The Dragon King and His Fallen Star novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Justice in Flames

EIRLYS’ POV

+25 Points

I watched as the Light Reaper hit the stone with a dull thud. He crumpled, wheezing, the sound scraping through the silence. For a moment he struggled to sit upright, the chains dragging and clinking with each shaky movement. Then a thin, cruel sneer twisted his lips.

“I may die today,” he rasped, voice like something clawing its way out of the grave, “but-” His head tilted toward her, the motion slow, deliberate, venomous. “-she will share my fate. It’s only a matter of time before they find out…”

He didn’t finish. Kierygan didn’t let him.

His boot slammed into the Reaper’s ribs-harder this time. The creature folded in on himself, a raw, ugly sound ripping from his throat as the air burst from his lungs in a wet gasp. Blood spattered across the stone, dark and slick.

For a moment, I just stared-stunned by how quickly it all happened. Then, finding my voice, I stepped closer to the crumpled figure. “What do you mean?” I demanded.

Kierygan’s hand closed on my wrist like iron. “Don’t,” he said, his voice edged with warning. His thumb pressed against my pulse. “He’s trying to get in your head. It’s all he has left. Don’t give him that power.”

I glanced back at the Light Reaper. He remained crumpled on the cold stone, his breath shallow, his mouth shaping words too broken to hear. Yet his eyes found mine-mocking, hollow, and full of a cruelty that reached far deeper than sound ever could.

Kierygan’s voice cut through the chamber. “Prepare him for execution,” he ordered, cold and final. ” The two witches as well.”

Callum gave a curt nod and turned to the guards. “You heard your king,” he barked. The men moved at once, boots striking stone as they closed in around the Light Reaper.

Kierygan’s hand, still wrapped around mine, guided me out of the underground cell and back into the open air.

We walked in silence for what felt like hours, though the sun had barely moved. The path wound down into the valley-a scarred place that still carried the weight of the recent battle. I could feel it in my bones: sorrow lingering in the air, echoes of fire crackling in memory, and the faint, sour stench of rot that refused to fade.

When we finally reached the open plain, the sight stole my breath.

Three massive pyres dominated the center of the valley, each one crowned with a tall wooden post, standing like grim sentinels over the land.

O

1/5

Chapter 169 Justice in Flames

+25 Points

The crowd thickened as we neared the pyres, murmurs swelling into a low, restless roar. People had come from every corner of the realms, drawn by the same grim need-to witness justice for those who had brought death and despair to their lands.

Ulyanna, Evander, and Scylla, newly arrived from Vallea Illura, moved among the throng. Solara and her sister, Nerissa, stood together, inclining their heads slightly as Kierygan and I passed. From Morvanya, King Lucius and Prince Draven materialized with a ripple of magic, their councilmen close behind. Even Chief Rhaanzel had come, his hulking form cutting a shadow through the crowd.

Then the valley fell silent.

From the distance, Orryx, Callum, and Ashteryn approached. Behind them, flanked by soldiers, came the condemned: Morwenna, Mirael, and the Light Reaper. Chains bit into their wrists and necks, forcing them upright, but their eyes still burned with defiance.

They walked with their heads high, as if dignity could still spare them from what awaited.

The Light Reaper’s face still bore that same sneer a ghost of the menace he once was. Morwenna’s eyes gleamed with cold disdain, the kind she had always reserved for Kierygan and me. And Mirael, once beautiful in a way that could bend people to her will, looked pale and hollow, her beauty dimmed. Yet her voice hadn’t quieted. She hurled curses as she passed, still accusing me of stealing what was hers.

My chest threatened to split with everything I felt-rage, grief, vindication, and something else I couldn’t name. Hollow relief, perhaps. They had haunted me my whole life, shaped the corners of my world with cruelty.

And now the world had turned so that I might watch their last. The emotion rose hot and dizzying, and for a heartbeat I felt as if I might topple.

Kierygan’s hand closed around my elbow before I even knew I’d stumbled. “Are you all right?” he asked, concern softening his eyes. “If it’s too much you don’t have to watch. I’ll see to it they meet their end.”

I blinked, shook the dizzy fog away, and clung to him. “No. I’m fine,” I said, voice steady. “I want to see this through.”

The guards moved with grim precision, dragging the three toward their posts. The wind shifted, carrying the faint crackle of oil-soaked logs beneath the pyres.

Evander stepped forward, torch in hand. Its flame wavered-gold against the midday sun. “Any last words before you burn your way to hell, witch?”

Morwenna lifted her head slowly, and when her eyes found mine her expression was unreadable. “I regret torturing you the way I did,” she began, her voice smooth.

2/5

Chapter 169. Justice in Flames

For a breath I almost let myself believe. That perhaps at the end she’d feel remorse.

+25 Points

Then her lips curved. “I should have done worse. Should have broken you so completely that even

your beloved dragon could never piece you back together.”

Kierygan’s growl rumbled beside me, but I caught his hand and squeezed. “Her words do not reach

me,” I said. “Not anymore.”

Evander’s head tilted; his gaze measured her with a mix of pity and contempt. He lowered the torch. “How fitting,” he said. “You’ll burn by my hand as your cousin did.”

The moment the flame met the kindling, fire roared to life.

Morwenna screamed. Again and again. Until the sound twisted into something no longer human, swallowed by the blaze. Even Mirael’s defiance faltered; her own screams tore through the air, raw and desperate.

Morwenna’s body arched once against the chains before collapsing into the inferno.

Silence fell over the crowd, broken only by the hiss of burning flesh, the crackle of wood, and Mirael’s lingering cries.

Evander stepped back, passing the torch to Ulyanna. The High Witch’s face was as cold and sharp as a blade as she advanced, torch in hand.

Mirael froze at her approach, letting out a strangled cry. “No… no… no!” Her voice broke, raw with panic. “Ulyanna, please!”

She flailed with the practiced theatrics of someone used to being the center of attention, eyes darting over the crowd-Evander, Orryx, Callum, Ashteryn-before settling on Kierygan. “Please,” she gasped, breath ragged. “I was on the council. I served you. You can’t possibly let me die. I was one of you.”

Ulyanna scoffed. “And yet you betrayed us.”

Mirael’s gaze clung to Kierygan. “Please… Kier. Forgive me,” she pleaded. “I was just… blinded by love. I love you too much-”

I pulled Kierygan closer, possessiveness flaring through me. He looked down at me, cupping my face with steady hands before meeting Mirael’s eyes.

“I believe you,” he said, his voice low and measured “You were blinded by love. But not for me, or anyone else.”

His glare sharpened. “You only loved yourself, Mirael.”

Mirael’s eyes flickered-hurt, surprised, as if that plea had worked for her before. Then they softened. She turned to me, lashes wet with something that might have been real fear.

II

3/5

Chapter 169 Justice in Flames

+25 Points

“Eirlys, please,” she whispered. “I know you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I was foolish. I was jealous. I was wrong.”

For a heartbeat the valley held its breath.

“I… I forgive you,” I said gently.

“Eirlys,” Kierygan snapped, caution sharp in his tone as if I were about to make a terrible mistake.

I looked up at him and shook my head once, small and pleading to let me speak.

“I forgive you,” I repeated, steadier now. “For what you did to me.”

Murmurs rose and fell like waves. Some faces went slack with shock; others whispered their protests.

I let my gaze travel beyond Mirael and the pyres to the faces gathered in the valley-the mothers with hollowed eyes, the children clutching small hands, the farmers whose fields had burned, the soldiers whose blood watered this ground. My throat tightened.

“But what you did to them,” I said, sweeping a hand toward the crowd, “I could not forgive.”

My eyes returned to Mirael. “What you did… what you were willing to do, was beyond forgiveness. You were willing to burn the world. And for what?”

Her practiced mask cracked; the honey in her voice curdled into bile. “This is all your fault,” she spat. “If you’d stayed in your tower and waited for doom, none of this would have happened, you stupid little b*tch.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify