Silver Pen Winner: Répetoire de Rêveurs by Samantha Claire

And a new week with more Silver Pen winners! Today we’ve got Samantha Claire! Congrats on the 15k (and hopefully more now!)

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Répetoire de Rêveurs

It’s 1927 and Clara Bolton wants to be an actress, not marry the rich doctor who’s taken an interest in her—and her strange dreams—but when a traveling theatre troupe’s play mirrors her latest dream exactly, Clara joins the societal outcasts that makeup the Répertoire de Rêveurs to understand the past lives that haunt her sleep so she can escape another lifetime of falling for the troupe’s Bengali dancer only to have her unwanted fiancé murder her again.

“Good sir, my husband is the lord of this village.”
“Françoise. Please, call me Françoise.”
Clara gasped. She received a handful of strange looks from nearby audience members at her odd reaction, and James leaned over.
“Everything alright, darling?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. It was much easier to brush off the similarities between this play and her dream when there had only been one name in common. But Marguerite and Françoise? What in heaven’s name was going on here? How did this troupe know about her strange nightmare at all, let alone have time to rehearse and prepare and entire play about it?
Clara took several calming breathes and refocused on the play’s climax.
The Hero and Ingénue met in the forest. Their passionate affair had inspired the lovers to run away. They had nearly made it when the Heavy appeared again.
“Where do you think you’re going, Marguerite?” he taunted.
“As far away from you as I can get!”
“You belong to me, my dear.”
“I belong to no one. Françoise understands this.”
“And how long have you been unfaithful, you whore?”
The audience booed and jeered at the Heavy’s insult. Clara cringed, anticipating what was to come next.
“We’ve leaving, my lord,” the Ingénue huffed. “Leave us for dead. Do not follow.”
The Heavy withdrew his bow and arrow.
“There’s just one thing you forgot. If I can’t have you, then no one will.”

Way to go, Samantha! This sounds fascinating! Keep it up!