Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 148

Seelie guards lined the corridor.

Dozens of them.

They were frozen mid–motion–caught in a single heartbeat of chaos. Some leaned forward as if running. Others had weapons half–drawn, expressions twisted in alarm or fury. Cloaks flared behind them, hair lifted as though by a wind that would never finish passing through.

They had been responding to something.

A call. A threat.

Kaelani slowed as she passed them, unease curling tight in her stomach.

Their eyes were open.

Not glazed. Not lifeless.

Watching.

She swallowed hard, the sound too loud in her ears.

As she moved down the corridor, she could swear their gazes followed her–just slightly. Not enough to be movement. Not enough to be alive.

But enough to be aware. Enough to make her skin prickle.

Her breath caught as understanding slid into place, cold and immediate. She didn’t need to see the throne room to know who waited beyond those doors.

No.

The word screamed through her mind.

This was wrong.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. This wasn’t a dream meant to be walked. This was forbidden ground–sealed, protected, off- limits.

Panic fluttered in her chest as she tried to pull herself back. Tried to seize control of the dream the way she always did.

Nothing happened.

The world didn’t bend.

Didn’t blur.

Didn’t release her.

It was as if the dream itself had frozen–locked in place, rigid and unyielding, just like the Court around her.

Slowly, deliberately, she turned away from the towering doors at the end of the corridor

One step.

Then another

Her steps ricocheted through the hollow palace, Her shoulders tightened, every instinct screaming at her to ru herself to keep moving, step after careful step, putting distance between herself and the throne room.

but she forced

Chapter 148

+25 Bonus

She was almost convincing herself it would work.

Until-

The doors flew open.

The sound cracked through the palace like thunder shattering glass.

Kaelani froze.

The cold rushed in behind her, sharp and absolute.

She turned slowly.

The throne room yawned open–vast, dark, and impossibly still. Shadows pooled along the floor like spilled ink, and the air beyond the threshold felt heavier, older… watching.

And then she heard it.

A voice–soft, ancient, carrying power that didn’t need to raise itself to command the world.

“Child of two realms.”

Before she could react, something seized her–not hands, not magic she recognized, but raw force. Her boots scraped violently against the floor as she was yanked forward, lifted clear off her feet.

“No-!”

She shot down the corridor in a blur, the guards streaking past her vision, the doors of the throne room swallowing her whole.

She slammed to a halt midair.

Suspended.

Right before the throne.

Lyressa sat frozen upon it–beautiful and untouched by decay or mercy. She was held in perfect, unnatural stillness–neither alive nor dead, neither asleep nor awake. Her expression was caught between fury and agony, lips parted as if a scream had been stolen straight from her lungs.

The voice echoed again–deeper now. Closer.

“See.”

Kaelani’s pulse thundered in her ears.

“See?” she repeated, struggling against the invisible hold. “See what?”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify