Kira and Jared [Historical Romance]

✍Revived

But when I carried her dead body in my arms to bury in a hidden place, the strangest thing happened, I saw her chest heave lightly.
Just then, my dead heart received a spark of life. No matter how frail hope may be, it should not be overlooked. So I laid her on the ground and blew air into her mouth while lightly pressing her chest continuously. Maybe, just maybe there is hope, I must try.

Miraculously, she started breathing fine after expelling some water trapped in her lungs. I was overjoyed, my tears of mourning became tears of joy. I hugged her badly wounded, fragile body and kissed her forehead to my heart's content. But something scared me, she was not waking up. She was breathing but she was not waking up! I began to panic.

I carried her on my horse and rode to Hechfaa, two towns away from Konland. On the outskirts of Hechfaa lived my old friend whom I once saved from a gang of bandits many years ago. He owned a small inn where low earning travellers could afford to pay for the night. I wanted to pay for a room, but he refused to accept any payment saying he is forever indebted to me. I stroke a deal with him to keep everything about my stay here a secret and hire a nurse to treat my beloved until she recovers and in return, I will consider his debt paid off. He agreed without hesitation.

I left my beloved in his care and rode back to the border, where I overheard some soldiers talking about how they were ordered to arrest and bring me into custody, for possible execution.
This felt like a nightmare, why would my father give such an order?  The soldiers were told to keep it a secret so that I wouldn't be alerted. They meant to set a trap for me so that I would be captured.
I was sure those were not my father's words. No father would do that to his own son.
Without wasting time, I informed Kade of the recent developments and we had to come up with a way to keep me here without actually having me here, which was a tough thing to do. We finally agreed to create a distraction for the soldiers by staging fake attacks and threats.

From our training, we learnt that certain substances could be mixed to create explosions. We used that same technique at strategic locations around the border, creating explosions to cause the soldiers to panic and prepare for battle. That would buy us time, as they would not want me dead at such a 'time of great need'.
And for the ultimate plan, we faked my death.

  The initial plan was to use a dead bear but something happened that caused a change in that plan.  One of our arrested criminals committed suicide that morning and the corpse was thrown deep in the forest. So we snuck the body back into our camp, placed it inside my tent and discarded all the reserved water. At midnight, we set the tent on fire, the soldiers searched for water to quench the fire, but could not find any. By then, the tent was already burnt down, and the burnt body was assumed to be mine.
Kade and the soldiers returned to the capital, and I rode back to my beloved.
I waited for her to wake up. The nurse came every morning and evening to tend to her but I was always there, praying and believing that she would open her eyes one day.

Five months after her supposed death, she was still in a coma. But I was still believing that a miracle would happen just like that day.
I sat on the chair beside her bed, in this badly maintained building. This was not what I wanted my princess to see when she woke up, but what can I do. Her safety comes first before luxury.
I fell asleep while watching over her, but in the depths of my sleep, I heard a light noise. I was too tired to open my eyes, so I ignored the sound. But a sudden loud cry wakened me.

"Father!"
She said hoarsely because of her dry throat and then opened her eyes.

Those eyes I have longed to see for a very long time. I watched her observe the room, and I saw the way her eyes flicked wide open when she realized that she was not alone. My intelligent little girl. I saw how she tried to turn her neck towards me, I almost jumped to help her but decided to allow her to exercise her joint. And it seemed she did not see me well when she first looked, so she adorably squinted her eyes.
Almost immediately, her eyes grew wide in surprise.