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“Uh-huh.” I nod. “It can make me sick if it’s raw.”
The roar that splits the air has me jumping as he grabs the offending meat and throws it away before he moves his own plate farther from me. I can’t help but laugh as everyone gawks.
Shaking my head, I lay my hand on his arm to settle his panic. “If I ingest it,” I clarify. “I like the other stuff though, so settle down, Red.” I pat his hand and go back to eating, and now people are staring for a whole other reason.
He finally relaxes and picks at his meat, but he watches me worriedly as I eat my meal. There’s a grumble, and I look up to find an ashamed-looking man there, his tail tucked between his legs. “I found this as an offering to you, an apology for trying to kill you.”
In his hands, he holds something that looks like bread. I can’t help but let my eyes pop wide as I accept it. He watches me carefully, so I take a bite. Fuck, I haven’t had bread in so long. “You can kill me anytime if you bring me this after,” I tease around a mouthful.
Akuji dismisses him with a growling word, but the man bows his head and hurries away, seeming happier as I eat the rest of my meal and turn to Akuji, who is watching me.
“I thought you should know that I sent a messenger to the tribe who has your Talia.”
“Thank you,” I offer softly, my worry for her still niggling at me, despite everything that is happening.
He grunts. “Now we wait. While we do, I wondered if you would like me to show you more about my people?”
I perk up, grinning at him. “I would love that.”
TWENTY
ARIA
After being escorted to a bathroom, which is really just a hole in the ground, while Akuji stands guard outside so no one can come near me, I manage to wash in the sink and use the toilet before getting changed. I keep my jeans, but they are dirty, as well as my boots, but I snag a new shirt from their collection and put my jacket back on before leaving my hair down.
I selfishly want Akuji to like it, since he seems to have an obsession with it.
It’s worth the vanity when I leave the bathroom and Akuji growls before grabbing my hair and running it through his hands like it’s a treasure. I playfully swat his hands away with a laugh and duck my head, but a smile curves my lips. Like before, he takes my hand, and with the tiger in tow, he leads me to the surface, back out into the city.
The moon and stars shine brightly above us, and the cool, refreshing air makes me sigh, my shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. What is it about this destroyed place that makes me feel so at home? My gaze turns to the monster at my side. Perhaps it is the company that makes it feel like this, and not the place.
“I’ve seen a lot of the city,” I start.
“Not like this,” he murmurs, kissing my hand as he looks around. “Not these places. No human would ever dare venture where we’re going, but with me, Aria? No one will touch you. Let me show you our world and who we really are—the side the humans will never see.”
I lose my voice and let him guide me through the deserted streets. He points out homes, tribe locations, and paintings done by his people. Things they have fixed, flowers they have planted and tended. I’m in awe. It’s all things I took for granted or didn’t notice before he explains every one. Like the lights that flicker through the city, too low for us to use, or the boardwalks between buildings I never even thought to traverse, thinking they were just fallen debris. When we stop at a gardening patch, which they use to grow vegetables, he crouches in the dirt and draws me a map of the city.
It’s not the one I have, but of their tribes, families, lands, and symbols.
It seems there are three main ones—the warriors, which are Akuji’s people, the thinkers, who are the ones who have Talia, and the darklings, feral bands of warriors and rogues who banded together, determined to carry on the war. There are also loners who have been ejected from their tribes.
I listen to every word, hanging on each one until I memorise the map, and then we continue into the city. It gives me a whole new perspective. I always loved the rugged, ruined nature of the city, but I see beyond that now to the life it houses and the nature replacing it, blending back in with a world better suited to existence before humans.
Nature is reclaiming its space in a rapidly dwindling and dying world. Plants and animals that have been extinct over the wall for years all exist in harmony here.
Hours later, after wandering while Akuji answers my questions, we end up near the wall. There’s a small forest of trees with an overgrown carpark before it. Weeds and grass sprout through cracks in the concrete, flowers also, their leaves and petals turned up to the moon. There are some rusted cars scattered throughout also filled with foliage that seems to grow through it.
I’m about to speak when Akuji covers my mouth and crouches, bringing me with him until I’m between his thighs. I nod in understanding as he peels his hand away, his mouth going to my ear. It’s a very inappropriate time for desire to pulse through me, but it does, especially when his growling voice murmurs in my ear like a dirty secret.
“Watch.”
I wait silently, and then I spot them—deer. Real live deer. They are not in a book, nor are they a hologram. The deer graze as they unhurriedly wander around the lot. I blink in astonishment, my mouth opening as I turn to look at Akuji. “They are beautiful,” I whisper, not wanting to spook them.
“They are,” he murmurs and stands. They look up at us, but when we do nothing, they continue grazing. Slowly, he leads us closer, taking my hand in his big one. Smiling, he extends our hands to them. “They do not know to fear us. We do not prey on anything weaker than us. It would be wrong. We hunt the predators, the ones overrunning the city. We keep the balance.”
One of the deer lifts its head, watching us with big black eyes before trotting over. It sniffs our hands, almost making me giggle at the tickling sensation. Unbothered, it moves along, but I hold my breath at the beauty, at the innocence in its eyes. For some reason, tears fill my eyes. “There is nothing like this beauty over the wall. There is no innocence either. Poor people just take, killing everything. Everything has a price.”
“Not here, Aria.” He kisses my hand and wraps his arm around me as we watch the beauty of the world. “Everything here is freely given. Everything here is how the world should be. It’s balanced, respecting nature and every creature.” He looks down at me. “Differences should not separate or cause hate.”
