Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 117

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“I know what it feels like to be chosen… as if your worth depends on who sees you. As if love has to be earned, proven, bled for.”

His words were tempered, but they found their mark with precision.

“But I don’t want to make you feel chosen, Kaelani.”

“I want to show you what it means to feel… anointed.”

That word landed like an oath–weighty, sacred, undeserved by most.

“You don’t owe me–or anyone in this realm–anything.”

“But you do owe yourself a chance to be acknowledged, loved, and respected without condition. And I’d like the opportunity to show you what that looks like.”

Draevyn was standing over her now.

His gray eyes pierced into hers, unrelenting. He smelled too good–woodsmoke and something beguiling. His shirt hung open just enough to reveal the muscled expanse of his chest, the sharp line where strength met sin.

Her Fae blood stirred.

But something deeper screamed wrong.

Her soul recoiled.

Her wolf snarled–low, guttural, disgusted by the sight of him.

Kaelani swallowed hard, forcing the impulse down, smothering the spark before it caught flame. She pushed the unwanted thoughts out and steadied her breath, gaze fixed.

“I wish to continue my lessons,” she said evenly. “But I want your word–you will never intercept my dream–walks again.”

Draevyn raised a hand as if taking an oath.

“I will never intercept your dream–walks again…”

A pause. A glint of something in his eye.

“Unless, of course… you call for me.”

Kaelani searched his eyes for a long moment, then gave a small, deliberate nod.

It wasn’t forgiveness, and it wasn’t surrender-

but it was acceptance.

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Draevyn’s expression shifted just slightly, something like approval flickering in the depths of his silver

stare.

“Good,” he said smoothly, his voice returning to that calm, velvety cadence.

“Let’s eat some breakfast. Then we’ll head out to the Dark Forest.”

They didn’t linger long over the meal. By the time they stepped beyond the castle’s shadow, the air had grown colder–thicker. The path ahead wound into a world where light dared not reach.

The shadows in the Unseelie Forest shifted like they were alive–long tendrils that breathed between branches, cloaking everything in their eternal dusk. Each step muffled beneath a carpet of damp leaves and moss, the silence was broken only by the occasional rustle of unseen movement.

Kaelani stood at the edge of the trees, no longer in the drab gray jumpsuit she’d first arrived in. She wore fitted black slacks tucked into low, laced boots that rose to mid–calf. A black button–up shirt hugged her frame–simple, clean, powerful. Her hair, rich with warm undertones, was pulled into a sleek ponytail that shimmered faintly beneath the starlight.

Draevyn was beside her, dressed more casually than usual–though nothing about him ever seemed truly relaxed. His oxblood–red satin shirt was half–buttoned down his chest, the fabric a fine weave that clung to him in all the right places. Dark trousers and heavy boots completed the look, though it was the effortless confidence in the way he moved that stood out most.

He surveyed the clearing ahead, arms folded loosely.

“Well then,” he murmured, his tone almost teasing. “We can work on channeling. Elemental control. Or–if you’re feeling brave–summoning.”

Kaelani didn’t look at him. Her gaze was fixed forward, calm and razor–focused.

“What you did in the dream,” she said. “With the shadows. You used them like vines.”

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