Page 105 of Empire of Shadows

“You mean, like… to each other?” Adam asked tentatively.

Kuyoc raised a wry eyebrow. “Are you married to somebody else?”

“No,” Adam replied quickly.

“I’m a widow,” Ellie blurted instinctively, even as she inwardly winced at the discomfort of the continued fiction about her marital status.

“She’s a widow,” Adam confirmed. “I’m not.”

“Not a widow?” Kuyoc repeated carefully.

“Not married,” Adam clarified. “To anyone. Including her.”

Kuyoc blinked at them.

“I see,” he said flatly. “Are you here to convert us?”

“To what?” Adam returned dumbly.

“I don’t know,” the priest returned a bit impatiently. “Methodism?”

“Er… no,” Adam said.

“We’re not missionaries,” Ellie added neatly.

An awkward pause followed—one where some statement about their actual business should have gone. Ellie flashed Adam a look as she struggled to think of a way to describe their mission that wouldn’t see them get chased back into the bush.

Adam shrugged—which was singularly unhelpful.

“Riiight,” Kuyoc said with a bit of a sigh. “Welcome to Santa Dolores Xenacoj. Why don’t we get you sorted?”

“We’re staying?” Ellie exclaimed.

The priest threw her another skeptical look.

“Would you prefer to go?” he asked.

“No,” she quickly replied.

“We’re very grateful for your hospitality,” Adam added helpfully.

Kuyoc gave them a longer study—one that made Ellie feel distinctly aware of just how painfully awkward their introduction had been. She flashed him a smile, hoping that might help make up for it.

The priest shouted a few lines of Mopan back toward the men by the church. They made an easy reply, and the atmosphere of the square shifted as everyone went back to what looked like normal life.

“Follow me,” Kuyoc ordered. He set off up the road.

The track switchbacked steeply up the hillside. Ellie quickly found herself sweating again at the effort of the climb. Her legs had already been aching.

The priest didn’t seem to have any trouble with it at all, despite the fact that he was clearly a man in his seventies.

“Keep up!” he called back from ahead of them.

“He has a great deal of energy for someone his age,” Ellie commented a bit breathlessly.

“He probably didn’t hike through fifteen miles of bush today,” Adam grumbled in reply.

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