Welcome back to the fourth 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 20-25 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 20:
Phelan wakes Clementine with a kind gesture of breakfast in bed on the day of the new moon. He wants to train her how to use a rapier, and although she denies knowing how she quickly bests him.
That night they eat dinner together alone, Mrs. Stirling and Deacon having gone home early to prepare for the new moon.
Chapter 21:
The dream that manifests is that of Knox Birch and the shadows in the Duchy. Together Clementine and Phelan are able to find the key to the dream and defeat it, but something isn’t right. The nightmare doesn’t fade. Clementine hears the metal footsteps of the knight approaching, and although they try both magic and swords, neither Phelan nor Clementine are able to hurt the knight. After Phelan is injured they retreat back to his house, slamming the door in the knight's face, defeated.
Chapter 22:
Clem helps Phelan to his room and stitches the wound on his stomach, marvelling at the scar left over from the last time the knight had injured him. The mirror in Phelan’s room is a problem, so she urges him to lay down while she makes healing tonic in the library which will put him to sleep. She agrees to answer one question from him, and when he asks what her true name is she tells him it is Anna Bailey, and that she had taken on the surname of Neven to avoid shady folks that might be after her for some of her mother’s debts after her passing.
Clem attends to her own minor wound, thinking Phelan is asleep. He groggily asks her to stay, and she eventually falls asleep at his side.
Chapter 23:
Clem is woken by Mrs. Stirling, and to her surprise the Countess of Amarys. After she’s dismissed she returns to her chamber to tidy herself and dress, and decides she needs to get out of the house.
She returns to her mother’s house and finds Imonie, telling her of what had happened the night before, but leaving out the knight as Phelan seemed determined to keep that a secret. Imonie tells Clem to avoid Lady Raven as it is believed she poisoned her husband sixteen years ago after he discovered that the real father of her twins was the Duke of Bardyllis. Imonie also tells her that her father is working in the mines and avoiding magic because he doesn’t want the countess to find him.
Back at Phelan’s house she is greeted by Mrs. Stirling, who asks Clem to take up a tray of tea to Phelan. He tells her that he needs to go away for a week or so on an important trip and asks her to stay to record nightmares and pay the duke’s dream task. He also tells her that a friend is going to stop by to ask to “borrow a book” and when they do so she is to give them the payment he will leave for them in his safe.
Chapter 24:
A few days after Phelan has left Lord Deryn visits Clementine. He coaxed out of her the nature of the nightmare on the last new moon and the knight. He seems to think that the knight is being controlled by someone in the province, and if they were able to get the knight’s helmet off to see the face he may be able to find the person. He thinks the knight’s armour was forged by a deviah magician, and he knows someone who can use that magic to forge something to help Clementine and Phelan. The duke confirms that he has put a lot of work into Phelan’s upbringing and wants to name him his heir, and that if it wasn’t for him Phelan never would have become a magician.
A couple days later Clementine goes to get measured by the smith for a shield and notices a leather weapon belt that looks just like the one her father gave her, and like the one Olivette said her father had crafted. Something warns her off asking the smith about it.
Back at Phelan’s house Clem starts writing out the things she has discovered about the Vespers until Mrs. Stirling announces a guest. Clem uses a spell on the journal she’s using so that only she will be able to use it and Blythe, the girl from the art supply store, enters and asks to borrow a book. Clem gives her the money as directed and Blythe thanks her, saying it is a donation for her brother who is a warden in another section of the city having a hard time paying the duke’s tax. Blythe also says she has a message for Phelan - that he asked her to keep a lookout for the girl named Clementine, and although she hasn’t seen her since that first time, his mother has now also asked Blythe to watch for Clem and follow her home if she does appear again. Blythe leaves and Clem thinks of the spell her father had had her prepare in case she was found out.
Chapter 25:
When Phelan returns he is in his library searching for a book with an essay about trolls. Clementine passes on Blythe’s message, neglecting to mention that part about his mother also searching for her. Phelan mentions he has made some contact with people in the theatre world in hopes of finding her mother.
She convinces Phelan to play a round of Seven Wraiths with her. After her conversation with the duke she is convinced that somehow the illustrations on the cards and the knight’s armour are somehow linked by nightmares, and the nightmares spawned from the game are providing doorways for the knight to pass into them. Phelan reveals it is his mother who paints the cards. Clementine makes a deal with Phelan that whoever loses the game won’t take a remedy to prevent dreaming, that way the knight will appear again on the next full moon and they can try to figure out who it is. They both lose a round and agree that they will both dream that night.
Anna wakes in the hours before having dreamt nothing. Unsettled by this she goes to Phelan’s room and he invites her to stay with him. He reveals he also did not dream.
Questions:
- Why do you think Phelan had to go back to Hereswith?
- Why do you think the duke is spending so much time on Phelan to make him his heir when Lennox was born with illumination?
- Who do you think is controlling the knight?
- Do you think the smith is Olivette's father? What do you think the significance of the weapon belts are?
- Why do you think neither Phelan nor Clementine dreamt?
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