“How are you feeling?” Ben asked.
Koios met his gaze, his dark eyes piercing. “Fine.”
“That’s not?—”
Ben interrupted Iris before she could continue. “Level of pain, on a scale of one to five, five being the worst.”
Koios scowled.
“If you lie,” Nyx sang, “I will knee you in the balls. Yes, I will. Won’t I little Lily? I’ll knee him in the nads and make him oh so mad.”
“You’re a terrible poet,” Koios said. His bravery…or stupidity…knew no bounds. “And my pain level is a four.”
Which meant a five. Dammit.
“How are you doing with the stretches we gave you at your last appointment?”
“The arm isn’t bad. The chest is still…rough.”
The manticore’s stinger had managed to pierce through the muscle on Koios’s arm and into his chest. With both areas poisoned, Ben considered it a win that Koios had come as far as he had over the past few months.
“That’s to be expected,” Ben said. “We’re going to start the next level of therapy. I need to take some measurements, and then we’ll talk over your options.”
“Oh, I get a say this time?” Koios snapped.
“Yes,” Ben replied, staring into Koios’s eyes once more, “you do. You said you didn’t want Ozias’s help, and we respected your decision. You said you wanted to be off the heavy-duty painkillers, and we respected your decision. You said you wanted to be out of the hospital before we felt you were ready, and we respected your decision.”
“Damn,” Nyx said. “Ben don’t play.”
“Not when it comes to the well-being of my patients,” Ben clarified. “And I won’t apologize for stopping you from leaving when we weren’t sure you would survive.”
Ben never broke eye contact, making sure Koios understood. When Koios finally gave him a begrudging nod, Ben continued.
“Good. I need you to lean back against the bench. I’m going to lower you. Iris, will you stand by to help in case this is too uncomfortable?”
“Of course.”
Koios leaned back as Ben slid the stool around to the side of the bench. After unclipping the lever locking it into position, Ben slowly lowered the back of the bench until it laid flat.
Koios paled and sucked in a breath. “Gimme a second.”
Iris knelt by her brother’s head and ran her hand over his hair. “Just breathe, little brother.”
“I’m okay. Go on, Ben. I can’t lay like this for long.”
Ben rolled back to Koios’s legs. He lifted them and put both feet on one of his thighs. “Better?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I want you to slowly lower your left leg for me. Stop when it hurts.”
Koios did as Ben asked, and Ben measured the angle from Koios’s thigh to the bench before helping him lift it again. Then he held Koios’s feet and spun the stool around.
“Now your right one.”
As Ben expected, the right leg was much tighter than the left.
“What does messing with his legs tell you?” Nyx asked.
