Free The Immortal Compromise (The Mortal One Series Book 3) by Shannon Bell Page A

smile.
    “I’m glad this amuses you, but no, I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to be what you are, no offense. I just want to be mortal.”
    “I am mortal, too.”
    “I want to be normal.”
    “Ouch,” he said, clutching his chest.
    It sounded bad once he said that. While I watched him look as though he was mortally wounded, I realized how harsh it came out. But the truth was that I didn’t view Gregorio as a normal human. He had powers that I couldn’t explain. Normal humans couldn’t control the dead. He could.
    “Why don’t we take a break from this? It’s still early and you need to see some of Berlin,” he stood up and reached for my hand.
    I let him pull me up. “Okay, what did you have in mind?”
    He smiled and raised his eyebrows. “You like chocolate?”
    “Of course,” I said.
    “Ritter Sport.”
    “I thought you said chocolate.”
    “You haven’t heard of Ritter Sport?” He sounded shocked at the prospect. I was surprised I hadn’t stumbled across the chocolate place during my day in Berlin the last time.
    “It’s better than Cadbury or…what do you have in the States? Hershey’s? It’s better than those.”
    This had me intrigued. “Okay, let’s go have some chocolate.” I grabbed my sneakers from the side of the couch, slid them on and laced them up.
    “We can take the U-Bahn and be over there in about ten minutes,” he said.
    We left the apartment and took a walk down the street where we connected at the U-Bahn station near Checkpoint Charlie. “This has to be the easiest way to get around a city,” I commented while Gregorio stood at the kiosk to get a ticket for me.
    “It is simple. I don’t drive anywhere unless I’m going outside of Berlin. Parking is not easy in the city, so it’s easier to just take the U-Bahn. This way,” he said as one of the trains pulled up. Once inside, he scanned our cards and shoved them in his pocket.
    We stood there, holding onto a shared pole while a few more people got on from the station. The train shuddered as it took off again towards this chocolate shop that he spoke so highly of. After a few more stops of people getting on and off, it was our turn to get off.
    We climbed the stairs to the street level and it took me a moment to get used to the bright light. The stations are so dark and now I had the afternoon sunlight streaming into my eyes.
    “This way,” he said, pulling me around the corner.
    That’s when I saw the sign and the colors of wrapped candy on the inside, beckoning to me. I could feel my mouth salivating.
    “You are such a girl,” he laughed.
    “What?” I asked, walking inside.
    A woman greeted us immediately. She spoke in German, but slowly enough that I picked up a few words here and there. Gregorio thanked her and started walking upstairs.
    “Where are we going? The chocolate is down here,” I said, following him.
    “There’s a whole tour to go on. Explore the history of the chocolate and how it is made. Then we can go to the chocolate café.”
    My eyes must have lit up because he laughed again.
    The tour was self-guided and didn’t take much time. It was a fun way to step out from what we had been talking about. And anything having to do with chocolate was okay with me. There were videos about how the chocolate was made and I learned the history of how Ritter Sport had come to be. A woman with dark hair and a basket of goodness handed us each a sample as we descended the stairs and made our way into the café.
    In front of us, there was a glass display where there were some of the most amazing chocolate cakes, mousses, and other chocolate items behind it. I unwrapped the sample of chocolate in my mouth and stared at the case, trying to figure out what I wanted to order.
    “Do you see something you like?” Gregorio asked, breaking me out of the chocolate-induced trance.
    I nodded slowly, not letting my gaze leave the case.
    “I told you I would bring you chocolate.”
    “Do they package to