CUT from Fragile Eternity

NOTES: I cut this because it slowed the pacing.   This is a “it did happen but it’s not in your book” excerpt.

Donia was out walking when Seth found her.

"I wouldn't pursue this path.  I gave my mortality for him . . ." She let her words drift away, but the meaning was still there as if she'd pronounced it.

"She needs me."

"It's a mistake."

Seth paused, weighing his words, hoping he wasn’t telling Donia anything she didn't already know. He toyed with the ring in his lower lip as he tried to formulate the right words.  "They grow closer every day. He has some sort of pull over her . . ."  

            "That is to be expected," she murmured, gently.

            "I don't want to lose her."

            "Sometimes what we are determines who we can love . . ." Her voice didn't reveal any change in emotion, but a shard of ice glinted in her eye, a frozen tear unshed.

            "If I were faery--"

            "I won't help you make this mistake, Seth."

            "Even if it helped you keep her from him?" Seth watched Donia as she weighed her words.  She was every bit as terrifying as Niall could be, but the Winter Queen was calculating in a way that Niall seemed to lack . . . in a way that reminded him of the last Winter Queen.  He shivered at the memory of icicles driving into his skin. 

            It was as if Beira's visage lay atop Donia's face when she asked, "Would you throw yourself on my mercy for her?"

            "You know that answer."

Donia sighed. "I do.  It’s the same answer Keenan would give, Seth."