Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress-Chapter 19: Pushing The Beast Beyond His Limits

Van Merikh did not take well to Lady Karina's answer.

The lady was testing his patience to no end.

It made the flame-shaped mark on the left side of his neck flare somewhat, tempting it to break out into a fiery rage.

But the black frost brand was enough to temper that fire and let it settle.

"I specifically warned you that you would not be allowed to bury him, Lady," Van Merikh rumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

As smart as she was, sometimes her stubbornness proved to be more dominant, hence she refused to back down.

"I do not know what reason you could possibly have to not allow Sir Dane a decent burial," Lady Karina shot back, furious and in pain with her shoulder. "Since you will not let such an honoured knight have his right of a burial, then you live well to the tales of your tyranny."

"You are the monster that people claim you to be," she added, not withholding the venom in her words. "The fact that you cannot respect a dead man who simply defended his post puts you no higher than the devil himself. And he is at the lowest."

Caelum and Lyall froze like solid stone, immediately glancing at their liege and awaiting the moment he would tear apart the lady with his bare hands for her bold tongue.

They'd seen such things before.

Van Merikh never spared anyone who displayed such disrespect before him.

The servants huddled together in the corner of the cell, shivering and weeping, knowing very well that death was on their backs.

But Van Merikh remained where he stood like a stone sentinel, unmoving, unblinking, his dual-coloured eyes undoubtedly concocting the most torturous death possible for the sassy wench.

And after several long, anxious moments, his jaw twitched.

"Remove the servants at once," Van Merikh rumbled out the order without looking at his two knights. "Clear everyone out of here. Now."

Lyall and Caelum didn't utter a word, only moving past their liege to yank the three female servants to their feet and haul them out of the cell.

Lady Karina sat there and trembled, her hand still over her bruised face, knowing very well she had tested the boundaries of Van Merikh's limits far too much.

But quite frankly, the lady was unbothered; she was beyond caring at that moment. She was already aware that more of Van Merikh's cruelty would ensue and she was the one who had driven him to that point.

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The black frost demon stood there a good long while before he made a move.

Lady Karina flinched when he finally began to walk toward her, but admirably held her ground. Although her courage did little to protect her from the coldness seeping from his body.

When Van Merikh came within a few feet of her, he crouched down in front of her.

Lady Karina met his gaze, watching the disturbing two-coloured orbs as they studied her.

She tensed, expecting a rough hand to come flying out at her. But for a few seconds, nothing occurred.

And then Van Merikh spoke.

"You claim that I am a monster like the rumours you're so knowledgeable off," he bit back, clearly irked by her remark, which normally should not have even fazed him. "If that were so, you and your servants would be dead by now. Yet I have shown you my mercy at every moment."

Lady Karina eyed him with a glint of anger, wondering why he bothered to justify himself at all.

"But my father's knights in the bailey..."

"Are casualties of war. How many times must I explain this to you, Lady?"

"But they are men, not animals," Lady Karina argued back, determined to make him see reason. "They were knights defending their fortress and should be granted a proper burial. That is every man's right; even yours."

...Even his?

"Oh?" Van Merikh arched his brow. "Are you so naive to believe that if I had been cut down in battle that those knights would have granted me a decent burial?"

"My father would have," she insisted, her forehead creasing. "So would Sir Dane. They are honourable knights with morals and they would have allowed you your due."

Van Merikh drew in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then his eyes darted to the hand covering Lady Karina's face.

He raised his own large hand up and the lady instinctively flinched, as if to pull away from him, but he stopped her. Gently.

"Let me see your face," he said softly, praying her hand away. He studied the big red welt. "The mark will fade. You should not have bit Caelum."

Lady Karina frowned. "The brute should not have grabbed me."

The black frost mark on Van Merikh's neck seemed to ignite with an icy blue colour as energy surged down his shoulders, along his arm through his veins and onto his fingertips.

He gently brushed his fingertips over the bruise on her cheek, leaving a cool trail in his movements to soothe the sting.

Lady Karina was startled, feeling the chill in her bones, but there was something not so terrifying about his magic.

She did not feel any killing intent from it.

There was a sweet tingle that surged through her body, like it desired more of that feeling.

The man was meticulous in the way he soothed the bruise and she subconsciously leaned into his palm, seeking more of that cool relief.

Her cheek was soft and should never have been marred in the first place.

Van Merikh's gaze remained unmoving, although his hand did freeze for a moment.

He could feel a strong urge to bring his lips to the bruise to offer comfort, but that foreign thought was quickly struck down in his mind.

And when Lady Karina realised what she had done, she slowly shifted away from his palm and the man withdrew his hand.

There was nothing more spoken about the spark that just spiralled through both of them, but he could see her cheeks flush. Whether it was because of his icy magic or the bruise itself, Van Merikh did not know.

"Caelum was stopping you from doing something you shouldn't have been doing in the first place," Van said, the energy returning to its mark.

"Moreover, you must be weak with that wounded shoulder," he continued. "What were you even thinking when you broke my ice and tried to bury that knight?"