Welcome back to the fifth 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 26-31 of Dreams Lie Beneath, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Monday's recap and discussion post will be up a little bit later in the day!
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 26:
Phelan gives Clementine the next day off and she goes to see Imonie. Imonie confesses that November 17th was an important date in Seren - it was a festival celebrating the end of autumn. To Clem’s surprise her father comes home, and not from the mines. He has been to see the duke and although he admits the duke has some sort of hold over him, he won’t reveal what. Clem also decides to keep the information she has learned about the countess to herself. When she asks him if she stopped taking the remedy if she would dream, he says yes. It seems they are both deceiving each other.
That night, Clementine doesn’t take the remedy, and she again doesn’t dream.
Chapter 27:
The shields from the smith arrive and Clementine confesses to Phelan that she told the duke about the knight. An invitation arrives for Clem, unexpectedly inviting her to a dinner party at the countess’ house on November 17th. Phelan asks her to be his date as his mother has ordered him to attend, and thinking of the secrets she may discover in the house she agrees, in exchange that on the next new moon she is the one to remove the knight’s helmet.
Two nights before the November new moon Phelan comes home late from a visit with his mother, something very off. He starts tearing apart his library, throwing books on the ground and shattering plant pots. When Clementine eventually gets his attention he tells her she should leave and get away from his family. Clementine refuses and leaves him to clean up his mess. He eventually appears at her doorway and apologizes before leaving her for the night.
Chapter 28:
The night of the November new moon arrives and the nightmare that manifests is that of a demon trying to break into a house through a window to kidnap a child. Having an idea, Clem returns to her room in opens her window wide, and it doesn’t take long for the demon to find her. She traps it under a magic net and realizes the key to break the nightmare is actually going through the window with the demon, which would have caused the child to wake. It works and as she finds herself trailing down a rickety rain-soaked lattice it collapses and she falls into Phelan’s arms. Knowing that it’s a bad idea to be so close to Phelan Clementine jumps away - they need to prepare for the next battle, that of the knight.
They see someone who is very much not part of a nightmare, a local resident who is drunk and lives nearby. Phelan takes him home and as Clementine waits the knight appears. It swings its sword at her and she catches it with her shield, which to her surprise bathes them in golden light and when she stumbles back the knight’s sword goes with her. She knocks the knight off his feet with her shield and the hilt of the sword and removes its helmet. It’s her father.
Chapter 29:
He appears almost twenty years younger, like Clementine briefly glanced when she was glamoring him back in Hereswith and he doesn’t seem to recognize her. His hand shoots up and starts strangling her and eventually flings her away, sending her crashing into the cobblestones. Phelan holds her and as she leans against him the knight disappears. Phelan takes her back to the house and draws her a bath, and when he asks if she recognized who the knight was, she lies. While helping her out of her clothing he noticed the scars from the snake bite but says nothing. Alone at last Clementine weeps. She has so many questions about who her father is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.
The next day she sneaks away from the house to confront her father as he leaves the mine. She yells at him and tells him to stay away from her, but he seems to have no idea what she’s talking about. He calls after her, using her real name, but she leaves him devastated in the street.
Chapter 30:
When Clem returns to Phelan’s house he asks her to pick a game for them to play to distract her from whatever is bothering her. She agrees, and in the parlor finds one that will be suitable, but when she stands up she is staring into the mirror, and into Phelan’s eyes as the real Clem is revealed. On instinct she casts a spell putting a barrier between them. He uses his dagger to cut through it and although Clem starts sending spells at him he does not retaliate. When she eventually stops he congratulates her for all of her lies, and casting a spell of his own, disappearing.
Chapter 31:
Phelan doesn’t return and Mrs. Stirling tells Clementine that he informed her he was going to be away for a few weeks. Two items arrive at the house for her - a dress for the countess’ dinner, and a letter from the duke asking her to reveal the identity of the knight.
Feeling restless Clementine goes to visit Olivette and Nura, telling them that she and Phelan had had an argument. They insist things will smooth over and offer for her to ride with them to the dinner party that night, confident that Phelan will be there. Upon arrival the countess herself insists on introducing her to the duke and Mr. Wolfe, the smith who made the shields and Olivette’s father.
The duke asks her to describe the knight, but when she pretends to not have seen properly he directs her attention across the room, to her father, asking her if the knight perhaps looks like that man. Her lack of response gives him the answer he needs and he leaves her standing alone. Clementine doesn’t understand why her father, mother and Imonie are all present and does her best to not show she knows who they are. She decides to leave but runs into Phelan who says she will regret leaving by morning if she does. The dinner bell rings and he sits beside her, two empty seats remaining at the table, and Phelan warns her to keep up her act when the late guests arrive.
Finally, after several unfamiliar courses of food, Lennox arrives with a disheveled Mazarine, Phelan’s hand on Clem’s knee warning her not to react. The servant’s appear with daggers, first piercing Mazarine’s heart, then Mr. Wolfe and the duke, then Imonie and her father, but none of them die. Then the countess herself proves she is one of the seven who took down the duke of Seren by stabbing herself. She says that Ambrose’s twin brother Emrys, the one originally trapped in Seren, has escaped, and it is time they all come together to end the curse.
Questions:
- Do you think the countess has a plan? What do you think it is?
- How much longer do you think Clem's disguise will last? Do you think there's any way that Phelan will betray who she is?
- What do you think the link between the nightmares caused by the cards is and the knight? Why do you think he's able to use those particular nightmares to manifest?
- Why do you think Clem's father is now cooperating with the countess when he seemed so eager to avoid her before?
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