“Maybe. It’s possible he’s the shadow. Maybe Declan thought he could escape the same way Bogdan did, but on the other side he got cocky and Bogdan killed him.”
“I think there would only be room for one dhampir with a god complex there,” Galen agreed. “He didn’t let Clive live and Clive might have been useful if they ever found a way back to this plane.”
“Bogdan has been there for a long time,” I countered. “He probably knows that Clive can’t help him. Although … .” Something occurred to me and I swiveled in Galen’s arms to look into his eyes. “It explains one thing.”
He looked baffled.
“Bogdan and Declan — it doesn’t matter if they’re both alive or only one of them — want a way back but have no idea how to do it,” I explained. “They’ve been there for years.”
“You tell a story like my mother, Hadley,” Galen admonished. “Speed it up. The water dancers are putting me in the mood.” He waggled his eyebrows in such a way I knew I was losing his attention.
“Geez, you’re nothing if not predictable with the water dancers,” I complained.
“I can’t help it. The water dancing was the moment I knew it was going to be you and me forever.”
“We weren’t even officially dating then,” I reminded him.
“I knew.”
“That’s sweet.” I meant it. “Table that thought, though. I really do have a good idea.”
“Hadley,” he groaned, “we’ve been theorizing all day. I want to do more than theorize … with you.”
“Then focus on what I’m saying for five minutes,” I ordered. “The more you focus, the quicker the reward will come.”
That seemed to placate him. “Fine. Lay it on me.”
“We’ve been wondering why this is happening now,” I said, knowing I had only a few minutes to hook him before he would become lost to the water dancers. “If they’ve been over there for years, why is this the first contact?”
“I’m following,” Galen acknowledged. “I’m not sure I care right now.”
“What if they’re trying to make contact now because Clive started telling stories?” I asked.
Galen paused. He’d been tugging on my shirt sleeve — if he thought I was getting naked on the beach he had another thing coming — but he stopped and lifted his chin.
“My mother said Clive came over full of boasts and tried to take over right away,” I continued. “He pushed too far and ended up dead, whether it was Bogdan or Declan who killed him. Apparently Declan was into killing the same way as Bogdan to prolong his life, so it really could be either — or both — of them.”
“Clive had magic,” Galen said, his palm pressing into my midriff to keep me in place. “He would have made a tasty meal.”
“And he would have said anything he could at the end to get them to spare him.”
“So if he started running his mouth about the witch who bested him, a witch who could open plane doors and was all-powerful, they would have been intrigued.”
My stomach did a somersault. “That’s why they — or one of them — want me.”
He tightened his grip on my waist. “They won’t get you, Hadley. I’ll make sure of that.”
Unease rolled through me but I smiled. “I won’t let them get you either.”
“They don’t want me.”
“They will take you if they think they can hold you to get to me.”
Against my back, Galen’s heart skipped. “I hadn’t really considered that,” he acknowledged.
“I’ll protect you.”
He scowled. “I don’t need you to protect me. I need to not be used as a weapon against you.”
