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Back The Dream Runners Save as PDF
Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. Part Two
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. Part Three
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. Acknowledgments
  50. About the Author
  51. Books by Shveta Thakrar
  52. Back Ad
  53. About the Publisher

His smile was so sweet, so comforting. Tanvi wanted so much to dismiss the past few days, to hide in being a dream runner with no other worries but the harvest. She was so tired. So hungry. Her body exhorted her to tell him. He could take over. It would be so easy.

“I’m going to make sure you’re all taken care of, I promise,” he went on, and the temptation to believe him almost undid her. Let it be somebody else’s problem.

Except she couldn’t, not when he didn’t know what she knew.

Tanvi didn’t dare go against Madhu directly, but maybe she could hint at the truth? “How—” she stammered. “How did they meet? How did she, you know, start working for him?”

Venkat did a funny thing with his mouth, like he was trying to think back. It might have been cute if Tanvi’s attention hadn’t been eaten up by what she’d just seen. “I don’t know; she’s always been there. Why?”

The cracks in Tanvi started to widen. Too much had happened too fast. Exhaustion, despair, and a string of unwelcome memories all swelled up in her, and she couldn’t subdue them any longer. A sentence she’d never imagined saying flew out of her mouth. “I’m dreaming.”

The pressure inside her eased, and Tanvi pressed her lips shut. He didn’t need to know anything else. Not about her memories, and definitely not about her side trip to find Nitya.

Venkat considered her, confused. “I’m sorry, but I don’t get it.”

Did she really have to say it twice? Tanvi mustered the shreds of her courage. “I’m dreaming. I’ve been dreaming. . . .”

With that confession, she’d thrown her future in the trash. Venkat’s smile would go dark and freaked-out, and there would be no more running dreams for her.

So she didn’t look. “And I want you to make it stop.”

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21

The words assailed Venkat with their sheer impossibility. I’m dreaming.

All he wanted was to disappear into the shelves of stories behind him. No matter how out of control their situations got, those heroes and heroines never quailed. They always knew what to do.

Venkat, on the other hand, had never felt more lost. He kept swallowing as he stared at Tanvi, her scowl half veiled by her glossy hair. “Dreaming?” he finally choked out. “You?”

“It’s awful,” she said, scowling harder. “Take it away.”

How was this even possible? “I don’t understand,” he began to repeat, then caught himself. Making her say it a third time wouldn’t change anything.

Venkat dragged his gaze from Tanvi’s huddled form and flicked it around the archives, taking in the gold-and-sapphire settees for reading, the scalloped niches with meticulous maps of the naga kingdoms, the carved lanterns and lit sapphire-and-emerald sconces—details he rarely even noticed anymore.