Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172

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Kaelani descended the sweeping stone staircase of the castle slowly, one hand trailing along the cold railing to steady herself.

Her head throbbed.

A dull, relentless ache pulsed behind her eyes, blurring the edges of her vision as if the world itself had softened into something. unreal. Her limbs felt heavier than they should–weighted down by an exhaustion that settled deep in her bones.

But she kept moving.

The sounds reached her before the courtyard came into view.

Laughter.

Music.

Voices raised in carefree celebration.

The Unseelie Fae were gathered below, beneath drifting lanternlight and a sky that never truly knew dawn. Shadows danced between towering arches and black–leafed trees as figures moved freely through the night – drinking, wagering, shouting encouragement to one another.

Kaelani stepped into the courtyard and didn’t slow.

She moved deeper into the crowd, weaving past bodies and shifting shoulders as she followed the gravitational pull of excitement gathering ahead.

A circle had formed.

Large.

Dense.

Focused entirely on one figure at its center.

Of course.

A muscle ticked in her cheek.

She shoved past a pair of laughing fae who immediately turned, their expressions souring the moment they recognized her. As usual, disapproval flickered in their eyes.

She was an intruder.

She didn’t belong here.

Same old tired story

one that had stopped fazing Kaelani a long time ago.

She pushed forward again – harder this time

until the crowd began to thin and the spectacle finally revealed itself.

Draevyn stood at the center of the circle, sleeves rolled to his forearms, dark hair falling loosely across his brow as he spun the game pieces across the polished surface of a low stone table.

His movements were effortless.

Precise.

Hypnotic.

The carved tokens blurred beneath his fingers as he manipulated them with impossible speed

guiding, redirecting, trapping

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his opponent without ever appearing to try.

The watching fae leaned in with open admiration.

With fascination.

With trust.

He won the round.

The final piece clicked into place.

A beat of stunned silence followed

Then the courtyard erupted.

Cheers.

Laughter.

Applause.

Voices calling his name.

Everyone celebrated.

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Everyone except Kaelani.

She stood at the edge of the circle like a shadow that refused to be ignored.

Her wolf prowled just beneath her ribs, teeth bared in silent recognition of the evil before them.

And then his eyes found hers.

The shift in him was immediate.

A flash of playful triumph still lingered in his expression – the thrill of victory not yet faded noticed her.

He straightened slowly.

The cheering continued around him, but his focus narrowed entirely to her.

“Well,” Draevyn said lightly, brushing his hands together as if dusting off the game,

“are you feeling better?”

He stepped toward her.

“I’m glad you decided to join us.”

Kaelani didn’t answer.

but it softened the moment he

The words lodged somewhere between her chest and throat, trapped behind the storm still raging through her mind

But her face spoke for her.

The fury.

The disbelief.

The quiet horror she hadn’t yet learned how to contain.

Chapter 172

Draevyn’s smile faltered.

Only slightly.

But she saw it.

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The crowd began to sense the shift too the laughter softening into murmurs as the tension between them thickened the air.

He took another step closer.

Now there was something else in his gaze.

Concern.

Or something carefully shaped to look like it.

“Kaelani…” he said more quietly.

“Are you alright?”

Something else caught Kaelani’s eye before she allowed herself to speak.

A flicker.

Faint.

Incongruous.

Her gaze dropped from Draevyn’s face to the stone beneath her feet.

Cracks laced the courtyard floor

thin fractures running through the dark rock like veins beneath skin. At first they seemed

ordinary… the natural wear of age and magic.

But they were glowing.

Gold.

Not bright. Not blinding.

Just enough to pulse softly through the fissures like something alive beneath the surface.

Kaelani’s breath slowed.

She stepped past Draevyn without a word.

The crowd parted instinctively, whispers following in her wake as she moved with quiet, deliberate focus golden lines as they spread outward across the courtyard.

They didn’t stop at the stone.

They climbed.

Upward.

Into the roots of the towering black–leafed trees that ringed the festivities.

her eyes tracing the

The same golden current threaded through their bark

faintly luminous, pulsing in slow rhythmic waves as though the forest

itself had been corrupted.

Kaelani’s gaze lifted higher,

To the guards stationed along the perimeter.

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Their spears hummed softly with that same stolen glow–gold energy coiling along the metal shafts like serpents of light.

The sight made her skin crawl.

It was everywhere.

Everywhere.

She turned slowly.

Her eyes found Draevyn again.

And whatever softness had once lived in her expression was gone.

What remained was darker.

Harder.

Something sharp enough to wound.

Disgust warred openly with rising fury in her gaze.

“This whole time…” she said at last, her voice quiet but cutting clean through the murmuring crowd.

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