The Dragon King and His Fallen Star novel Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Lit by His Touch

EIRLYS’ POV

+25 Points?

Kierygan was already waiting in the courtyard with Ulyanna when I stepped out early the next

morning.

He was dressed in black training leathers again, just like mine. He’d said they’d be more practical for flying.

Ulyanna turned first when she heard my footsteps. Thank you for agreeing to this,” she said gently,

her eyes soft beneath the hood of her traveling cloak.

“It’s no problem,” I replied, offering a small smile. “I really want to help.”

Ulyanna’s gaze warmed. “Then let’s hope your light holds the answers.”

I barely had time to respond before Kierygan spoke his voice even. “Are you ready?”

I nodded.

Without another word, he stepped away. The nearby servants and guards instinctively backed off, giving him a wide berth as he rolled his shoulders. Muscles tensed. Shadows bent strangely around him, drawn toward his form like smoke curling toward the flame.

Everyone also moved away from me too.

His words from yesterday echoed in my head: I get murderous when someone gets too close to

what’s mine.

He’d said it to me many times before, and I kept wondering what he meant. Was I his the same

way I’d been Malric’s? Claimed, used, caged?

Or… did he mean something else entirely?

Before I could untangle it, Kierygan’s dragon screeched. Loud and piercing. And the sound snapped me out of my thoughts.

It felt like he was calling me.

I startled. Then let out a breath and stepped forward, my feet light but sure. The closer I got, the more I felt the heat rolling off him-like standing near a forge. He dipped his neck slightly, lowering himself to give me easier access.

It was only my second time riding his dragon, but it felt instinctive. As if I’d done it a hundred times. I already knew where to climb, where to sit, how to brace myself.

Behind me, Emma murmured a nervous wish for luck. I shouted back a thank you but didn’t look.

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Chapter 88 Lit by His Touch

A moment later, his wings unfurled with a thunderous whoosh.

+25 Points)

With a single powerful beat, we soared into the sky. True to his word, he flew smoothly this time. No teasing dives, no spirals. Just clean, fast flight.

I pressed closer to him, and despite everything, a smile crept onto my face.

We flew until the landscape below began to change. Green faded to gray. Fields thinned into patches of rot. A sickly mist loomed ahead like a bruise spreading across the earth.

Even the air began to change-sharp and sour, thick with the stench of death and decay.

He descended swiftly but with care, circling once before landing near a jagged stone outcrop.

“Welcome to Greenhollow,” Ulyanna called from below.

She was already waiting, hands aglow with soft magic as she warded the tainted earth beneath her feet. But even that glow wavered at the edges, slowly devoured by tendrils of dark mist curling hungrily across the ground.

Kierygan hadn’t exaggerated. If anything, he’d understated it.

I slid off his back with care, the earth beneath my boots gritty… wrong. He shifted the moment I

stepped away.

Within a breath, his hand settled at the small of my back. “You don’t have to rush,” he said softly.” Take your time. Until you’re ready.”

I glanced at the withering land, then at the creeping mist pressing against the ward’s edges, spreading. I didn’t want to wait. Every heartbeat wasted was another living thing fading.

“I’m ready,” I said, forcing the words past the sudden dryness in my throat.

Ulyanna nodded solemnly and stepped toward me. I’m going to place a protective ward around you before you enter the blight,” she said gently.

“But don’t go too far,” Kierygan interjected, his tone clipped. “Stay where we can see you.”

I nodded.

“Try to summon your light,” Ulyanna added. “Don’t force it. Just… let it flow. We’ll observe how the blight responds.”

I drew in a breath as she traced glowing sigils in the air. The ward shimmered over my body like a fine veil-warm and cool all at once, tingling across my skin.

Then I stepped forward, into the blight.

It hit me like plunging into icy water.

My skin prickled. The air tasted metallic. The ground recoiled beneath my boots. The ward pulsed,

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already under strain.

Somehow… this felt familiar. Like the dread from my nightmares.

“Think of something warm. Something that grounds you…” I murmured to myself.

I closed my eyes. And thought of him.

+25 Points

Memories surfaced-the day he came to my tower, the first blush of spring when he gave me my name, our first dance. His hand on my cheek. His arms pulling me close. The kiss.

Warmth unfurled in my chest.

I was glowing.

Light blossomed from within, golden and soft, spreading up my arms and out from my chest-

radiant, alive. The mist hissed. The darkness recoiled.

For a heartbeat, there was hope.

When I opened my eyes, the ground had changed. Beneath my feet, new life shimmered-vivid

green blades of grass, tiny wildflowers blooming in blues and whites, reaching for the light I’d

given them.

I heard Ulyanna gasp. Even Kierygan stepped forward, stunned.

But then… the bloom withered.

“No…” I whispered.

Before my eyes, the color drained from the petals. The grass browned, curling in on itself. Flowers

shriveled to dust. As if the land had remembered it was cursed-and refused to be saved.

My heart clenched.

“I want to try again,” I said, my voice quivering.

Kierygan’s tone turned sharp. “No. Get back here.”

I shook my head. “I can do better,” I pleaded. “Just let me-”

“I said no, Eirlys,” he snapped. “That’s enough for now.”

The air around me crackled. A burst of angry light flared from my skin.

“I want to try again,” I said, this time steady. Firm.

For a long moment, we stared each other down. He looked like he was just a breath away from breathing fire.

“Please,” I said again, softer this time.

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< Chapter 88: Lit by His Touch

+25 Points

His jaw tensed with barely contained frustration. “Fine,” he bit out. “One last time. Then you’re out

of there.”

I nodded.

He took a step back, but I called out to him. “I… uhm… I need you here,” I said quietly.

His brows drew together. “What?”

“I want to try something,” I said, trying to steady my voice. “But I need you close.”

He gave me a look, half confusion, half concern. As if trying to decide whether I was being serious or completely unhinged.

Still, he stepped forward. Without a word, Ulyanna cast a fresh ward, the shimmering boundary wrapping around us both. Kierygan entered the space with me, his gaze locked on mine.

“Now what?” he asked.

Before I could lose my nerve, I turned toward him and said, “Kiss me.”

He blinked. For the briefest second, he looked stunned. Then his eyes darkened, the blue turning

stormy.

“Are you sure?”

I only managed a hum in response, the lump in my throat too tight to let words through.

His lips curved into the faintest smile. “With pleasure,” he murmured-then surged forward, crashing his mouth against mine.

The impact stole the air from my lungs, but I didn’t care. I kissed him back with everything I had, my lips parting instinctively to meet his. His mouth was hot, demanding, laced with something wild

and unspoken.

And just like that, I felt that soothing warmth. My glow, flickering to life beneath my skin, wrapping around us in a pulse of light and heat.

I gasped against him as warmth bloomed through me, brighter and brighter, like it had been waiting for this. For him.

I stood on my tiptoes, needing to be closer, and hooked my arms around his neck. He was so tall, so solid, and the second my arms wrapped around him, his hands slid down my sides-rough, steady-then scooped beneath my legs.

With a sudden lift, he picked me up like I weighed nothing.

A startled sound escaped my throat, muffled against his mouth. I clung to him without thinking, my legs locking tightly around his hips. The movement drew a deep, feral noise from his chest- somewhere between a growl and a groan-and the sound alone made my light thrum harder

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Chapter 88: Lit by His Touch

beneath my skin.

Then-thud.

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