Page 192 of Empire of Shadows

A thicker and more oppressive darkness closed around them. Ellie could sense the pillars of stone that loomed above her.

Something slipped into her fingers. Ellie felt the round shape of the match tin, which was still warm from Adam’s touch.

“Light another,” he ordered, and then sloshed away from her.

“But where are you—”

“Just light it, Princess!” he called back.

Ellie shook the container. It rattled back at her. The sound was only moderately reassuring. The tin was far from full. If they could only navigate by match light, then they would not be getting very far.

She unscrewed the top and pulled out another match. She fumbled her way to the scratch plate inside the lid, and the lucifer flared to life.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” Adam said distantly.

His voice came from somewhere behind her. Ellie whirled toward him. The match snuffed out.

“Drat!” she cursed.

“Hold on a second,” Adam called out.

Ellie heard a scratching rustle. The sound struck her as oddly out of place in a cave.

“Say something,” he ordered.

“Like what?” Ellie demanded.

“Just make noise, Princess.”

Ellie let the first thing that popped into her head fall from her lips.

“Excito,” she blurted. “Excitas, excitat.”

“Are you… conjugating the Latin verb forarouse?” Adam warmly demanded from a short distance away.

“Awake,” Ellie cut back shortly. “The Latin verb forawake.”

“Pretty sure it also meansarouse.”

Adam sounded closer, as did the soft splash of his movements, but Ellie couldn’t be sure. Sounds echoed strangely through the breadth of the cave.

“Keep doing it,” he said.

Ellie cleared her throat, which had gone a bit dry.

“Excitámus. Excitátis. Excitant,” she recited.

“How about the imperative?” he suggested.

He was very near to her.

“Excita,” Ellie declared awkwardly.

A hand found her arm. It slipped up to her shoulder, and then rose to caress the side of her neck in a way that sent electricity tingling down to her toes.

“Maybe later,” Adam replied.

Ellie could practically hear the wicked grin on his face.

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