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

sweetness. The image of her baking bread each morning was such a sharp contrast to the monsters he’d always imagined the Tangata to be…

…perhaps that was the source of his reservations—not that he did not find her attractive, but that he did. She had taken him captive, stolen away his freedom. Human or Tangata, he should loathe her.

Instead, he found himself lying awake each night, tossing and turning in the giant bed, thinking of Sophia sleeping alone on the sofa. Of the pain he glimpsed in her eyes each morning when he found her with her bread.

It was galling.

“You’re looking grim.”

Lukys looked up as Travis sat across the table from him. Most of the others had been washing up after their afternoon on the riverbanks and Lukys had been enjoying the peace in the courtyard. He forced a smile.

“Didn’t catch anything today.”

His friend chuckled. “Fish not biting? Ah well, rest day tomorrow, no point stewing over it.” He lifted his mug and clinked it against Lukys’s.

They drank and Travis laughed again, then gestured around the courtyard. “Who knew our damned Sovereigns were hiding this from us all this time?”

“You think they knew?” Lukys asked, surprised.

Travis’s eyebrows lifted into his mop of light brown hair—there were certainly no barbers in New Nihelm. “You think they didn’t?”

Lukys’s eyes drifted over the groups of Tangata standing nearby. “I don’t know what to think anymore,” he mused.

His friend said nothing at that, and when he looked back at Travis, he found the other man’s gaze fixed on him. He swallowed, worried he might have given away his secret, but after a moment the Perfugian waved a hand.

“Ain’t that the truth,” he said, then leaned across the table. “So, what’s it like?”

“Huh?” Lukys asked, mug halfway to his lips.

“Being able to hear them,” Travis explained.

Lukys quickly dropped his eyes to the table. That was one secret he had been unable to keep. The other Tangata had soon learned of his ability from Sophia, and often came to him when they wanted to convey something to their partners. It seemed a novelty to them, to be able to communicate with Travis and the others without using notes. For Lukys, it was slightly mortifying.

“I…” he stammered, unsure how to progress. “It’s…different.”

“I bet.” Travis wore a grin from ear to ear. “Especially at night. I can only imagine the thoughts running through Isabella’s mind sometimes.”

Warmth flushed Lukys’s face but thankfully he was spared any further conversation about his love life by the arrival of voices at the gates of the compound. He frowned, turning in his seat to see several men and women approaching, carrying straw baskets.

“Hello to the compound!” the first of the new arrivals called, the southern twang in his accent announcing him as Calafe. “We heard there were some new arrivals, how are y’all settling in?”

The Perfugians stood around the courtyard as the group approached, frowns revealing their confusion. So far they hadn’t had much interaction with the other humans in the city. But the frowns soon turned to grins as the newcomers revealed the contents of their baskets.

“Y’all hungry?” A woman asked, approaching their table.

“Damn right!” Travis exclaimed, rising to look into the basket. He jabbed a thumb in Lukys’s direction. “This one didn’t catch us anything for dinner.”

Lukys flashed Travis a scowl, but nodded his thanks as the woman passed him something wrapped in a cloth. She took a seat alongside Travis as Lukys unwrapped the offering, revealing a small pastry pie within.

“It’s venison,” the woman explained, taking out one of her own. Uncovering the pie as Lukys had done, she proceeded to take a bite while holding the bottom half in the cloth.

Raising an eyebrow, Lukys shared a glance with Travis, then attempted to mimic their new companion’s actions. The pastry was still hot, and taking a bite, he was surprised to find chunks of meat and gravy inside. It dripped down the side of the flaking pastry, but thankfully the cloth kept it from scalding his fingers.

“So Perfugians, right?” the woman asked as they ate. “We don’t get many of your kind here. Must be quite the story.”

Lukys glanced at the woman, thinking it must be the same with her. These were Calafe—this had been their city, before the Tangata had come. He wanted to ask her what they thought about this new life, their new masters. But that would have given him away.

“You’re dammed right about that,” Dale said, interrupting Lukys’s thoughts as he appeared alongside them.

He’d gotten a pie of his own from another of the Calafe, and sitting beside Lukys, he started to tell the tale of how they’d found themselves captives of the Tangata. Travis interrupted now and then with his own witty remarks, but Lukys found himself tuning out their words.

Their expedition with the Archivist seemed like another life now, a different reality. Had he met Sophia back then, he would have run her through with his spear. Now, though…

Lukys started as a single note of music rang through the courtyard. Swinging around, he saw that one of the newcomers had taken out a lute. Eyes fixed on the instrument, the woman paid the rest of the courtyard no attention, only strummed the instrument again, starting into a song—soft at first, but quickly building in volume. Each strum of the strings reverberated from the wooden walls of the courtyard.

A harmonica soon joined her, then a violin, as others took instruments from their baskets and began to play. The Perfugians remained at their benches, a look of wonder in their eyes as voices rose to greet the night. It was an old song, beginning in the darkness of The Fall, when death had stalked the land and even the Tangata had hidden far beneath the earth.

Then the pace increased. Hope appeared in the tone of the singers, as light returned to the world. Swept away by the music, Lukys sat with his eyes closed, imagining those ancient days when the only worries of mankind had been their