Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 190

Chapter 190

Kaelani reappeared in the entryway of her home.

It was night.

Quiet. Still.

But the darkness didn’t feel unfamiliar anymore.

It didn’t press in.

Didn’t suffocate.

It settled around her–familiar, almost comforting.

The shadows seemed to embrace her, welcoming her back as if she had never left–as if she belonged to

them now.

She moved through it without hesitation, her steps slow but certain, guided by something deeper than sight

alone.

The kitchen came into view, and she went straight for the refrigerator.

Her body felt heavy–drained in a way that went beyond exhaustion. It sat in her bones–behind her eyes, in the hollow space in her chest that hadn’t fully settled since everything that had happened.

She pulled the door open.

Light spilled across her face.

Her gaze landed on a few cans of Dr Pepper.

For a second, she just stared at them.

Then reached in.

Cold aluminum met her palm.

She cracked it open–sharp, familiar–and tipped it back without thinking.

The first swallow hit-

Sweet.

Sharp.

Carbonated.

It rushed through her senses, grounding her instantly.

A breath left her, quieter this time.

They didn’t have this in the Eae realm.

Nothing there tasted like this.

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Nothing there felt this… simple.

Something shifted in the dark at the edge of her vision.

Her hand lifted instinctively and the figure jerked upward with a startled scream, yanked off the ground as shadow curled tight around them.

Kaelani turned, already moving toward the nearest light switch.

The room flooded with brightness and the figure dropped.

Tessa crumpled to the floor with a gasp, a baseball bat still clutched in her hand as the shadows vanished.

Kaelani’s breath caught the moment it registered.

“Tessa…?”

Tessa froze for a split second.

Eyes wide, disbelief flooding her face.

“Kaelani?”

She was on her feet in an instant.

Crossing the space between them without hesitation.

And then she was there-

Arms wrapping around her, pulling her into a tight, desperate embrace.

Tessa clung to her for a second longer–tight, like she was afraid if she let go, she might disappear again.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” she said, her voice catching.

She pulled back just enough to look at her.

Her eyes glistened, scanning over Kaelani–taking in every detail, every change.

Then, through it all-

“Well…” she let out a small, breathy laugh, swiping quickly at her eyes. “This is new.”

Her gaze dropped, then lifted again, a spark of something familiar breaking through the emotion.

“I mean I love the whole… sexy Poison Ivy getup you’ve got going on here.”

Kaelani let out a soft laugh

unexpected, a little broken

as a tear slipped free down her cheek.

The sound caught her off guard.

The feeling even more so.

After the chaos, the loss, the weight of it all

Standing here, in her own kitchen, with the only real friend she’d ever had

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It hit her all at once.

She shook her head slightly, brushing at her face as she tried to steady herself.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice quieter now.

Tessa didn’t hesitate.

“I’ve been staying here,” she said. “Taking care of things.”

Her eyes flicked briefly around the kitchen–toward the rest of the house.

“Your house. Your garden…”

Then back to Kaelani.

“I just…” she exhaled softly. “I kept waiting.”

A small shrug, like she was trying to downplay it—but couldn’t quite hide the truth.

“Hoping you’d come back.”

Kaelani’s expression shifted, the faint warmth from the moment touched her eyes before dimming slightly.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to,” she admitted quietly. “Come back, I mean.”

Her gaze flicked toward the dark corners of the room, instinct still sharp.

“I don’t even know if it’s safe for you to be here,” she added. “I imagine there are still… people looking for

me.‘

Tessa tilted her head slightly.

“The really big, buff guys with the whole men in black vibe?” she asked.

Kaelani nodded once.

“Yeah.”

“Haven’t seen them around here since you left, actually…” Tessa said, folding her arms.

“But… about the bakery…” she hesitated. “You should know.”

Kaelani frowned. “It’s gone?”

Tessa let out a quiet breath, her gaze dipping like she already knew how this would land.

“Yeah… everything hit at once,” she said. “Your accounts got frozen or something I don’t know what they did, but nothing was going through. Rent, orders, deliveries…. all of it just started falling behind ”

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