I'm excited to bring another deleted scene to you! As I was working on my rounds of editing and rewrites, about 30k words were cut from the book from drafts one to five. I had reasons for cutting them, just like the previous deleted scene I shared, but I still kept them safe just in case I decided to share them later!

This is a silly little "Questions" game between the three main characters—Ramiel, Ether, and Ronan. It was a simple method I used during my first draft to get the characters to share information. If you haven't read TSB yet, I recommend you read it before you see this scene, as it may seem strange or spoil material for the actual (canon) narrative.

***I also want to note that this is not edited, and it's also much older than the final draft.

deleted scene below

"Let's play a game."

My proposal seems to confuse my two traveling companions. We manage to cut through an hour of painful silence, just the sound of our horses' hooves scuffing the spongy ground and the occasional song of a bird flying overhead. The last thing I want is to cure my boredom by drinking down the last of my water or seeing how long I can hold my breath—that gets old quick.

When neither of them responds, I continue in hopes of persuading them: "It's a game I used to play with the chambermaids at the castle, and I promise it passes quickly. We don't need to stop either; it can be played as we continue."

I would never order either of them to play along, as my royal counterparts might, but it would probably hurt my pride as a friend if they refused me now.

"Sure," Ether chirps from ahead.

I shake away the smile forming on my mouth and continue. "This game allows you to get to know other people better. Each of us gets three questions—equal to the number of players—and you can choose to ask them to one, two, or both players. Any questions about the game?"

"Yes, I have one," Ronan chuckles. Then, he clears his throat and his voice takes on a nasally malice I haven't heard before. "Are there rules against lying in this game?"

My thoughts return to Ether again. The curse on her people had been cast by our line of royalty, down to Arioch Faundor, the conquerer of our kingdom. For punishment and control, something as delicate as the choice to be honest or deceitful had been taken from them.

My forehead wrinkles in concentration as I try to figure out a way to answer his question. "Since there's a member among us who cannot tell a lie, we must all adopt the same handicap." This seems fair.
Ronan laughs quietly—there's a darkness to it.

"Can I go first?" Ether asks, her voice light and unbothered by the touchy subject.

"Of course," I say as I take in a deep breath.
We continue on for a few moments—hooves clipping the ground beneath us—as Ether ponders her first question.

"Okay, Ramiel..," she begins. I'm thankful for her pause, because the way she says my name has forced my heart to pick up its pace, thumping with energy in its little cavity, and the moment of silence allows me to recapture my breathing. "How old are you, compared to your brother?"

My skin prickles. Why bring Xavelor into this?

"I'm nineteen," I respond flatly. "If Xavelor were still alive, he'd be twenty-one."

"Ah, I see," she mumbles.

I want to ask her how old she is in return, but Ronan cuts in before I can form the words.

"My turn," Ronan shouts, and I flinch. His volume is filled with robust excitement; he seems to have discovered this game will be a lot more fun than he originally anticipated. "Ether," he says with a low growl, "would you kill to protect our prince?"

"Yes," she says without hesitation.

"To protect our king?"

There's a pause. Then, I can just barely make out the quick, sharp whisper from the elf: "Is that your second question?"

Ronan must nonverbally confirm, because Ether heaves a sigh, then continues.

"I don't see why such a fierce king needs protection," she says, though there's an unfamiliar instability beneath her words, like she's hiding something. She isn't lying, but perhaps she's hedging around the truth, as Pluto mentioned doing in the past.

The tension in the air is palpable. I cough, hoping to clear it away. "Okay... Ronan," I say, turning my head toward him. Though I wish to ask Ether a question, it feels only right to ask my aide, since he hasn't answered any yet. I'm a bit reluctant to discuss my kin, but because I don't know what else to ask, I pose the question that perhaps Ether would also like to know the answer to. "What did you and my brother talk about while you were out fighting battles in the outer kingdoms?"

There's another moment of silence, and for a moment I think Ronan may be struggling to find the words. His opinion of Xavelor seems to be strongly positive, barring the fact that my brother had wrongfully lain with elven women just to slay them the following morning. Perhaps there are other, worse things I know nothing about, that Ronan has purposefully not mentioned.

"Well, we talked about magic. And we talked about girls. He was quite bitter about his ruddy appearance, about his ability to capture women with even the slightest twitch of his lips. He got worse about that after Queen Karmin died. He was no longer fun to hang out with; he was all broody and bloodthirsty. I think that's when he started to, you know... not care so much about the women we ran into."

"Ramiel told you not to lie," Ether sighs.

Ronan chuckles. "You can choose to not believe me. Xavelor had many wonderful qualities, and as a human, he had his own issues, but in the end... he was his own undoing."

"I thought he'd been slain," I interject. My heart forms a lump in my throat. We'd been told he died gloriously in battle. Am I about to hear differently?

"Of course," Ronan quickly covers, and relief washes over me. "I witnessed it with my own eyes. But... it was strange, he... he didn't go down fighting. He just stood there as the Yaratik tore into his flesh and painted the battlefield with royal blood. Xavelor never backed down from a fight, but I'd never expected him to just... give up."

A chill runs down my spine when I hear this information. It's true: how can a warrior prince give up so easily? "He used magic, though," I start, confused. "Was he unable to withstand it, even with the elixirs you gave him?"

To my surprise, Ether laughs. The sound puzzles me. Have I said something funny?

Ronan ignores her outburst. "I think he was corroded by dark magic. I'd like to think that had he been able to control his body, he would've moved or fought back or... something."

It is strange, indeed: to think that his death wasn't as simple as we'd been told.

"Okay, my turn again," the elf giggles. I still haven't recovered from Ronan's testimony, but then she speaks my name.

"Ramiel." That sweet twang she adds to my name makes my heart sing despite the confusion surrounding Xavelor's death. I allow it to carry me away, remind me that the past is in the past, and now we are working toward a hopeful future. My full attention rests on her sweet, soft verbiage. "Can you promise me something?"

I want to say of course, but I know I have to be cautious. There are many standards I'm wont to uphold as a prince, though I've yet to live out any of them. Much of my textbook learning—which explains castle etiquette and diplomacy—hasn't yet been put to practice, since Xavelor had always performed those duties. Come the Feast of Undying, they will all become my burden to bear.

"What do you propose?" I ask dryly.

"I don't know yet," she says. "Just tell me that, when the time comes, you will promise me something."
Cryptic. I'm not sure what she's implying, but I go along with it. "Sure, you have my word."

A silence passes, and the sun is suddenly present. We'd left early enough that the air had been nothing to worry about, but now, my back quickly heats to the temperature of crackling coals.

"How many questions is that?" Ronan asks.

I shrug. "I want to ask one more." My head turns in Ether's direction and a drop of sweat rolls down the side of my neck. "Ether."

She's silent when I address her, though I wonder if her cheeks are flushing that flattering shade of red, or if her body is crunching in on itself to appear smaller. I'd like to think at least some part of her thinks her name sounds nice when I speak it, as I now feel my name does when she says it.

"Tell me about the magic you use."

"I suppose you'd want to know since that is what we'll be jumping into when we reach Hearthstrom," she says thoughtfully. "Well, to start, my magic is natural: it lives in the heartbeat of the forest, spreading across networks of roots and vines. It is all connected, though it truly comes to life in the trees."

"How do you harness the power of the trees?"
The elf lets out a hearty laugh. "We don't use the trees themselves, but rather the energy that lives within them and flows into each of us woodland beings. It's something we are born with, something that grows stronger as you learn to understand the forest."

To be one with nature... I remember hearing or reading about that somewhere. Perhaps from a textbook? I scratch my head thoughtfully as she continues.

"There are also magic-embued weapons, made by carving stone and wood from the forest. Similar to how we can transfer magical energy between each other, Eluviam can also be used to increase strength and durability in these weapons." She takes a breath, then sighs. "In the forest, there are many creatures whose Eluviam are strong enough to enhance broadswords and armor, but the only one that can provide immortality to a weapon is the Eluviam of a healthy klopse hatchling."

"A klopse..."

"Yes, the beast who snacked on your arm," Ronan butts in. I laugh in spite of myself, though the situation is rather unamusing.

"Klopses are strange creatures, though we don't need to get into that right now. They're dangerous, so it's important to steer clear of them unless you're prepared to catch them unawares," the elf continues. "Back to your original question, though: channeling natural magic is only meant for those who are in tune with their spiritual attachment to the forest."

"How long does that take?"

"You're a human," she says sharply, perhaps a little too sharply, because her voice softens and she hastens her next words. "This isn't to say it's impossible, but it might be incredibly difficult to create an intense bond like that within such a short period of time... At this point, how long do we have?"

I think for a moment and inwardly cringe. "Forty-five days," I say. We're just about halfway into our three-month training period, and we've done very little training. We are running out of time.

"Okay, perfect," she sighs in relief. "Once we get to Hearthstrom, training will be full speed ahead until the day you fight your beast."

Her confident, hopeful tone encourages me. I nod once and smile. "I can't wait."

I've been trying to keep my mind off the elf, off the warm ghost of her lips that creeps over mine. But as we prepare to leave, my resolve starts to fade, and my thoughts progressively get more and more dominated by the memory of her pale skin, iridescent eyes, black hair, and soft kiss.

Had last night been a dream? A mere projection of thoughts I never before dreamt of having? I wonder if my dream of her has somehow warped the reality between us. She hasn't spoken a word directly to me since we separated into our rooms, so perhaps I'd hallucinated part of, if not the entire encounter.

"I reckon we have roughly five hours to Hearthstrom," Ronan says, adjusting something on Melanie's saddle. "Is there a lake or stream where we can refill our flasks should we run out of water?"
Ether answers in front of us. "There used to be, but it may have dried up since I last went this way. There wasn't much water there to begin with."

Ronan doesn't respond and instead kicks Melanie to move forward. Soon, we are far enough from the bakery that the air has begun to smell of wet moss and soil, mixed with something sweet. The early morning sun is still bubbling somewhere around the horizon, allowing the forest to dream under a blanket of cool, refreshing mist.

end of the deleted scene

While the scene is fun and does get some information across to the reader, the actual plot and magical dynamics/rules in the world of TSB changed a lot, so I felt this scene was no longer accurate. Still, I hope you find it fun to experience this extra deleted scene from the book!

See you in the next one!

~Kayliani


The Sinuous Bargain of a Cowardly Prince