Wrath of the Forgotten: Descendants of the Fall Book II by Hodges, Aaron (best romance books of all time txt) 📕

Heart racing, he started towards them. Several spotted Lukys as he approached and soon the entire group were clapping him on the back and welcoming him to the yard. Despite himself, Lukys found himself laughing, grinning alongside his friends. Travis appeared, dragging him into another bearhug, then Dale was gripping his hand.

After so long alone in the darkness, it felt surreal to suddenly be surrounded by people, by his friends. Somehow he’d expected them to be changed somehow, broken by their own time in isolation, their wills crushed by Tangatan captors. But the smiles on his fellow recruits’ faces seemed…genuine. They were happy, just as Sophia had said. It was more than any of them had experienced in Fogmore.

He spotted Sophia standing at the edge of the group, her arms folded, watching him. Their eyes met and he offered a tentative smile. She nodded back, and her voice whispered in his mind.

I told you.

“So you finally decided to join us!” Travis said, drawing Lukys’s attention back to the bulky recruit.

“I…guess so,” Lukys said, managing a smile. Despite his friends’ apparent happiness, it was overwhelming, being amongst them again.

“Glad you finally saw the light,” Dale said with an approving nod.

“Yeah…”

Lukys was surprised to find Dale in such a bright mood. In a way, he’d expected that of Travis, as he always seemed to find the silver lining in any given situation. But Dale…he was a true noble born, proud and aloof. It had taken him weeks just to accept Lukys as his equal. And he had loathed the Tangata. Now he smiled and laughed while one stood watching from just a few feet away?

“Care for a coffee?” Travis offered, gesturing to the tables. “I’m sure Isabella can rustle you up a mug. She does tend to burn it, unfortunately, but it’s still better than that river water they used to feed us in Fogmore.”

“Coffee?” Lukys frowned. Where had the creatures gotten coffee? “Isabella?”

Dale gave Travis a punch in the shoulder. “Slow your boots, the man’s just walked in.” He grinned at Lukys. “Relax, Lukys. You look like you’re about to have an aneurysm. Why don’t you take your lass upstairs? She was here last night, she knows which door is yours. We can swap stories later…” For a moment, Dale faltered. “I…already told them what happened in the north.”

Still in a bit of a daze, Lukys nodded, finding Sophia still standing nearby. It didn’t seem like she was going to join them, so he took Dale’s advice and bid his comrades goodbye. There was obviously more he needed to know about their situation—best he find out from Sophia rather than being caught in a lie by his own friends.

They seem happy, he noted as he re-joined her.

She raised her eyebrows. You seem surprised.

Lukys shrugged, deciding it was best not to explain himself. He watched as the recruits returned to their table.

Why keep us together? he asked.

This new life can be…difficult for new assignments, Sophia replied. The Matriarch has found your kind are able to make the adjustment easier with company from their former lives. It gives them a sense of normality.

Lukys nodded. And what of their Tangata? he asked. Shouldn’t they be here with their new…assignments?

They have already bonded, Sophia said, looking away.

Again he sensed the sadness in her words. What was the importance of these assignments that the Tangata seemed to covet? His resistance was clearly a source of disappointment, if not pain, for Sophia. He wished he could understand why.

When he didn’t respond, Sophia started towards the stairwell, leading them up onto the terrace. It felt surreal to walk along the squeaking boards, listening to the voices of his comrades whispering up from below, to feel the sun upon his face. Ahead, Sophia stopped at a door and turned the copper doorknob. It opened without resistance—apparently there was no need for locks here.

She disappeared inside, but Lukys hesitated in the doorway. This all seemed so normal, as though he had somehow stepped into another world, one where the war between Tangata and humanity had never existed.

But it was a lie. He could feel it in his soul, a wrongness about it all, even in the way Sophia looked at him—as though she were looking for something in his eyes. He lingered on the terrace, watching as she turned back to him, and for a moment he wondered if he should run. Sure, he wouldn’t make the front gates, and yet…

…wouldn’t that be better than betraying his people?

A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the Tangatan children. There’d been no children in Fogmore—they’d all fled with their families, heading north in search of safety. Only the soldiers and those who supplied them had remained. Yet here…the children played freely in the streets, and humans and Tangata mingled openly, without hatred or strife. Could it really be so easy?

Are you coming? Sophia’s voice whispered in his mind.

Lukys swallowed as he looked into those grey eyes. Then he nodded and stepped into the house.

For some reason, he’d expected to find the inside somehow different, as though everything before had only been an illusion to get him here. But it wasn’t like the Tangata needed to scheme—Sophia could have forced him here with one arm tied behind her back. So he shouldn’t have been surprised to find the inside of the house as normal as the courtyard outside.

He stood in a small, undecorated foyer that opened out into a plain dining room. Sophia had paused in the foyer to remove her boots and after a moment’s hesitation, Lukys did the same. In Fogmore, the mud had been so bad most had given up keeping it from their dwellings. Strange that the Tangata should have a greater sense of cleanliness than the militaristic Flumeerens.

Now in socks, Lukys moved into the dining room. A mahogany table was in the centre, while a cabinet of fine porcelain plates stood in the corner. Silver cutlery glinted from a shorter cabinet, and there was