Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) Chapter 11: 11: Her Pet

Read chapter 11 of Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) by Deb E Howell on NovelPedia.

Jonas hardly knew where to look as Raena leaned over him; the rounded, bandaged end of his thigh pressed against her shoulder as she stretched the muscles through his ass. That white bandage covered his leg. He knew it intellectually, and he could feel it as she manipulated it, and yet, when he looked at it, he couldn’t believe it. His leg didn’t look like that. His legs were powerful, whole. His body still believed so. When Raena had first lifted his thigh and maneuvered herself into place, he’d tried to straighten his knee to move his lower leg out of her way. He felt sick every time he was reminded of the truth. Pushing his leg as far as it would go, Raena leaned close, closer than even Llew had been in the last couple of days. So far, Raena had been the one to help him with his toilet. She’d shown Llew how to place a bed pan a couple of times, which left Jonas with a sense of helplessness and humiliation he’d never known before, but Raena was used to lifting bodies for such tasks, and had a strength Llew had yet to develop. And, of course, if Llew hurt herself in the process of helping Jonas, it lashed back at him. Llew wasn’t being complacent, though. Under Jonas’s guidance, she practiced squats and had found the heaviest bags in the room of junk to lift and strengthen her arms and core. He’d trained enough Karan and non-Karan soldiers to know what worked. Of course, back in Quaver the soldiers were provided with equipment designed for the tasks and space to move. Working in this cramped room with whatever could be gathered wasn’t ideal, but Llew was fortunate that – as they had learned when he had trained her in fighting techniques at Merrid and Ard’s farm – her body adjusted to the regime faster than anyone Jonas had ever trained. No wonder Aenuks made such formidable fighters for Turhmos. Llew wanted them to get going as soon as possible, get to an Ajnai. He’d never grow his leg back, but she was impatient to seal his wounds fully, and believed she could, somehow, return his Syakaran strength and speed. He wasn’t so sure. Standing back and laying his leg down gently, Raena smiled. “You have excellent flexibility that will suit you well in your recovery. How is your pain?” “Managed.” He was still taking the opiate, but trying to reduce the size and frequency of the doses already. He would need his wits about him on the road. And, if he was honest with himself, he didn’t know if he would ever stop taking the drug if he let it become more of a habit. He already craved the oblivion, even in his pain-free, lucid moments. “Good,” said Raena. “I sense a man determined to regain his independence.” She smiled again, her eyes kind. “Determination will take you far, but you will need help for a while, yet. Don’t let it get you down.” She was right. He struggled with a range of foreign emotions every time he had to depend on her or Llew, vulnerability the strangest of the lot. “You’re doing fine.” Raena gathered her medical supplies into her bag and left the room. “What do you want to do first?” Llew approached as Jonas sat himself up, letting the sheet and blankets fall off him. Raena had promised a change of clothes, but with Jonas largely bed-ridden they had yet to materialize, other than a pair of drawers tied with string. Some heat made it up from the lower level, but the room was still cold. “I’ll work on my arms. Elka and Raena have both told me even with a prosthetic I’ll be swingin’ on crutches for a while, at least.” Llew hooked herself under his arm to help ease him to the floor, then shuffled, stooped beside him, as he hopped across the room to the chair. Once he’d gripped the back of the chair, Llew stepped aside, as they had agreed, leaving him to find his own balance. She didn’t like watching him struggle – had said so several times – and kept having to stifle her urge to help, but he firmly believed he wouldn’t get any better unless he learned to look after himself. He was already much more capable, even after a co