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

raised his spear, but a backhanded blow from Adonis sent him staggering backwards. A silence settled over the courtyard as the others shrank back from the Tangata’s rage.

Teeth bared, Adonis lifted Sophia into the air. You would betray your own kind for these…these swine?

Terror swept over Lukys as he watched his partner struggling to break Adonis’s grip, but she was as helpless in his grasp as any human would be. Her mouth opened and closed, gasping for breath, but no sound came out. With a sneer of contempt, Adonis tossed her aside, sending her crashing into one of the tables. The heavy wood cracked beneath the impact and she slumped amongst the ruins, unmoving.

“No!” Lukys screamed.

Smiling, Adonis faced him. Their eyes met and Lukys froze. Death reflected from those icy depths, its promise pounding against his mind, assaulting his consciousness. A gasp escaped his throat but words, thought, abandoned him. Tears burned in his eyes as he sank to his knees, but still he could not look away, not even to seek out where Sophia had fallen. Whispers of movement came from around the courtyard as the others followed, Tangata and human alike.

Brothers, sisters, Adonis called, arms spread as he turned those terrible eyes on the Tangata. The Old Ones have returned. They have cast down our tyrannous Matriarch. No longer will we bow to humanity, allowing them to live among us as equals.

Out from under his direct gaze, Lukys felt as though he could breathe again. His heart pounded in his ears as he watched the Tangatan leader. Anger touched him, but it was like a spark amongst damp tinder, unable to catch. How could he go up against this creature if even Sophia could not match him? He was like a fly, trapped in the spider’s web. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run; he could only wait for death to finally find him…

His gaze travelled to the other Tangata. They bowed their heads to Adonis’s words. The spark in his core flickered, burning brighter. How could they kneel there and accept the death of their leader so easily? How could they sit and do nothing when this creature would condemn their human partners to death? Had Lukys only imagined the fondness he’d seen in their eyes, the love?

Then he frowned as he noticed how Travis and Isabella held hands as they knelt. Tears shone on the Tangata’s face. Looking past them, he saw the same grief in the eyes of others. He ground his teeth. Why did they not act? There were a dozen of them—surely Adonis could not defeat so many at once, whatever his generational advantages…

Lukys’s frown deepened as the despair swelled once again. What did it matter if they fought? They were doomed regardless. They would never escape the city now, never make it to safety, make it home…

The thought trailed away as Lukys’s gaze settled on his spear tip. In that moment, he was transported back to that desperate battle beside the Illmoor. He had been terrified then as well. There’d been no denying the death that awaited them, no escaping it. And yet he had stood strong and faced the Tangata with courage. He had not lost heart then.

So why would he now?

His head lifted as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. Movement came from the corner of his eyes. His heart throbbed as he saw Sophia on her knees. Blood streaked a trail from her lip and a bruise swelled on her forehead, but she was alive.

Hope.

Lukys clutched at the thought as he fixed his gaze on Adonis. Here was the reason the other Tangata did not act. Somehow, Adonis controlled them, controlled his despair. He had noticed Sophia now and his laughter whispered on the breeze.

Still alive then, sister?

You can’t do this, she whispered, seemingly unable to regain her feet. It’s forbidden.

Forbidden by your treacherous Matriarch. Adonis shook his head, sweeping a hand across those gathered in the courtyard. But no longer. All will have a part to play in the coming conquest, but no longer will we constrain ourselves on behalf of the weak. A new age dawns for the Tangata, one ruled by the strong!

Lukys’s heart was pounding so hard against his ribs he feared it might explode. The fear returned as Adonis turned on him once more, but now he knew its source. Closing his eyes, he endured, clinging to that memory beside the Illmoor, to the feel of the spear in his hands, to the presence of his friends at his side, to the sight of Cara soaring across the swirling waters.

“Adonis,” he found himself saying.

Silence fell across the courtyard and opening his eyes, he found the Tangata watching him. His breath caught in his throat and for a moment he could not think, could do nothing but stare into those deadly eyes.

Hope.

Lukys swallowed. “You said the Old One wants me?” he rasped. A frown twisted the Tangata’s features. When he did not reply, Lukys continued: “I will…go freely,” he choked out. “If you spare them.”

Lukys, no! Sophia’s voice shouted in his mind. Sobbing, she tried to stand, but could not seem to gather her feet.

Adonis laughed. You think you have a choice, human?

The cold eyes bored into Lukys and he gasped as his entire body began to tremble. The spear slipped from his fingers, clattering to the cobbles. Desperately, he tried to stand, but wave upon wave of emotion broke upon him, of desolation, of anguish, cast at him by the creature he faced. His gaze fell to the bricks beneath his knees.

Hope.

Footsteps approached, soft in the darkness. No, human, your weakness betrays you, betrays all your kind. Betrays even our lesser generation. No wonder so many of the fifth fell to your blade. No wonder they wilted before the Anahera. But no longer.

Lukys gasped, hardly able to breathe, to think. All he could hear were the words, that pounding in his skull, the awful doom approaching on soft feet. He could not fight