Dreamer (The Dream World Chronicles Book 1) by Camille Peters (thriller books to read .txt) 📕

My heart took control, allowing me to rest my hand in his. Warmth enfolded me like an embrace from just that single touch, dispelling the chill that had enveloped me when examining the nightmare flower. He gently lifted me to my feet, but even after I’d stood he didn’t release me. Instead his fingers laced through mine, tugging me closer, even as his eyes bored into mine.

I basked in the beautiful feelings filling me…until fear took control, extinguishing the warmth like the flame of a candle. Surely feeling so comfortable with a Nightmare meant…I gasped and yanked my hand from his.

No, I’m a Dreamer. But this time the affirmation felt more like a question.

“Forgive me,” Darius said. “I’d hate to rush you.”

My brow puckered. Rush me for what? But I didn’t have much time to ponder the meaning of his words before he spoke again.

“Let’s go somewhere we can talk.” He started to offer his hand once more before blushing and hastily withdrawing. It was only after he’d taken away the invitation that I realized just how much I wanted to hold his hand again.

What’s wrong with me?

I tried to sort out my confusing feelings, as tangled as the webs Darius liked so much, as I followed him deeper into the park. He paused in front of a wall of ivy and honeysuckles, which he parted like a curtain. I ducked inside and immediately stilled, my breath catching in wonder. “Oh.”

Hidden behind the ivy was another section of the park that I’d never seen before, one made entirely of floating paths and waterfalls, whose cascading rapids changed color to music, as tranquil as a lullaby. Despite night having settled, the sky here was tinged with dawn, as if time was measured differently in such an enchanting place.

Darius’s eyes were aglow as he watched not the waterfalls but me, seeming to take true pleasure in my delight. He blushed when our gazes met. “Do you like it?” Hope filled his voice.

I could only nod breathlessly. “I’ve never seen such a lovely place, even within the Dream Realm.”

“Both worlds hold their own enchantment, even the Nightmare Realm.”

I instinctively stiffened at the words, a reaction not lost on him. Worry furrowed his brow as he bridged the distance between us, allowing the curtain of ivy to close behind us.

“Come, let’s talk.”

This time he didn’t hesitate to take my hand before leading me to a waterfall more secluded than the rest. There we settled on the flower-dappled lawn, shrouded in the mist coming from the falls, whose rapids were a soft green, like Darius’s eyes. With each note of the gentle music I felt some of my unease slip away.

I glanced sideways at Darius, who waited patiently, his expression open. Trust him, my heart whispered, and at its silent urging I reached into my bag and shakily removed the nightmare flower.

“I—”

But once more my words faltered, unable to confess what had happened out loud, so I simply handed him the flower. It seemed to lean against his touch in a way that it hadn’t mine, as if recognizing it was in the presence of a Nightmare Weaver, which gave me the slightest glimmer of hope that perhaps I wasn’t who I was beginning to fear I was.

Darius examined the flower carefully before raising a questioning gaze to mine. “Where did you get this?”

Once more the anxiety and fear pressing heavily against my chest made it impossible to answer. He studied me a moment, as if trying to find the answers in my eyes, before understanding dawned.

“You created it.”

I thought I’d feel relief at him knowing, but instead my panic only grew. My confession burst free, unable to be contained any longer. “I have no idea what happened. I was cultivating with Iris and we sensed different details in the seed…only mine was dark, a contrast to the light she felt. After she left, I was curious what the seed would turn into, so I helped the flower grow, only afterwards it…changed.”

His frown grew thoughtful as he studied the nightmare flower. “I’ve never heard of any magic being able to change the nature of something. Cultivating seeds are created the moment their details are captured by the Seed Harvesters, and once made into a seed they can’t be changed.”

I wrung my hands. “But I—I don’t even know what I did. It was an accident.”

“I know, Eden.” His tone was all gentleness, as was his look when he finally met my gaze. “You would never purposefully create something that frightens you.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Despite trusting him, I’d half expected to be condemned, just as I’d been doing unceasingly to myself in my own thoughts—not to be received with such understanding and gentleness, a response which caused the tears I’d been fighting to escape.

His expression crumpled. “Don’t cry, Eden.” He scooted closer to catch one of my tears on his fingertip as it trickled down my cheek. “I’ll help you.”

“Why would you want to?” I asked.

His eyes blazed with an intensity that was both beautiful and frightening. “I need to. I’ll go to the library, try and find any information about this, whatever it takes—”

“There isn’t any.”

Ever since I’d created the nightmare flower, I’d scoured every book I could find for some sort of explanation, had subtly tried to extract information from Iris or steal glimpses of Darius’s books during our Weavings, and I’d even briefly considered asking Caspian how one of his seeds could have transformed into a nightmare flower, but I’d found nothing that could explain what had happened. The uncertainty had only escalated my fear, allowing me to fill in the blanks in my knowledge with my own condemning and frightening explanations.

You’re a Nightmare.

I gave my head a rigid shake in hopes of dispelling that seductive, slithering voice from my thoughts. “I’m a Dreamer,” I whispered, as if saying the words out loud would make them more true.

“I know you are,” Darius said