I Bought the exiled king (by Natalie Winter) novel Chapter 77

Valencia

I was taking slow deliberate steps and only now did I realize what muscles in my body were aching. I had been too fascinated by the Red Temple and everything Sarah told me but now I could only feel dread settling inside of me if I were to face Killian.

But then my legs couldn’t handle walking anymore so I increased my pace and threw the doors open of the room as soon as I reached it.

“Okay, let’s just directly address the elephant in the room!” I said as I stepped inside. But my voice echoed off the walls.

Killian didn’t respond, so I ventured further inside, wondering if he was in the study. The sliding door to the study was closed, and I could see an oil lamp burning on the table, the yellow light blossoming through the glass and illuminating the space around.

It seemed that Killian was peering over something on the table, apparently reading with full focus.

I knocked on the door, and he muttered. “Come in❞

I pushed the door open, a bit too forcibly, and it thudded against the wall on the other side.

“What the hell was the morning about?” I huffed.

Killian didn’t take his eyes off whatever he was reading, only flipped a page and replied.

“Sunshine, the start of a new day…you know, the usual.”

I stalked towards him and banged my hand on the table.

“Look at me when I am talking,” I said, and he finally did to let his back rest casually on the chair and interloped his fingers.

“Go on”

“What did you mean by your last line?” I asked, eyes narrowing on him.

Killian looked breathtakingly handsome in the soft glow of the candlelight. He was wearing a loose shirt and trousers, and the top buttons of his shirt

were open:

The narrow opening at the front widened a little when he moved, giving me a just a glimpse of his broad, chiseled frame.

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I willed my eyes to not stray away from his face, to not dip below his chin. But being angry with him was truly a task because he was so mesmerizing to

look at.

And he knew that so he used that to his advantage quite well.

“I asked you to go on. Not sure what is there to explain about it.”

I rolled my eyes.

“The last line you said to me this morning before you stalked off. About the rumors and rejection”

I said.

Even admitting it out loud felt strange, as if I was tasting an unknown thing for the first time.

“What about it?” Killian asked me with that same innocent expression.

“Where did you hear it? And why did you say that to me?” I demanded.

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Chapter 77

At that he finally straightened his back and leaned forward to rest his chin on his joined fingers.

“You said that to me not quite long ago.”

I shook my head.

“That is not true. I never said anything about my past or rejection to you before.”

“You did.”

“When?” I asked, and the hint of a smile appeared on his face.

“When we were in your apartment and I was pretending to be your call boy.”

The truth stung, but at least he accepted the pretending part without me having to coax it out of him.

“When exactly?” I pressed on, and that little smirk widened.

“You are not going to like the answer,” He warned, but I slammed my hand on the desk again.

“Tell me, NOW!!”

He got up from the chair, the legs scraping on the floor and making a scratching sound as he shouted back.

“The day you came running in my arms that your supervisor was being an asshole and the day you couldn’t keep your hands off of me and kept demanding me to kiss you…and then when I pushed these fingers inside of you and made you moan loudly while you fought to keep breathing….

“Okay, stop” I raised a hand, but he kept going

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but you still wouldn’t ask me to stop and then came all over my fingers, coating my hand in your juices…”

“I said STOP!”

Killian had stalked towards me while talking and was now directly in front of me, looming over me like some giant,

His eyes had darkened, and all the casual ease was stripped off of them, leaving the hard muscles and lines underneath exposed.

I took in a shaky breath, recalling all the moments I had spent with him and how they had truly given me happiness, a comforting bliss to drown myself into and forget about it the next

Morning.

I had signed up for just some fun, not saving a kingdom when I met him.

“How can you belittle me like that?” I asked pushing the hair falling on my face away.

“I warned you that you will not like the answer.”

He said, still towering over me and occupying all the space in the study suddenly, that made me feel extremely small.

“I meant about today morning, how could you throw it in my face like that out of nowhere?”

His eyes danced from left to right and assessed me.

Gone was the soft spoken, smiling guy that I knew, and the asshole trainer from the grounds this morning was back in front of me again.

“That is how the world is, Valencia. It doesn’t spare you when you are feeling down or need a break. Instead, it will use your weakness as a weapon against you to break you down until you lose all the willpower to stand up again.”

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Chapter 77

I folded my hands on my chest in an attempt to look bigger or confident, but it didn’t make much of a difference.

“Do you think I don’t know that? Hived on my own in that city for five years….” I began, but he cut me off abruptly.

“And you keep forgetting that Florin is not filled with petty humans who might just make you work more or bully you because they are bored, it is filled with vicious and scheming men and women who stop at nothing, and I mean, absolutely nothing to get what they want. I thought you got enough experience with Martin, Maelyn, Sir Nicholas, Fabian and just about everyone you met by now.”

His hands had coiled into fists, and his voice had grown a notch higher.

“Not everyone,” I replied in a small voice, referring to just a few nice people I had met like Sarah today and Mary.

He studied me for a second and then added.

“If you refer to the maid who is nice to you, then that is because she is powerless and weak. Have you seen one person here in power who isn’t an ass?”

He asked.

I would have said that he was a royal, yet a nice one, but today he had been an ass as well. Sarah was sweet too, but then again she got bullied by Nina every chance she could.

I sighed.

“The Crone isn’t an ass for no reason.” I answered, and he shook his head.

“If you keep on being this naïve and stupid, you aren’t going to survive this kingdom when the King grows restless of you wasting time and not having awoken your magic even after spending a month here already.”

A month had passed since I was brought here, and since this chapter of my life began. And as much as I hated it, he was right.

“People respect what they fear. And if they are not afraid of you, they are going to rip you apart when they get a chance. Even with the Crone’s bless and with that mark on your body.”

I frowned at the way he kept saying one harsh truth after the other.

“Fine. I will be at the ground tomorrow sharp at 5.”

The smile that appeared on his face wasn’t the easy going one, but it felt like one that I had earned.

And I felt proud of it.

AD