Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress

Lady Karina's eyes flew to Van Merikh in panic, caught off guard by his sudden command, but the beast of a man met her gaze impassively.

She didn't want to anticipate or predict what sort of foreboding punishment he might have decided for her, but she was no naive fool who couldn't guess what he had in store. 

Hot tears threatened to release again but Lady Karina fought with all her courage to restrain them; after all, she was bold enough to insist that she was prepared to receive any punishment.

However, now she realised she might have gotten too ahead of herself.

She wasn't as courageous as she believed she was.

With quivering hands, Lady Karina tried to unfasten the stays at her back but they would not come undone easily.

Her fingers were frozen by the cold and Van Merikh's frosty aura wasn't helping. Her fingers refused to work properly and thus, she fumbled around until Van Merikh had lost all sense of patience.

He spun her around and deftly undid the stays himself. But before she could remove her garment of her own accord, he took hold of it and pulled it over her head.

The surcoat landed off to the side, forgotten in a corner.

Clad in only her woollen shift and pantalets, Lady Karina stood and shivered as Van Merikh continued to inspect every inch of her skin that was now bared to him.

Lady Karina could feel his predatory scrutiny from his gaze as if a thousand needles were pricking at her skin. She closed her eyes in shame so that she could avoid the audacity of his two-coloured orbs devouring her.

He was searching for something. His eyes seemed focused as they roved over every inch of her.

He would never find the mark he was looking for.

"The shift," Van Merikh commanded again. "Remove it."

The tears returned even when she tried to choke them back from release and found their way to her reddening cheeks, but she did as she was told.

Lady Karina was angry; if it was his sole intention to humiliate her, it would be futile to beg him to not force her through that shame.

If Van Merikh desired the satisfaction of her pleas, then he was sorely mistaken.

Lady Karina was bold enough to plead for others, but not for herself.

She swore she would bear the punishment for others and she truly meant it.

She only prayed that her courage would prevail till the end.

Her shift came off without resistance and landed beside the surcoat.

Completely naked from the waist up, Lady Karina showed no signs of trying to conceal herself from Van Merikh's prying eyes. 

She stood as proudly as she could manage, her gaze fixed to the ground, firm in her resolve to undergo her punishment with dignity.

If she had any dignity left at all

After all, it was the price she had to pay for her foolishness.

'Please God, let him be done with it before I can even feel anything.' Lady Karina uttered a mental prayer in preparation for her fate.

However, for Van Merikh? It was a rather interesting moment.

His gaze darkened the moment she bared half of herself to him, his dual-coloured eyes roaming over her designs as they saw fit.

Aside from her punishment, his eyes searched her with purpose for the mark of the bloodline that would prove the myths of Moonveil to be true.

Yet it was to no avail.

He had also commanded her to strip off her garments to test the limits of what Lady Karina was truly made of.

He wanted to examine how long her courage and fiery spirit would prevail, how formidable they were as she stripped down in front of the enemy without choice.

Van Merikh expected pleading tears, begging, and spells of all forms.

Perhaps in a moment of desperation her true abilities would come to the surface.

But Lady Karina did nothing but obey him, although her tears did indeed make a weak return.

Now, he was somewhat surprised and even impressed by her pluck.

But more than that, he was bewildered by his own reaction.

Interest turned to lust.

Van Merikh could feel a fiery warmth surge through his veins.

"The pantalets," he said, his voice growing husky.

Lady Karina sniffled but she ripped off the undergarment, tossing it angrily to the floor and that sweet reaction made Van Merikh all the more intrigued. 

It was far more delicious and satisfying than seeing her beg to be released from her punishment.

Lady Karina was beautiful when she was angry.

Now, she was completely nude, standing before him in all of her sensuous glory, and he was oddly speechless.

Her slender neck and shoulder gave way to breasts that were firm, plump, and pert enough to fit perfectly in his hands as he imagined they would.

The rosy buds were like little pebbles in the chill of the vault.

Van Merikh had never seen such perfection before.

Her waist was slim with soft curves that made her seem not so frail, her waist flaring into womanly hips and delicious thighs that seemed ripe and plump, not bony like most women in the far North.

There wasn't even one portion of her body that wasn't tempting beyond reason.

There wasn't a single flaw and Van Merikh discovered a profound appreciation for her plentiful proportions.

He always desired a woman who would not break under his touch.

His initial goal had been forgotten.

'Goddess…' Van Merikh echoed in his mind but shook his head when he realised how outrageous the thought was.

…Goddess?

Strangely enough, his heart, a cold and dead organ he believed was incapable of feeling, began to race, and he could feel his palms sweat.

What had initially begun as a test of her formidability had now turned the tables on him.

But Van Merikh would never let her know.

He had a point to make after all.

Before she could even realise what was happening, Lady Karina was shoved onto her pack on the damp pile of straw that had constituted her bed for the past two days.

Lady Karina yelped with fright as his enormous body came down on her, burying her in the pile without any room for escape. 

His blood-crusted mail was against her tender skin, scratching her, and his weight was nearly smashing her much smaller frame.

But as trapped as she was, and as vulnerable, Van Merikh made no move or effort to grab or touch anything personal.

Oddly enough, he stayed clear of anything tender.

Lady Karina could feel the overwhelming cold of his body envelop her, seeping into her skin.

But oddly enough, heat seemed to wash over the cold in the next moment.

It was the only warmth she had known since she was thrown into the vault for her unruly tongue.

A big hand was on her waist, completely encircling more than half her torso as Van Merikh's face with an unreadable expression loomed over her.

His dark hair, long and thickly curled, licked at her cheek, making her skin pebble with goosebumps.

Lady Karina gazed fearfully into the dual-coloured eyes, struggling with the last threads of her courage.

"Do…do what you must, my Lord," she choked out. "I am not afraid."