The Dragon King and His Fallen Star novel Chapter 116

Chapter 116: The Next Phase

EIRLYS’ POV

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My gaze followed Mirael as she rose the instant Kierygan dismissed the council. Her chair scraped back too sharply before she strode through the chamber.

She didn’t spare anyone so much as a glance, not even her usual practiced smile.

Something twisted in my chest.

I had seen Mirael walk out many times before-always when something displeased her, when her pride was pricked or her will denied. But this time felt different. She had been distant all through the meeting, her gaze unfocused, her thoughts elsewhere.

Her pulse had quickened-I heard it. And something else too: a faint and slithering whisper. Or perhaps I only imagined it. Because there was no way…

“Maybe you should get back to training, Eirlys.” Callum’s voice snapped me back to the present.

I blinked and turned. He stood with his arms folded across his broad chest, grinning down at me.

“Now that your true fae form’s shown,” he added, “I’m eager to see what you can do. You should be faster and stronger. Maybe even keep up with me this time, so I don’t have to hold back.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. I hadn’t returned to training-or any lessons-since Kierygan and I completed the mating bond. He rarely let me stray far from him now: keeping me in his study, taking me flying, or drawing me back to his chambers. Our chambers now.

Before I could retort to Callum, Ulyanna cleared her throat. “Eirlys should also be working on discovering the extent of her magic.”

My heart skipped. I straightened in my seat as she leaned back, fingers tapping lightly against the wooden table. “Your kind’s magic is layered, far-reaching,” she said. “Light is only the beginning.”

She didn’t wait for my reply. “I can help you, if you want it.” With that, she rose and swept from the

room.

One by one, the others filed out, until only Kierygan and I remained, the chamber settling into a heavy silence. My thoughts strayed back to Mirael her distant expression, the storm in her steps, and that dreadful echo I wasn’t sure I’d imagined or truly heard.

Kierygan’s hand closed gently over mine. “Something on your mind?”

I shook my head, hesitating. “It’s just… now that everything is loud, I can’t always tell what’s real and what’s only in my

head.”

He stood and drew me up with him. “It will be overwhelming at first,” he said. “But you’ll learn to

Chapter 116: The Next Phase

focus, separate one sound from the rest.”

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I tried to smile, nodding, but unease still curled tight in my chest. Because what I’d heard a while

ago, it didn’t feel like noise. It almost felt like… Morwenna’s voice.

MIRAEL

Mirael trailed through the dense forest, boots crunching against the damp earth. The wards she slipped through clung like cobwebs to her skin-thick, ancient, and threaded with the kind of magic

that would leave the careless stumbling in circles.

She murmured a counterspell and pressed forward, exhaling as the last barrier gave way, parting just long enough to let her through.

A hut emerged in the clearing, crooked and weathered, its sagging thatch roof bowed beneath the weight of overgrown branches. Smoke curled from a tilted chimney, but that wasn’t the only sign

of life.

Morwenna stood outside, framed in the blaze of a bonfire. A black iron pot hung above it, steam

uncoiling into the night like restless spirits. She didn’t look up, but Mirael knew she’d already been

sensed. Morwenna always knew.

She knows what Mirael knows. She sees what Mirael sees.

“You came in quick,” Morwenna said at last, her voice carrying easily over the crackle of the fire.

Mirael stopped at the edge of the circle of light, masking the twist of disgust at the earthy, metallic

scent that clung to the place. She gave a sharp shrug, as if her haste meant nothing.

“I needed to escape before I suffocated. The sight of Kierygan and his little fae pet…” her lip curled,

“turns my stomach.”

Only then did Morwenna glance up. Her head tipped back as laughter spilled out-low, sharp, and

laced not with mirth but with venom, the kind that savored the cruelty of fate. Firelight slicked

across her dark hair like oil.

“Who would have thought?” she murmured, eyes narrowing with a predator’s delight. “The girl is bound to my greatest enemy.”

Mirael’s jaw clenched, but a sliver of a smile slid across her lips, brittle and cold. “I see you find that

amusing.”

Morwenna tilted her head, eyes gleaming. “Amusing? No. Satisfying.” Her voice dropped into something near a growl. “Because I imagine the day I’ll stare into the dragon’s eyes while our lord

tears his mate apart,” her smile sharpened, cruel as a blade, “just as he did mine.”

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Mirael stepped closer to the fire, shadows darting across her face. “You said he has a plan. What

does he want with me?”

“Ah yes. The next phase,” Morwenna said, her voice curling with satisfaction. She stirred the pot lazily, though Mirael doubted her thoughts lingered on the simmering broth.

“The Light Reaper will come for her soon. But not until he has gathered all that he requires.”

A flicker of curiosity lit Mirael’s eyes before she smothered it beneath a scoff. “And what is it he

requires?”

Morwenna’s smile spread, humorless and edged. “Three relics. The first, he already holds.” She plucked a sprig of dried root from her belt and let it fall into the pot, where it hissed and spat like whispering secrets. “The second is a bell, meant to summon her light, to force the girl to shine at

her brightest.”

Mirael’s jaw tightened. “And the third?” she pressed her voice brittle.

Morwenna’s chuckle slithered into the air, low and lingering. “The third is… complicated. Better I tell you after we’ve secured the bell. That task will demand every shard of your attention.”

Mirael folded her arms. “And where do we find this bell?”

“Lireia,” Morwenna said, without a flicker of doubt.

The name alone conjured a shadow in Mirael’s thoughts. Lireia-whispers of a kingdom steeped in black trade, where merchants trafficked in curses and alchemists forged relics for the highest bidder. If one sought a forbidden artifact, they began their search there.

Morwenna’s eyes gleamed with cruel delight. “But it won’t be waiting on some shelf. No… it must be forged. Piece by piece, each fragment is tuned until it produces the precise resonance needed

to summon her light.”

The fire popped, sending sparks spiraling into the night air. Mirael’s voice dropped, uncertain. “I can’t be gone for too long. It will draw suspicion.”

Morwenna laughed, low and cruel. “Dear Mirael,” she purred. “Don’t forget-I see what you see. And from what I observe, they’ve scarcely noticed your absence. Especially now that your precious king

is… otherwise occupied.”

The words stung, sharper than Mirael cared to admit, but they only stoked her fury. Her hatred burned, fixated on the girl who had stolen what should have been hers. “When do we leave?”

Morwenna’s smile curved, thin and predatory. “That’s the spirit. Two days’ time. Take only what you

must.”

Morwenna guided Mirael to the edge of her warded grounds. Words were unnecessary-their parting marked only by a brief, loaded nod. Mirael slipped past the boundary, and darkness

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< Chapter 116: The Next Phase

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pressed in around her. The forest rose like a living wall, branches entwined so tightly that not even moonlight dared to pierce the canopy.

Muttering, Mirael lifted her palm and summoned a faint glow, silver light spilling from her skin. It lit only a narrow path. It was enough to guide her steps.

She allowed herself a small thrill at the plans that had been laid, at the thought of never seeing Eirlys again. But as she pressed deeper into the shadows, a solid barrier emerged before her.

“I knew you were up to something,” Ansel growled, stepping into her path. His eyes glinted with cold disdain. “All those trips, all your flimsy excuses…”

Mirael froze, pulse hammering.

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