Immortality Stolen (The Mortal One Series Book 2) by Shannon Bell

asked.
    I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Just give me a minute.”
    He placed his hand over mine and stroked my cheek with the other one. “It’s going to be just fine.”
    “You’re not helping,” I said, my eyes still shut as I waited for the plane to level out.
    “I thought it would help,” he said, removing his hand from my cheek, but the other hand remained on top of mine.
    I let out a shaky breath and opened my eyes once the plane was under control. “Okay,” I said, pulling my hand out from under his.
    “Are you okay now?” he asked.
    I nodded. “I’m good.”             
    “Good. So is there anything else that you want to ask about?”
    I gave him a sideways glance. “There’s always things that I want to know. But no, right now I’m good.”
    “When we get off the plane, we’re going to meet up with Christoph at Charlie’s Beach. We’ll take a taxi to our hotel and then walk over to the beach from there,” he explained.
    “Beach? Berlin’s not coastal.” I wondered what kind of trap was being set up for us.
    He laughed. “I forgot that you haven’t been to Berlin. It’s over near Checkpoint Charlie. It’s a tourist attraction, but it’s closed and it’s surrounded by a privacy fence, which is exactly what we need.”
    “Oh.”
    “It’s okay. I promise to keep you safe as long as you’re at my side.”
    I blushed. “Thanks.”
    We chatted about various things throughout the hour and a half flight and when we landed, we were laughing and carrying on as though we had known each other for years.
    Olivier had a limo waiting to take us to Friedrichstrasse , where our hotel was located.
    It was a quick check-in at the hotel so that we could meet Christoph at a quarter til midnight as we had agreed upon. We had rooms right next to each other. I was thankful that Olivier had enough tact to get us separate rooms.
    “Let’s get these upstairs and then we’ll go out,” Olivier said.
    I nodded grabbing the handle of my luggage.
    We got in the elevator and there was that awkward silence between us again. It happened periodically and there was no explaining it.
    “I’m going to change shirts, too, so I’ll be right out,” I said and popped into my hotel room. What I really wanted was a shower after dealing with the airport and all of that. While first class was nicer than the economy that I was used to, it still left me feeling a little dirty. I splashed some water on my face, ran eyeliner under my blue eyes and changed my shirt into something warmer. It was chillier in Berlin than it was in Paris, so I traded my windbreaker in for a jacket.
    As I opened my door, Olivier was standing there with his arm up getting ready to knock. He stumbled and I took a step forward instead of back. We bumped together and there was a spark followed by more awkwardness.
    “Sorry,” I said.
    “Don’t apologize for that,” Olivier said.
    I looked away.
    “I wish you had told me.”
    “Huh?”
    He grabbed my left hand and fingered the diamond on my ring finger.
    “It wasn’t something planned.” I regretted admitting that the moment it came out of my mouth.
    “Was it a nice wedding?”
    What wedding? The thought popped into my head before I could correct it.
    “What do you mean no wedding?” He was upset on my behalf and it was touching.
    “It’s nothing. We have to meet Christoph, right?”
    He looked at his watch. “We have time. What do you mean there was no wedding? How did the two of you get married if there was no wedding?”
    I let out a sigh. I was still a little pissed about it myself and didn’t really want to get into it. “It was done on paper,” I said, trying to make it seem as though it didn’t bother me so that he would move onto another topic.
    “Paper?”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s bullshit and you know it. Did you even agree to it before the marriage was legalized?”
    I hesitated longer than I should have.
    “That son of a bitch. He forced you into