Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Only then did he seem to notice her.

For a moment he simply looked at Lyressa through the narrow crack in the doorway, his expression unreadable beneath the dim light.

Not surprised.

Not panicked.

Almost…

Disappointed.

Lyressa’s breath trembled in her chest as their eye

The golden glow had already faded from his

the storm–gray color returning as if nothing unnatural had happened at all.

Draevyn rose from the chair with unhurried ease.

The body of the servant lay crumpled on the floor beside him, pale and lifeless, as though discarded without a second thought.

He pulled up his trousers calmly, fastening them as if this were nothing more than an inconvenient interruption.

Then he looked back at her.

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” he said softly.

“My love.”

Lyressa recoiled as if the words themselves had struck her.

“Don’t-”

voice broke as she shook her head violently. “Don’t you call me that.”

Draevyn sighed, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck as though she were exhausting him.

“Oh,

please,” he

muttered.

be so dramatic.”

4

Lyressa stared at him in disbelief.

“Dramatic?” she whispered.

Her voice rose suddenly, the raw shock and fury finally breaking through.

“Are you serious right now?”

Her hand trembled as she pointed toward the lifeless girl on the floor.

“This whole time… it’s been you.”

The realization hit her again even as she spoke it aloud.

“You killed all those women,” she said, her voice shaking with outrage. “You’ve been stealing their light… using wicked sex magic.”

Lyressa stared at him, the horror of what she had just witnessed still clawing through her chest.

Then the truth struck her.

Hard.

Like

a stone dropped into still water, sending shockwaves through every thought in her mind.

Her eyes widened

+25 Bonus

Her voice dropped to a fractured whisper as the realization settled into place. “You’ve been stealing my light.”

Her hand moved instinctively to her chest, fingers pressing against the hollow ache that had been growing there for weeks.

“That’s why I’ve been so ill,” she whispered. “That’s why I’ve been fading.”

Draevyn said nothing at first.

He only began walking toward her.

Slowly

Each step deliberate, almost unnervingly calm as he closed the distance between them. The light flickered across his face, casting shifting shadows that made his expression feel colder than she had ever seen it.

“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” he said at last.

The casualness of the words made Lyressa’s stomach twist.

“I could have drained you the very first night,” he continued smoothly, his voice lowering as he approached the doorway.

His gaze swept over her, dark and calculating now.

“The moment you so eagerly spread your legs for me.”

Lyressa flinched.

“But I didn’t,” he went on. “Because you were… useful.”

He stopped a few paces away from her.

Close enough now that the air between them felt heavy.

“And if you would like to continue existing,” Draevyn said quietly, “here is what you are going to do.”

His eyes held hers with unsettling certainty.

“You will appoint me Lord of the Realm.”

The words landed like thunder in the silent corridor.

“And you will grant me full reign over both courts.”

Lyressa stared at him as if the words themselves were madness.

Because they were.

“You will reign over nothing,” she said, her voice sharp despite the weakness in her body.

The fury burning in her chest pushed back against the fear clawing through her veins.

“The only thing you’ll be appointed,” she continued, her words splintering in her throat with righteous anger, “is a cell in the dungeon where you will rot for the rest of your abhorrent existence.”

For the first time, something in Draevyn’s expression hardened.

*

The mask slipped.

In the next instant he moved.

His hand shot forward, closing around her throat before she could react

Quapter 168

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Perkaps

most powerful in all the

and sightly

Afar uden gismer flickered deep within them.

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Crow’s langs earned as the fought for at

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bmit to me,” Drawery confined quietly, or perish like the rest of those whores.”

The words barely left his mouth before he released her

Lyrics dropped hard to the cold floor

far tore back into her langs as the collapsed, coughing violently, her body shaking as she tried to regain control of her breathing

Van rippled through her throw as the forced herself to move.

She couldn’t stay here.

Couldn’t remain within reach of him.

Mer fingers scraped against the stone as she dragged herself across the floor, her weakened body struggling toward the open doorway and the safety of the hall beyond.

Drarryn followed her down the corridor at an unhurried pace as Lyressa struggled across the marble floor.

He laughed softly behind her

The sound echoed through the empty hall.

“Look at you,” he mocked. “The great Seelie Queen, crawling through her own palace.”

Lyressa ignored him.

Every ounce of strength she had left went into forcing her body forward. Her knees dragging against the cold marble as she inched toward the throne room doors at the end of the hall.

With a desperate surge of will, Lyressa pushed herself upright. Her legs shook violently beneath her weight, but she forced them

to hold.

“Guards!” she cried.

Her voice came out weak and ragged, barely more than a rasp.

”

Still she staggered forward.

She reached the towering doors of the throne room and shoved them open, stumbling into the vast chamber beyond.

“Guards!” she shouted again, her voice growing louder now, desperation forcing strength back into it

Behind her, Draevyn stepped calmly through the doorway.

Chopter 168

+25 Bonus

“It’s a shame it must be this way, Your Majesty,” he said almost regretfully. “Things would be so much easier for you if you simply cooperated.”

Lyressa spun toward him, fury blazing through the weakness in her body.

“I would rather die,” she rasped, “than sell out my own kingdom.”

Her hand shot forward.

Golden light sparked across her palm.

For a moment-

hope flared.

But the energy flickered weakly… then vanished.

Lyressa stared at her hand in horror.

Only a faint ember of power remained.

He really had taken it.

“Guards!” she cried again, louder than before.

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