Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 39

“It’s a dead trail,” Julian replied, eyes fixed on some invisible point across the room. “We chase it any further, we risk exposure. It’s not worth it.”

The words landed like stone—heavy, final—but they didn’t ring true. Jace heard what wasn’t said, saw it in the way Julian’s thumb dragged once across his palm, like he needed something to ground him.

A ghost of a smile touched Jace’s mouth, sad and knowing. “So that’s it? You’re calling it a cold case?”

Julian’s expression didn’t flicker. “That’s exactly what it is.”

Jace nodded slowly, but the look in his eyes softened, sympathy cutting through his usual sharp edges. He’s known Julian long enough to recognize that tone—the one that came before sleepless nights and too many empty whiskey glasses.

“You really think you can let it go?” he asked quietly. “Her, too?”

The question hung between them, fragile as glass.

Julian’s breath came out slow, deliberate. “I don’t have a choice,” he said.

But even as he said it, the lie tasted bitter on his tongue.

Jace’s eyes flicked up, sharp beneath the quiet. “You always have a choice, Julian.”

Julian let out a low, humorless laugh, shaking his head once. “No, I don’t.” His gaze drifted to the window, the morning light cutting thin through the blinds. “Every choice I’ve ever made was made for me before I even knew it existed. My name, my position, my Luna, my future. None of it was mine to decide.”

Jace studied him for a long moment, the silence between them heavy and unflinching. “Maybe not,” he said at last, “but hers were.”

Julian’s brows drew together, eyes cutting back to him.

Jace went on, slower now, weighing each word. “That’s what I keep thinking, after everything I dug up. She’s had her life ripped apart, thrown away, stripped of everything she should’ve had… and somehow, she still walks around like the world doesn’t own her. Like she refuses to let anyone tell her who she’s supposed to be.”

It creaked open wider as he stepped out—then froze. His breath hitched when he saw her.

Jace’s throat went dry. “Elara—”

She didn’t even glance at him. Her gaze was locked past his shoulder, fixed on the man inside.

Her face was pale, almost ghostly under the hallway light, but her eyes… her eyes were molten. A storm of betrayal and rage barely contained.

Jace barely had time to step aside before she swept past him, slamming the door behind her so hard the walls shook.

The echo rang down the hall like the crack of a gunshot.

Jace stood there for a long second, staring at the closed door, the hair on the back of his neck prickling. Whatever was about to happen behind it… there’d be no coming back from it.