Really, if you haven't read the book, this will give some things away..
I think you have been sufficiently warned....
This scene was written in early, when I thought that Damien and Riona would have been paired up. Yes originally they were going to end up together *insert audience gasp*.
I was young, and actually loosely based Damien on someone I was dating at the time. And of course I saw myself as Riona, and wanted them together. *barf* (I was 16 and impressionable)
Thankfully I learned my lesson about putting too much of yourself in the story and created more distance between myself and Riona. Through schooling I learned about plotting and how to create more tension and interest between the characters.
I deleted this scene after I got some major Writer's Block. Going back I realized that this "relationship" was not going to work for the rest of the story, and so it had to go. (This required some new characters to be created, as well as major rewrites of what was already laid down in the book)
But please, enjoy this (not really edited) deleted scene from Through the Mountains.
“Is that what
this is about?” he walked around to face her. “You think that Taya is a, a, I
don’t even know what you might think she is, but whatever it is, she’s not,
alright?” she didn’t meet his gaze, she knew that she just couldn’t stand to
see herself reflected in his eyes right then.
“Riona,
look at me.” When she didn’t he added, “Please”.
With
the moon at her back she could see his blue eyes perfectly even without the
help of her flames. There were tears in his eyes that hadn’t been shed, and she
was sorry for causing them. She felt herself falling into his eyes and the flames
that licked at her fingers slowly died away.
“Riona,
I don’t care about some high chiefs daughter. I care about you. I have for a
long time.” His hands on her arms tightened, “I’ve cared for you more than just
our friendship.”
She
tried to turn away, but his hands held her in place. She met his gaze again.
What were they doing? They had to leave in a few hours on a journey that would
probably be full of danger, and here they were talking about feelings? She
didn’t want to be bothered by it.
‘Listen
to him, and your heart Little One.’ If she had been able to, she would have
smacked Feoras for bringing her here where she could be cornered by Damien. She
hadn’t even felt this cornered when she had stayed behind to protect them from
the creatures in the forest.
Damien
let her go and turning away sat on a fallen tree. She could see he had his head
in his hands. “Do you know why in the months after we ran to the mountains, I
hadn’t been around much?”
She
had wondered that, often thinking that it was because he didn’t want to admit
to himself that she was using magic. That and she had been a bit more
preoccupied after Feoras hatched, she really hadn’t thought about much else
other than how to hide a growing dragon.
“No.”
she quietly made her way so that she was sitting next to him. He turned so that
he was facing her.
“I
was doing every odd job and task I could get my hands on to earn more money.
Even trapping in the same mountains we had rode in, the ones that no one else
would attempt. The animals are not as scared of men, and there are more of
them.” He laughed. “But of course you knew that already.”
“Yes,
that’s why I hunted there.”
“Well,
I wasn’t hunting for myself or my family. I was hunting to sell the meat,
hides, and antlers.” He kept twisting his hands in his lap. “I was saving the
money I earned so that I would be able to buy my own plot of land.”
“It
seems like such a stupid idea now, but at the time it felt right.” He looked up
at her again. “The day you and your mother left, I was on my way to see her.”
He paused and momentarily he stopped wringing his hands. “I was coming to ask
her for your hand in marriage. That was why I had Sparrow packed, I was coming
to give it to her as show of how I could provide for you.”
He
stood suddenly and started pacing in front of her.
“I
had known that you weren’t seeing any of the other boys in town, so I knew that
you didn’t have any other offers to consider, and I had hoped that you and your
mother would accept mine.” His fists balled themselves at his sides. “That was
when I saw the huge furrows in the ground, and when I looked around everything
looked as though you had left in a hurry without planning on coming back.”
He
kept his face firmly on the ground he paced on. “I thought something terrible
had happened. I thought you were dead.”
Riona
felt a catch in her own throat at his words. Yes, she supposed it was possible
someone might think that with how they left their home, but they had had to
leave fast. They weren’t safe in the valley. Either the spectral Ryders would
have come for them, or the people in the surrounding areas would have realized
a dragon lived among them and they would try to kill Feoras out of fear.
Suddenly
Damien dropped to his knees in front of her. “I know that we still don’t have
the best of circumstances, but would you marry me?”
The
question hung in the air between them. She could feel the electricity between
them, and she found herself wanting to say yes as she looked into his blue
eyes. Yes, she loved him. Yes, she had cared for him enough to not be running
off with the other boys in town, despite their many attempts for her attention
and affection.
“Damien,
I…” She couldn’t respond. She didn’t know how to begin to tell him everything
that was running through her mind. Instead she closed her eyes and listened to
herself, to her heart. When she opened her eyes after what felt like an
eternity, he was still there his blue eyes locked on her.
She
reached and took his hands in her own. His were cold so she sent some warmth
from her own into his. His eyes registered surprise and she smiled at him. She
genuinely smiled. That was something she hadn’t done in months. He made her
happy. That was all that mattered. She would fly to the moon and back, even
threaten the Ryder that plagued her dreams to protect him.
“Yes.”
It was a simple word but when she said it she felt some of the electricity
between them heighten and she reached for him. His lips found hers and she felt
heat from a different source than her magic.
After
a time they broke off, but she stayed comfortably perched in his arms.
“Damien…”
“Yes.”
“I
do really like this, but I still need to wash off before we leave.”
“Oh,
right.” He stood up so fast she nearly hit the ground before he caught her. “Sorry.”
He mumbled as he set her on her feet.
“It’s
okay.” She stepped back and in the light of the rising sun she saw that just
into the tree line Sparrow grazed with just a halter on. “Where’s your
saddle?”Damien followed her gaze and shrugged.
“When
I saw you two fly off I didn’t have time to properly saddle her up. I just
grabbed her and came after you.” She reached for his hand.
“I’m
glad that you did.” He looked at her, a smile on his face as he pulled her into
himself. For being out in the cold morning, he felt warm to her as his arms
came around her back.
“I
should be getting back to start packing and get the horses ready.” He kissed
the top of her head and started towards Sparrow when Riona coughed politely.
“What
is it?” he looked genuinely confused at her coughing for his attention.
“I
still need help with my laces.” She was nearly knocked to the ground in his
hurry to help her, and she realized just how nimble his fingers were. She
blushed when he worked on the ties that held her pants together at her hip.
Holding them up with her hand to avoid any mishaps she let her corset fall to
the ground after he finished the laces. She still had her shirt on and was
covered.
He
hesitated at the last tie on her pants and left his warm hand on her hip. Once
again heat flared in her, somewhere deeper than where her magic lay, but still
she didn’t want to do that while she
was dirty and on a beach.
He
looked up at her, his blue eyes shining in the dim light. She knew what the
young people did in the barns when their parents weren’t looking. They weren’t
supposed to know, or act like the adults. But when a young girl was in love
with a boy her age, and was promised to a man old enough to be her father,
everyone looked the other way. Even the boys and girls that weren’t to be
married off, they sometimes snuck off into the woods or hay lofts at the
festivals.
She
blushed as she thought of the boys who had tried to get her to go with them.
But she never had. She had only wanted Damien, but Damien had never asked her.
In fact she was almost positive he had never asked any girl to go away with him
either. They had usually spent the
festivals eating by the fire listening to the adults tell stories.
“I,
I think you had better head back now.” He left his hand on her hip as he stood.
Once again looking down on her she could see that there was a flush that had
crept up his neck. “The others will be wondering where you went to.”
He
bent down to kiss her again, she leaning into him. She really didn’t want him
to leave, but they had to start their journey to Erskine. And she really needed
to bathe. He held her tight and when they parted her cheeks felt raw from the
whiskers on his face. Turning he made his way back to Sparrow and with one
backward glance he rode off.
‘Is
he really gone yet?’ she knew that Feoras would be able to tell, she didn’t
trust that he really had left. She felt him reconnect his consciousness to hers
but there was a pause.
‘Yes,
he’s nearly there. Sparrow is a very fast horse for one that is carrying two
beings.’ He seemed impressed that the pregnant mare would be able to carry both
her foal and Damien.
‘Horses
do it all the time.’ She managed to wrestle off the rest of her clothes. It
turned out that holding her clothes on hadn’t been a problem. It was getting
them to come off of her sweaty skin. She carefully laid them out on a tree
hanging over the water and waded in.
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