Chapter 55 Chapter Fifty-Five
Draevyn stepped forward from the center of the courtroom, the theatrics gone from his voice. It was softer now—each word landing with the weight of a verdict.
“I hope it’s enough,” he said, eyes fixed not on Julian, but on Kaelani.
“I hope it’s enough to convince you… that you deserve far more than anything he’s ever offered you.”
Kaelani lowered her gaze, lashes casting shadows across her face. She didn’t argue. Didn’t speak. She just stared down at the bench before her—shoulders tense, like Draevyn’s words had splintered something she hadn’t realized was still breakable.
Julian rose from the stand with force, the wooden chair scraping back behind him.
“No,” he said, voice hoarse.
He stepped toward her, desperation in every line of his body.
“Kaelani, look at me. Not him—look at me.”
Her eyes lifted slowly, locking with his.
“This guy is giving you a twisted version of everything.”
His voice cracked as he pressed a hand to his chest.
“Yeah, I was scared. I acted like a complete fucking dumbass—I’m not denying that. I own it. I take accountability for all of it.”
“But I wasn’t afraid of what I’d have to give up. It was never about that. I was struggling with the thought of disappointing my father. But none of that—none of it—matters now.”
A dry, amused laugh cracked the silence.
Draevyn tilted his head, lips twisting in a parody of compassion.
“Oh, but it does matter.”
The courtroom dissolved.
Wind rushed through, tearing the walls into stardust.
And then—
Night.
The world bloomed back to life beneath a sky lit by twin moons. Stars shimmered like diamonds trapped in velvet, and around them stretched a breathtaking garden—blood-red roses, glowing trees, petals pulsing with bioluminescent hues, and golden vines that slithered lazily through the air like living threads.
A haunting melody played from nowhere and everywhere.
Kaelani now stood on a ceremonial platform, cloaked in a gown that looked conjured from the cosmos itself—midnight blue, threaded with constellations, shadows clinging to her curves like silk spun from night. Her hair shimmered silver at the ends, catching moonlight as though even it obeyed her.
Julian stood swallowed by a sea of shadows—faceless, murmuring, endless. The crowd pressed in from all sides, their voices a low, dissonant hum of judgment. He pushed forward, heart pounding, eyes scanning the platform above—
And then he saw her.
She stood elevated above them all, moonlight cascading over her like a benediction. Untouchable. Divine. Julian’s heart clenched at the sight of her. His steps turned frantic, desperate—shoving through the crowd as if their bodies were barricades, every breath snagging on the echo of Draevyn’s voice rolling like thunder above him.
“Let me show you why it matters,” the Fae lord called out—his tone a blade of devotion wrapped in ice.
He stepped beside her with composed elegance, his very presence bending the air around him. Leaning in, he spoke softly—just loud enough to carry.
“Your mother was certain that the moment I discovered you were a half-blood, I would cast you aside. That I would never accept you as my queen.”
A pause. A tilt of his head. A glint of challenge in his voice.
“Tell me, Kaelani… have I once made you feel unworthy?”
Julian froze mid-step. His pulse roared in his ears.
Draevyn didn’t wait for her answer.
“No,” he said, voice rising—commanding.
“I raise you above my kingdom. I make it kneel to you.”
All around them, the faceless crowd dropped to their knees in synchronized awe—a wave of submission rippling outward from the platform like a spell cast across the realm.
Julian surged forward, fists clenched, ascending the steps one by one.
“I silenced the whispers of my court,” Draevyn continued, his eyes never leaving hers.
“The ones who called you an abomination. A mistake. Who claimed no realm would ever follow you. I silenced them—because I see what everyone else never could.”
He turned, golden light haloing his sharp features.
“I welcomed you. I shielded you. I exalted you from the moment you arrived.”
Then his eyes cut toward Julian—sharp as blades.
“While he—” the word dipped with disdain, “can’t even speak your name without shame in front of his father and a pack of wolves.”
Draevyn’s voice dropped—molten with triumph.
“He isn’t even a king… and he has treated you like a burden. Yet here I stand—
a ruler of worlds—
and I lay mine at your feet.”
Julian finally reached her—as if the world had bent just long enough to deliver him.
He dropped to his knees before her.
The stone beneath him was jagged and unforgiving, but he barely felt it. All he could see was her—goddess-like beneath the moonlight, power and sorrow woven around her like a second skin.
His voice cracked as he spoke, thick with desperation and something rawer than pain.
“I know I haven’t treated you the way you deserve.”
He swallowed hard, the lump in his throat a cruel reminder of everything he’d failed to say.
“I know I hurt you. But if you just give me a chance… I’ll spend the rest of my life making it right.”
His voice broke again—gutted, real.
“We’re mates, Kaelani. We were made for each other. Don’t let him poison your mind with his bullshit—can’t you see what he’s doing? He’s trying to tear us apart.”
“And can’t you see,” Draevyn cut in with chilling calm, “that he’s no different from the father who was too ashamed to claim you… and the mother who was too selfish to cherish you?”
The words landed like a blade through Kaelani’s heart.
Her lips parted, but no sound came.
A single tear slipped down her cheek.
Then another.
And another.
Julian saw them fall—and it hollowed him.
She was slipping.
His chest rose, but no air came.
“Kaelani…” Her name broke from his lips, barely more than a breath, as if saying it might hold him together.
“Go home, Julian,” she whispered, cutting him off with a quiver in her voice that shattered him more than any rejection ever could.
“Stop looking for me.”
But Julian surged forward and caught her hand. The moment their skin touched, the bond flared—wild, electric, searing between them.
“No.” His voice was guttural, burning.
“I’ll never stop looking for you. I’ll never stop fighting for you.”
Kaelani pulled her hand from his grasp, the pain in her chest rippling through her entire being.
“Then we should sever the bond,” she said, her voice splintering.
Julian shook his head violently.
“No. You’d have to reject me… but I’ll never accept it. Not in this life. Not in the next.”
His voice shattered to a trembling murmur, crashing against the walls of her heart.
“I’ll live with the pain. I’ll let it rot me from the inside… until it takes my last breath.”
Kaelani flinched like he’d struck her.
“Julian…” She spoke his name like a plea—one last tether to mercy, to reason, to something that might make this hurt less for both of them.
But Draevyn stepped forward, voice like ice and ash.
“It’s all right,” he said.
“She’s a powerful Fae. Stronger than you’ll ever understand. Your little soul bonds mean nothing here.”
He turned to Kaelani.
“I’ll show you how to break it.”
Julian’s wolf snapped.
With a roar, he shot to his feet, claws bursting from his fingertips as he lunged for Draevyn.
But before he could make contact, shadows exploded—ribbons of ink and smoke that snatched him mid-air like barbed tendrils.
With a sickening jolt, Julian was yanked back like a marionette whose strings had snapped, his body flung toward the edge of the platform. He stumbled, scrambling for balance.
Draevyn appeared in a blink.
One hand locked around Julian’s throat—lifting him clean off the ground, over the edge.
Their eyes met—ice against fire—and then came the smirk.
Cold.
Certain.
Final.
“She’s mine now.”
The words didn’t pass Draevyn’s lips.
They invaded Julian’s mind—slick as oil, sharp as broken glass.
A whisper forged in shadow, echoing like iron dragged across bone.
Then—he released him.
Julian plunged.
Down.
Down.
Down—
Into a void that swallowed sound, breath, and thought.
No sky.
No stars.
No end.
Only suffocating black—stretching forever, devouring everything except the scream trapped in his chest.
And then—
Julian shot upright in the car, chest heaving, throat raw. Sweat clung to his skin, and his hands clawed at his head as if he could tear the memory out.
“No—no, no, no,” he choked, rocking forward.
Jace jolted awake beside him.
“Julian—! What’s wrong? What happened?” His voice cut through the dark, hands gripping Julian’s shoulders.
“Talk to me!”
But Julian couldn’t answer.
He could still feel Draevyn’s voice inside his skull.
Still feel himself falling.
Still feel the agony of Kaelani slipping through his fingers.