "Jasmine?" he whispered, taking her hand.

Her fingers twitched in his grasp, and her eyelids fluttered while the steadily beeping monitors beside her bed picked up their pace.

"My love?" He leaned closer, hardly daring to breathe. "Can you hear me?"

A small furrow formed between her brows, and she turned her head slightly toward his voice. Her lips moved, though no sound emerged, and her eyes remained closed.

"Bridget!" he called out, not taking his eyes off his mate's face. "Jasmine is awake!"

The door opened a moment later, and Bridget walked into the room. She stood next to him and smiled. "Welcome back, Jasmine. Ell-rom missed you like crazy."

Was that a ghost of a smile he was seeing?

It vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

"I'm here, my love," he said softly. "Can you open your eyes and look at me? I've missed you so much. You're transitioning, and you've grown taller by more than two inches. I don't know if you'll be happy or upset about that. Bridget says that if you don't like the extra inches, she will gladly take them. She is right here beside me, so she can confirm that she said that."

He was throwing everything he could think of at Jasmine to cause her to want to wake up, and it seemed to be working.

Her eyelids fluttered and opened briefly before closing again.

"I'll dim the light," Bridget offered. "It might be too harsh for her."

She pulled out her phone and adjusted the lighting using an application that controlled everything in the patient room. He didn't know how it worked and didn't care.

"Try again, my love. The lights are dimmer now."

When Jasmine's eyes opened this time, they stayed open, though unfocused at first. She blinked several times, her gaze gradually sharpening until it found his face.

"Ell-rom?" Her voice was barely a whisper, rough from disuse.

"Yes." He had to fight back tears of relief. "Welcome back."

She tried to lift her hand to his face, but her coordination was off. He caught her hand and pressed it to his cheek. "I’ve missed you so much."

"How long?" she managed to ask.

"Ten days," he told her. "You've been transitioning and taking your time because your body was growing."

Her eyes widened slightly at that, and he wondered whether she'd heard him before when he had told her that she had grown in height.

"How much taller?" Jasmine asked.

"Two inches," Bridget said. "Now you are the standard height for a supermodel. Congratulations."

To his relief, Jasmine gave a weak laugh. "Yay. Did my ass shrink?"

He frowned. "I hope not. I like your ass just the way it is."

Chuckling, Bridget motioned for him to step aside. "I need to check a few things."

When Jasmine's eyes widened in fear, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I'm not going anywhere. I will just give Bridget room to work."