Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 164

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Chapter 164

It made sense.

The court was already tense with fear and suspicion. News of their union–Seelie queen and Unseelie commander–would ripple through both courts like a thunderclap.

So Lyressa agreed.

But keeping their love hidden did nothing to temper the way her heart opened to him.

If anything, it only deepened it.

She loved him.

There was no denying it anymore.

And when the investigation finally ended—when the court was no longer trembling beneath the weight of unanswered deaths- she would name him openly. She would place a crown beside her own and make him her king.

Let the court whisper.

Let them protest.

She would not spend another second without him ruling by her side.

Draevyn insisted he cared little for titles or thrones. Yet there was a quiet warmth in his eyes whenever she spoke of it–an unmistakable satisfaction in knowing she wanted him just as fiercely as he wanted her.

For a time, the secret felt like a sanctuary between them.

Until the first signs appeared.

At first Lyressa attributed it to exhaustion.

Weeks of investigation had worn her thin long before Draevyn arrived. Sleepless nights, endless meetings, and the growing weight of responsibility had drained even her normally boundless energy.

But the fatigue did not fade.

If anything, it worsened.

Each morning she woke feeling more depleted than the night before–as if something within her had been quietly siphoned away while she slept.

Her reflection began to change.

The glow that had once marked every Seelie faded from her skin, leaving it pale and dull beneath the palace lights. Dark shadows gathered beneath her eyes, no matter how much rest she forced upon herself.

Even her hair began to thin–strands of platinum slipping free when she brushed it.

Worse still was the strange hollowness she felt inside.

Not just physical weakness.

Something deeper.

Something spiritual.

As though the very essence that made her Seelie was slowly being drained away.

opter 164

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And no healer within the court could explain why.

As the days passed, Lyressa’s concern slowly hardened into something colder.

Fear.

The same question kept returning.

What if she had caught it?

What if the sickness that had been stealing the lives of the Seelie women had finally found its way to their queen?

The thought alone sent a chill through her.

Draevyn refused to entertain it.

“It’s not the same,” he told her firmly one evening, kneeling beside her bed as she struggled to sit upright. His hand closed gently around hers, grounding her when her strength threatened to fail.

“The women who died showed no signs of illness before they were found,” he continued. “No fatigue. No weakness. Nothing.”

His thumb brushed slowly across her knuckles.

“This is something else.”

Draevyn began sending word to the Unseelie Court, requesting the most skilled healers they possessed–those whose knowledge reached beyond the traditions of the Seelie Court.

“If anyone can uncover what’s happening to you, it will be them,” he assured her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Lyressa wanted to believe him.

She truly did.

But each passing day seemed to steal more strength from her.

What had begun as simple exhaustion slowly became something far more difficult to ignore. Standing for long periods left her dizzy. Walking across the chamber drained her breath as though she had crossed miles instead of stone floors.

Soon Draevyn was helping her back to bed each evening, guiding her carefully as though she were made of glass.

Eventually…

she could no longer rise from it at all.

Whispers began to ripple quietly through the palace halls.

The queen had fallen ill.

Her council grew increasingly uneasy, their concern barely concealed during the brief moments they were allowed to visit. They spoke in hushed tones outside her chambers, their voices heavy with questions no one dared ask aloud.

Was their queen dying?

wyn would not allow the uncertainty to spread further.

ence with the palace’s endless stream of visitors finally snapped.

seeds rest,” he declared sharply one afternoon, his voice echoing through the corridor outside her chambers. “

more audiences, no more consultations, and no more wandering courtiers disturbing her recovery.”