Welcome back to the penultimate day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's November book, Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 32-36 of Dreams Lie Beneath, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCDreamsLieBeneath for another chance to win!
The story continues...
Chapter 32:
The party arrives at the base of the mountains a week later after traveling from the city. They are to approach the duchy the next day. With all of the wraiths now present they do not doubt the gates will open for them and they all agree it is time to end the curse.
Chapter 33:
Clem stealthily goes to her parents’ tent in order to speak with her father. He tells her that for the curse to truly be broken a new duke or duchess must take the throne and he and Lord Deryn would support her taking it. On returning to her own tent she finds the countess, who makes her vow her allegiance to the Vespers - she does so as Anna Neven, not Clementine.
Chapter 34:
The next day they approach the duchy and as predicted the gates open for them, revealing a vast storage room. Mazarine locates the lift which looks as if it hasn’t deteriorated at all since they left the mountain all those years ago. Mazarine suggests that the countess and her family ascend first, and although at first she seems hesitant, the countess agrees, taking Anna with them - the duke also decides to join in with the first group to go up.
Once at the highest floor of the fortress the countess tells them to split up and look around before the rest of the group arrives. She at first wants the duke to go with herself and Lennox, but he insists on leading Phelan and Clem around. They arrive in the fortress hall, the same place that she an Phelan saw in Knox Birch’s dream and the duke makes them wait for the others to arrive. Clem wonders if the duke truly would support her claim for the throne if ending the curse would mean ending the nightmares, and therefore the wardens and the dream tax he collects.
They are soon joined by the rest of the group, the countess and Lennox arriving last, claiming to have revisited her old chambers. Emrys makes his appearance, telling them that here they will dream, and the only way to break the curse is to defeat the nightmares and claim the throne. They will remain safe if they stay in their rooms behind looked doors but the wraiths are not immortal here - they can be killed. As the group stands to leave and prepare for the darkness, Emrys makes eye contact with Clem and she realizes he knows who she is.
Chapter 35:
Clem claims a room across from Phelan’s and decides to lay down to get some rest before night falls. She dreams of Mr. Wolfe’s shop, and when she asks the price of a jewelled dagger he says the cost is her secret. Mr. Wolfe disappears and Clem walks into the back of the shop where she sees the suite of armour that Emrys wears, dripping with blood. When she turns around Mr. Wolfe is there holding an axe and steps towards her.
Clem jerks awake as night has fallen, seeing a note from Imonie slipped beneath her door. Be Patient. Be Shrewd. Clem decides she will venture out into the hall, noting that Phelan, Olivette and Nura have as well. To her horror, it is her dream that starts to manifest. She sees herself and Mr. Wolfe squaring off and Olivette is understandably torn, not knowing if this is her real father or not. They engage with him, Olivette being hurt by her father’s axe in the process. Nura helps her retreat and it’s then that Clem looks at Anna, the shade of herself, the gold key to ending the nightmare in her chest. Anna retreats from the hall and Clem follows, urging Phelan to get Nura and Olivette to safety while she ends the dream.
Clem follows Anna into a large chamber which she knows belonged to the duke. Anna stands on a stain - the very spot that the duke was murdered. Anna asks Clem if it was okay that the seven wraiths murdered the duke, even if he was a cruel man. When Clem starts towards Anna to end the dream she is suddenly lurched back by Lennox, who is holding a dagger at her side. Not hesitating, Clem casts a spell and flings him away, and as their fight comes to an end the sun rises, vanquishing Anna and the nightmare, leaving the curse unbroken.
Chapter 36:
Clem returns to Olivette and Nura’s chambers where they along with Phelan and Mr. Wolfe are waiting. Mr. Wolfe asks Clem for a private word, feeling the need to apologize. He explains he made the armour at request of the countess so that the person who was selected to kill the duke would be disguised and guarded from any magic the duke might try, but in the end it made movement too slow. It ended up in storage, forgotten as they fled the curse. When Clem asks who was the one to draw the stone to kill the duke, he tells her it was Emrys.
Back in her chamber Phelan comes, saying they need to talk. Clem admits why she donned her disguise and why she started working with him. Phelan tells her that in his dream the day before he dreamt of her, both as Clem and as Anna, and that fact might expose her secret. Phelan leaves, but immediately returns telling her that he had hoped the day of the interview that it would be her waiting for him. They kiss, but Phelan soon realizes that Clem is bleeding. He returns to help stitch up her wound and Clem tells him the nature of her disguise, and how it will fail if the stone half of her heart breaks. He vows to keep her secret from afar until the end.
Questions:
- Do you think the countess is hiding something? What do you think it is?
- Who do you think will end up taking the throne?
- Do you think it was really Emrys that killed the duke after drawing the stone?
- What predictions do you have for the final part of the book?
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