Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169

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The gate exploded open in a burst of light.

For a brief, disorienting moment Julian felt nothing but rushing wind and weightlessness–like the world had been ripped out from beneath him.

Then the ground returned.

Hard.

Stable.

He stumbled forward, boots crunching against something brittle beneath them as the light behind him collapsed inward. The portal snapped shut with a sharp crack that echoed through the darkness.

Silence swallowed the sound almost immediately.

Julian straightened slowly.

Night blanketed the world around them.

Two pale moons hung high above the treetops, their light filtering through towering branches that stretched overhead like the vaulted ceiling of some ancient cathedral. A thin mist drifted across the forest floor, curling between the thick roots of enormous trees whose bark shimmered faintly in the moonlight.

Jace landed beside him with a grunt, brushing dirt from his pants.

“Well,” he muttered. “That was fun.”

Julian didn’t answer.

His eyes moved slowly through the forest, instincts prickling beneath his skin.

Something was wrong.

Not with the trees.

Not with the mist.

With the silence.

Forests were never this quiet.

Jace seemed to notice it too.

He frowned, glancing around as he stepped closer to Julian.

“You hear that?” he asked.

Julian’s brow furrowed. “Hear what?”

“Exactly.”

Jace gestured vaguely toward the trees.

“No birds. No bugs. No creepy little woodland creatures glaring at us from the bushes.”

He spoke with quiet force.

“And where the hell are the guards?”

“I don’t know,” Julian replied. “But we’re not here to solve their security problems.

Chapter 169

His gaze shifted toward the towering palace ahead.

“We need to find my mate.”

Jace nodded once, though his eyes continued scanning the eerie stillness around them.

Right.”

hey began moving through the forest cautiously. The deeper they walked, the heavier the silence became.

After several moments, Jace spoke again.

“You know something I still can’t wrap my head around?” he said.

Julian glanced sideways.

“What?”

“The sentinels.”

Jace shook his head.

‘I unloaded half a clip into one of those things.”

He huffed.

“Didn’t even slow it down.

Then he looked at Julian.

“But that dagger you had? One stab and suddenly it hesitated long enough for us to slip past.”

His brow furrowed.

“What was so special about that blade?”

“Lazarus gave it to me,” Julian answered.

He pushed aside a low–hanging branch, his gaze fixed ahead on the faint silhouette of the palace beginning to rise through the mist.

“He called it enchanted,” Julian explained. “Said it has the ability to strip most supernatural beings of their power.‘

Jace let out a low whistle.

“You’re serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“I didn’t even know something like that existed.”

Julian ga

has… who knows what he’s seen. Or what he’s collected.

giving way to wider stretches of pale ground and creeping silver tog Ahead, the with every step

towering spires clawing toward the twin moons like frozen

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Subtle at first.

Then slower.

He exhaled harder than before, his shoulders tightening as a dull heaviness crept through his limbs.

Jace noticed immediately.

His eyes slid sideways, studying Julian with growing suspicion.

“You alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Julian answered.

He pushed forward, as though movement alone could outrun whatever heaviness had begun creeping through his body.

He jerked his chin toward the dark silhouette rising ahead.

“Look.”

Jace followed his gaze.

The forest thinned abruptly.

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The last of the towering trees gave way to open ground washed in cold moonlight, silver mist curling low across pale marble paths that wound toward the Seelie Court.

And that was when they saw them.

Jace stopped walking.

“…What the hell…”

Figures stood scattered across the terraces and walkways.

Dozens of them.

Maybe hundreds.

Frozen.

Not statues.

Not illusions.

People.

A Seelie guard stood at the edge of the main path, one hand raised mid–signal, his spear angled toward the sky as though he had been about to call out a warning that never came.

A pair of attendants remained bent over a lantern stand, caught in the act of lighting enchanted glass globes that now burried endlessly without flicker.

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