Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress-Chapter 23: A Lie That Must Be Told

Lady Karina would never grow accustomed to such bloodshed, bringing her hand to her mouth.

She heard a loud snapping off to her left and she instinctively searched for the source of the sound.

She looked just in time to witness Van Merikh burning the ice shield to shattered shards and ripping Sir Dane's body from the pole, snapping the wood in the process.

He tossed the knight's body to the dirt as if it hardly weighed anything; considering Sir Dane had been a fairly large man, it was a testament to Van Merikh's brute strength.

Tears sprung unbidden to Lady Karina's eyes as she witnessed Van Merikh gorge out the remainder of the wooden pole from Sir Dane's body and toss it aside with such surprising force that it landed several feet away.

And seeing Sir Dane's corpse cold and bloodied on the ground reminded Lady Karina of another matter that she had not yet discussed with Van Merikh.

With tears in her eyes, one hand over her mouth and the other hand lifting the skirt of her dress slightly off the ground, she made her way towards Van Merikh through the macabre forest of bodies.

"My Lord?" She called out to him timidly.

Van Merikh's head snapped up, his dual-coloured eyes focusing on her.

"I believe I ordered you to go to your chambers, Lady," he growled out.

"Aye, you did," Lady Karina nodded, persevering and mustering her courage to hold back the tears as she formed her thoughts.

Seeing Sir Dane's body lay at her feet allowed herself to gaze down at the remarkable man; he didn't seem to look awfully horrible now lying in the sand.

The man looked as if he were asleep, peaceful with frostbite framing his face.

Swallowing, Lady Karina summoned her courage.

"Sir Dane and Lady Drosera had a son," she stated, daring to look up at Van Merikh. "Would you please tell me what had become of the boy? Where...where is he?"

Van Merikh looked down at her, his expression unreadable in the dim moonlight.

"Do you truly wish to know, Lady?" He asked, contemplating what ways he could use to relay the answer to her.

Truth be told, Lady Karina wasn't certain she was prepared to receive the news; whether it was good or bad, she did not know.

"Are the... Are the claims true that you cut down all of the weak and small when you invaded and took control of Moonveil?" Lady Karina questioned, her eyes taut and sense with hot tears.

Van Merikh regarded her cautiously. The rumours of his raw cruelty were not unknown to him and he never once bothered enough to refute those claims.

Whether it was true or not, nobody needed to know.

It was better left that way.

"Aye," he answered vaguely, his dual-coloured gaze not meeting hers directly.

"Even the boy?" Lady Karina's lips quivered as her mind reeled from the unthinkable.

Van Merikh wanted nothing more than to warm them with his own, but he knew he'd more than likely do the opposite than warm them up.

He drew in a long, heavy breath; she could hear him.

"Rina, what exactly do you want to hear from me? Do you want to know the truth? You would not favour it if I told you." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

The fact that he addressed her by her nickname didn't register in her mind immediately. She was more focused on the gist of his words while fighting back the burn on the back of her hand where her mark was aching to surface.

The tears had found their way to her cheeks and she furiously brushed them away.

"We had many children at Moonveil," she said, her voice trembling. "Do you mean to tell me that you have... that you have cut them all down?"

The thought made her sick to the stomach and a new sense of disgust bubbled in her throat as she searched his eyes for answers.

As usual, the dual-colour threw her concentration off.

"If they did not flee when we invaded, then they were put to death."

A blatant lie. But she didn't need to know.

Van Merikh always let the children run free first before his invasions, but it was better believed that he was a monster enough to cut them down.

"How could you even think of doing something so awful? !" Lady Karina wept, crossing the distance between them and grabbing fistfuls of his tunic. "They were just children! They posed no threat to you!"

As he watched her weep, helplessly clinging to him, that odd tugging in his chest resumed with vengeance.

It only seemed to surface whenever the lady was around, and he could define a myriad of sensations associated with it: anger, remorse, disgust, and sorrow.

He wasn't very in tune with discerning emotion, and it unbalanced him.

More than anything, he had come to realise he did not enjoy seeing tears spill over her rosy cheeks.

Knowing he was the cause of it, despite telling a blatant lie, it only seemed to infuriate him.

But it had to be told. He did not want her to think at any given moment that he had a single merciful bone in his body.

"Go inside, lady," Van Merikh rumbled, turning away from her.

Lady Karina didn't obey him immediately. She stood there and sobbed, wiping her face, her gaze moving to the dead knight at her feet.

With anguish in her heart, she crouched beside him and a small, fair hand moved to touch his dirty brown hair.

Sir Dane had been a good man, rather quiet, with a quick sense of humour.

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He was much like an elder brother who had brought laughter to her many times, and she would miss his sly wit dearly.

Lingering on the memories of the kind man, she lowered her heart and prayed.

Van Merikh glanced over his shoulder as she murmured final prayers over the corpse of the knight. And for a moment he could have sworn he saw a soft glow ignite in her eyes, making his gaze narrow suspiciously.

It took only a few seconds, long enough for Van Merikh to feel a twinge of regret for his crimes.

It was the first time he'd ever come to know such a feeling and the fury that shot through his body caused his control to snap.

He yanked the bottom half of the pole from the ground and suddenly it went sailing, crashing into the stone wall several feet away and splintering in a shower of wood.

With a gasp, Lady Karina looked up from her prayers, seeing Van Merikh standing with his back to her, his hands clenching and unclenching.

His entire body was dangerously coiled.

"I'll not tell you again, lady," he rumbled again. "Go inside."

A/N: Hi all! Thank you for reading this far. I will be setting some milestones to achieve in exchange for bonus Chapters!

Milestone 1: 50 cumulative PARAGRAPH comments = 1 bonus Chapter

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Milestone 3: Magic castle gift = 4 bonus Chapters + 2 regular Chapters