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“That sums up the situation nicely,” I said tartly.
He sighed. “I’d hoped that by helping you I could have earned your trust by now, but it appears I’m no closer now than when we first met. And here I thought you were just stubborn. Or perhaps I haven’t gone as easy on you as I’d thought.”
“Stop pretending all your actions have been noble,” Stardust snapped. For the past several minutes she’d been shifting her glare between my needle and Darius with an expression like she very much wanted to stab him with it. “Any nightmares created below their full potential are more a testament to your laziness than to the goodness of your heart.”
Bolt poked his head from the staticky fields of Darius’s hair. “Darius isn’t creating easy nightmares because he’s lazy. He told me it’s because he wants to give Eden a chance to beat—”
“That’s not true,” Darius hissed, but a blush lightly brushed his cheeks, defying his words. He avoided my eyes. “Even if it were—which it’snot—I’m not doing it forhersake, but to maintain the balance between the Dream and Nightmare Realms. It’ll cause havoc if one becomes too powerful.”
“I’m sure that’s the reason.” Bolt winked at me.
My pulse sped up at the reminder of the recent danger to the balance, while Stardust gaped at Darius in disgust before frowning at my unfinished dream, nowhere near completion. “How much longer?”
“Probably an eternity,” Darius said. “I hope you brought provisions to be camped here forever.”
Stardust glared at him. “I wasn’t asking you.”
“Do you need to be somewhere?” I asked her.
“I’ve discovered a clue to the mystery we discussed earlier.” She gave me a knowing look, but I hadn’t the faintest idea what she was talking about.
“Can’t you do it when I finish?”
She shook her head. “It’s too important to delay.”
I suspected the real reason she wanted to leave had nothing to do with investigating or even because she was bored, but was motivated solely by her growing dislike of Darius. But she’d never abandoned me in the middle of a Weaving on nights Darius was being unusually difficult; normally she stayed loyally by my side and defended me against his taunts.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Don’t forget to pick me up afterwards.”
Darius gave an exaggerated yawn. “If she ever finishes.”
Stardust hesitated in the window frame. “Are you sure?
“She’ll be fine,” Darius said. “I would never harm my weaving partner.”
Stardust didn’t look convinced, but after a little more prodding from me she left. After reminding me several more times he didn’t have to wait for me and could easily give Maci his nightmare right now, Darius settled down withHistory of Legends. Other than the rustling of pages, Maci’s soft snores, and the click of Bolt’s knitting needles, there was blissful silence, the perfect environment to work.
I fought to push away my returning worries of the Universe’s balance in order to carefully weave my dream together, occasionally looking up to see if Darius was watching before I unpicked. Often he wasn’t—instead either reading his book or admiring himself in his weaving mirror—but once or twice I caught him peeking over his book to monitor my progress. Whenever our gazes met he hastily looked away, and each time he did so, Bolt looked amused.
I paused in my work when I heard Darius stir. I looked up to find him subtly nudging a floating book towards me, which he’d opened to a section on dream construction. “What’s that?”
“Oh, just some advice. Since you’re determined to suspect my motives, I hoped that an expert might persuade you.” He pushed the book a few inches closer with his pinky.
I frowned at the book—one that was clearly from the Nightmare Realm and thus would be no help to me—and firmly shook my head before returning to my stitches, completely disregarding the book. “You are quite the puzzle.”
“You can’t be the only one having all the fun.” His grin was unrepentant…and rather adorable. With it came the feeling I’d been fighting from the moment we’d met—the one that tugged me towards him.
I determinedly pushed it away and returned to my dream, but it was difficult to construct with the feeling of Darius’s warm gaze on me. I looked up to find he’d scooted his book even closer. He caught my gaze and nodded towards it, his eyes wide with invitation to steal a peek.
I frowned. “Why are you pretending to help me? I’ve been in the Dream World long enough to understand that Nightmares and Dreamers are never friends.”
“Mostaren’t,” he agreed. “But that doesn’t mean there can’t be an exception.” He gave me a rather endearing sideways grin.
I frowned. Just what game was he playing? Why was he so determined to earn my trust? And if he wanted it so desperately, why was his treatment towards me constantly changing? One moment he was rude and condescending, the next he claimed he wanted to be friends, as if he were battling two parts of himself in every one of our interactions. It didn’t help that Iwantedto accept his friendship, even though doing so would undoubtedly be foolish, especially with my situation with the Council so precarious.
But that didn’t change the fact that my determination to ignore him hadn’t helped my circumstances; I was no closer to winning Weavings than when we’d started. Could I risk heeding his advice? I fiddled with my stitches as I deliberated. Darius waited a few moments more before interrupting me again.
“Hmm, the book doesn’t appear to be working. Perhaps I need a new approach.” He picked up his completed dream and pulled out another detail from his bag to add to it. I tried to ignore him, but my curiosity compelled me to watch.
