Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 183

Chapter 183

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Draevyn watched her, something in his expression shifting–not surprise, not quite approval. A faint, almost pleased smile touched his mouth.

“With pleasure.”

He moved. So did she.

They collided–not in flesh, but in shadow.

Darkness tore free from every corner of the courtyard–from beneath pillars, from fractured ground, from the very air itself–surging toward them in violent currents that rose and twisted overhead, forming a dense, writhing canopy that swallowed the light whole.

Their power struck at the same instant. Shadow met shadow in a brutal clash–tendrils slamming together, coiling, tearing, forcing against one another in a contest for dominance. The air screamed with the strain of it, pressure building as neither yielded.

For a single suspended second, they held–then it broke.

The force detonated outward, ripping the darkness apart and hurling them in opposite directions. They hit hard, driven across the ground as the shockwave tore through the courtyard.

Draevyn recovered first. Of course he did.

He rose in a single, fluid motion, shadows already gathering behind him.

A hydra–three heads unfurling from a single writhing body.

It struck.

Kaelani clapped her hands together, and shadow answered in a violent collapse before surging up into a stag -antlers jagged, threaded with violet light.

The collision cracked the air.

The stag drove forward–

Its antlers slammed into the hydra with brutal force, tearing through the writhing mass and driving it back in a violent surge of power.

Draevyn felt it across his chest.

Cloth shredded. Skin split. Blood carved down in jagged lines from shoulder to rib.

Draevyn staggered half a step, not from weakness–impact.

Then something in him hardened. The faint amusement burned away, replaced by something colder, sharper.

The hydra surged again no longer testing, hunting.

Shadow jaws snapped down, and the hit landed through the connection like a blade. Kaelani gasped as pain ripped across her throat–hot, immediate blood spilling down her collarbone.

Chapter 183

The world lurched. Sharp. Blinding.

But she didn’t break. She didn’t retreat.

Her hand lifted–not to the wound, but forward–and shadow snapped out in a single, precise strike.

It went past the hydra.

For him.

And coiled tight around Draevyn’s throat.

He answered with the earth.

A thick, gnarled vine tore free from an ancient tree with a violent crack, bark splintering as it surged forward like a striking limb.

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It wrapped around her throat, and Kaelani was ripped from the ground, lifted high enough that her feet kicked uselessly in open air. The coil crushed down, her airway collapsing under the pressure. A strangled sound tore free as her hand flew to her throat, fingers digging beneath the vine, trying–failing–to force space.

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It tightened again. And again.

Her vision sparked at the edges, darkening–but still she didn’t let go.

Even like that–suspended, choking–her outstretched hand trembled under the strain, but the shadow around Draevyn’s throat only tightened in answer.

Two of them throttling each other. Refusing to release.

Julian was losing it. Completely.

He watched her–his mate, his everything–hanging there, suffocating, fighting to stay conscious.

Julian snarled and twisted violently against the bindings, teeth sinking into the vine. Thorns tore his gums. Blood flooded his mouth.

He didn’t stop. Wouldn’t.

The tendril around Draevyn’s throat faltered just slightly, enough for him to draw in a sliver of air, enough for his grip to tighten in return.

Across the courtyard, the commander strained–buried deep, pinned, but not finished.

The earth resisted him, still answering to its master, still bound to the malignant spirit Draevyn had let loose within it–until it shifted.

Just enough.

His fingers pushed free from the fractured ground Kaelani had split open earlier. Fragments of stone lifted, sharpened into thin blades. He focused, everything narrowing to a single shot.

Miss—and Draevyn would grind him into dust.

The fragments tore through the air–impossibly fast–targeting the vine above her head.

They struck.

A single, clean slice, and the tension snapped.

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Kaelaní dropped. Air didn’t return to her lungs–it slammed into them, jagged and uneven, as she hit the ground hard. A raw gasp ripped from her throat.

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