Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 181

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Then the gold answered him.

It seeped from the cracks in the air itself… drawn toward him like filings to a magnet. Thin rivers of stolen radiance poured into his wounds. Flesh knit. Bone realigned with faint, nauseating pops. Bruising faded beneath his skin as if time itself had reversed.

By the time he stood upright… there was almost no sign he had been injured at all.

Only the blood remained.

He turned around, his eyes scanning the large crowd of Unseelie.

“Does anyone else,” he drawled, looking from face to face, “dare oppose me?”

No one moved forward.

They moved back.

A ripple of unease moved through the court. Several faces drained of color entirely. One of the younger fae let out a small, broken sound – halfway between a gasp and a whimper – before clapping a hand over their mouth.

Feanspread like rot.

Draevyn watched it happen.

And smiled.

Then his attention returned to Julian.

Still bound. Still fighting.

Then to Kaelani.

Pinned. Bleeding. Wild–eyed.

“I’m afraid,” Draevyn said almost pleasantly, “I’ll have to cut this little reunion short.”

His hand curled.

The thorned vine responded instantly.

It constricted around Julian’s torso with brutal force.

A sickening crack split the quiet.

Then another.

Julian snarled

a raw, animal sound-

—

muscles straining, claws tearing at the living coils as he tried to rip himself free. Fury radiated from him in violent waves, every ounce of his will fixed on one target.

Draevyn.

“Stop!” Kaelani screamed. “Don’t kill him!”

Draevyn didn’t even look at her at first.

He simply watched Julian fight.

Watched the defiance.

Watched the pain.

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Then he turned his head.

Their eyes met.

“Oh,” he said softly, almost thoughtfully.

“I am going to kill him.”

The vine tightened again.

“And you’re going to watch.”

Draevyn tightened the vine again.

Another snap.

Then another.

Bone cracked in sickening succession sharp reports that echoed through the courtyard like breaking branches in a dead forest.

Julian’s body jerked with each crushing constriction. His snarl tore raw from his throat, still fighting — still trying to reach Draevyn even as his strength began to falter.

“Let him go!”

Her voice fractured with fury.

With terror.

Her wolf boiled beneath her skin

it was witnessing.

The vine tightened again.

a

violent, clawing presence that wanted blood. That wanted to tear the world apart for what

Julian’s head dropped for a split second.

His breath hitched.

Fight slowing.

Life dimming.

Something inside Kaelani broke.

Her eyes ignited.

Violet.

Blazing with something deeper than rage. Older than fear. Something vast and awakening.

Her lips parted.

And she began to chant.

The same words the Seers had been whispering arrogance.

At first her voice was rough.

Unsteady.

Then it strengthened.

the same ancient chant meant to break bindings carved in power and

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Elevated.

Joined theirs.

A single current of sound threading through the chaos.

The ground trembled.

Subtle at first.

Then undeniable.

Draevyn’s focus tore away from Julian and landed on her.

The chanting continued.

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Violet fire burned in Kaelani’s eyes as raw power surged through her veins, answering something buried deep in her blood.

The courtyard began to shake in earnest now.

The foundation groaned.

Dust rained from leaning pillars.

Unseelie stumbled, grasping for balance as the earth rolled beneath their feet like a waking beast.

Even Draevyn faltered boots skidding as the ground lurched violently.

Then it split.

A jagged fissure tore open at Kaelani’s knees with explosive force, ripping across the courtyard in a violent line straight toward Draevyn. The crack raced across the stone so fast he had to leap aside to avoid being swallowed by it.

The vine slackened.

Only for a heartbeat.

But it was enough.

The roots around Kaelani’s wrists began to convulse.

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