He stood and gestured to a large monitor on the wall. With a few taps on his tablet, the display changed. Koios’s X-rays appeared on the screen.
“My back is fucked,” Koios snapped. “It doesn’t take a medical degree to figure that out.”
“Koios!” Iris snarled.
“It’s okay,” Ben replied. “He’s right. It doesn’t. But it does take a medical degree to come up with a treatment plan to keep you from further damaging your spine.”
“How bad is it?” Nyx asked.
Koios glared at Ben, daring him to answer. Ben turned to face him, his expression blank. As far as showdowns went, it wasn’t a great one. Ben had two weapons in his arsenal: Iris and Nyx. All Ben had to do was wait for them to ask the inevitable question. He wouldn’t lie to them, but he wanted to.
“Koios?” Iris said. “I take it from Ben’s stoic look that you already know the answer to Nyx’s question.”
Of course he did. The good doctors Jerrick had shown him the X-rays months ago. “It’s bad.”
“Dammit, Koios. Why didn’t you?—”
“Because there’s nothing we can do about it,” Koios snapped. “The human body isn’t built to carry an extra thirty to thirty-five percent of its weight in wings. My bone structure and musculature are failing. Sadly, Dr. Vaughn doesn’t feel that amputating my wings is a viable option.”
“Amputating.” Nyx paled and moved to his side.
“And since I refuse to let the hell prince mess around with my body, I’m looking at a lot more pain in my future.”
Ben continued their stare down. Koios couldn’t stand the thought of facing the looks on his sisters’ faces, so he stared right back. At least he didn’t see pity or fear in Ben’s eyes.
“There is another option,” Ben said. “And you aren’t going to like it.”
Nyx grabbed Koios’s hand and squeezed. “We want options.”
Iris moved to his other side. “Yes, we do.”
Ben never broke the staring contest between them. He waited, damn stubborn man.
“Fine, what is the other option?”
“We work on making you stronger and doing corrective therapy on your back, shoulders, and hips to give your body the ability to provide more support than you presently have. It’s not going to be easy, and it’s a long-term process.”
“You mean, like, working out?” Nyx asked.
“For the most part, yes,” Ben replied.
The other shoe hadn’t dropped yet. Koios could feel it hiding beneath those damn brown eyes. “And who, exactly, will be helping me with thistherapy?”
“Me.” Ben crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t even blink.
Damn him.
Nyx clung more tightly to Koios’s hand while Iris leaned against him. The decision was his.
“I’d like to speak to Ben alone,” Koios said.
He tore his gaze away from Ben’s and turned to his sisters. Neither of them looked impressed, but before they could argue, Ben spoke up.
“I’ll let you take Lily,” Ben said with the smallest smile on his lips.
“Oh, that’s not nice.” Nyx glanced at the baby carrier where Lily had begun to squirm a little.
“I bet Ollie will be by soon to pick her up. It’s almost time for her bottle, too. You know Ollie doesn’t let very many people feed the twins. This may be your only chance.”
