The Mark of Fate: Book 3 of The Marked series by Ford, Rinna (romantic love story reading .TXT) 📕

was the mate Fate provided for my uncle, but one he had to reject because of something that was out of his control. Devlin was a gay man and though he cared for Irna, it wouldn’t have worked out. However, it didn’t stop her from holding out hope. It was in the way she hovered around him, and the way she looked at him when she thought no one else was looking. I would feel sorry for her, that was, if I still wasn’t pissed at her for the part she played in my becoming a vampire.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved being a vampire. I loved the speed, the strength, and especially the mate who was chosen for me, but I was still bitter about how it happened. Irna told Di, the former leader of the rebel faction, about my past, and that made her realize I was meant to play a big part in the downfall of the ruling body, the Council.

The Council ruled the supernatural society with an iron fist and all supes had two important rules to follow or they’d pay the price. One, don’t tell the humans about us, and two, no mixing of the races. Each race is supposed to be pure, undiluted, in order to keep each species as strong as they can be.

But what the Council didn’t tell the people they ruled over was that the different races weren’t able to procreate with one another. It was medically impossible. That was, until me.

They outright lied to the supernatural society because of a prophecy made almost eight hundred years ago, telling of their downfall. It was made by a caster telling of a cursed child who would be of all three supernatural races-caster, shifter, and vampire. This child would defeat the ruling body and reign over the whole society, destroying the current Council. After hearing my story from Irna, Di believed I was that child, even though I was obviously an adult, I was the only mixed raced supernatural in existence. She took it upon herself to make me a vampire, making me a part of all three races.

I was forced to be changed, not asked, and that was what I was still bitter about. Who’d blame me? If Irna had told someone else other than Diane Moore, someone with more compassion and decency…

I looked at Irna then down at the vial with distaste. I trusted Devlin with my life, but I didn’t trust Irna at all. She was smart, but definitely didn’t have my best interests at heart.

“Don’t be a baby,” Devlin told me, rolling his eyes. “It’ll help.”

I sniffed it then pulled it away from my face. “What will it do?”

“Well,” Irna began, fiddling with her hands.

She always got nervous any time she talked directly to me. I didn’t know whether it was because she felt guilty or because she was afraid I’d drain her dry then use her husk of a dead body as a chew toy for my dragon. Either way, I got a little bit of satisfaction every time I saw her react to me. Small victories.

“Well, we’re not one hundred percent sure what it’ll do…”

“And you want me to do what? Drink this? I thought you loved me.”

“You’re being dramatic,” he rolled his eyes. “It could do nothing but I, we know for a fact it won’t hurt you. Your blood is an active ingredient, so it won’t react badly to you. That, I can promise.”

“But what do you hope to accomplish with this exactly?” I swirled the pearlescent green liquid in the glass vial, mesmerized at its beauty. It didn’t look harmful, but sometimes the most beautiful things were the most dangerous.

They both looked at each other a little warily then over to me, which I didn’t like.

“We think it will nullify your casting abilities.”

Irna spoke so softly I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly, even with my heightened vampire senses.

I put the vial into the stand and backed away from it. “Excuse me? It sounded like you said it would take away my ability to do magic altogether.”

“Well, that’s what we hope,” Dev interjected, rising from his stool when he saw me inching toward the door. “It wouldn’t be permanent. You’d have to take the potion probably once a week to keep up the effects. It’ll give us time to find something that will help fix what’s wrong with you, and you won’t have to worry about burning off anyone’s hair on accident.”

I cringed at the incident he alluded to. Three days ago, I accidently burnt the ends of Camille’s hair with a fireball that, for no good reason, shot out of my hand. We were outside and no one else was harmed, but the damage was done. It was a complete and total accident, and she was still pissed at me.

A knocking on the door broke me out of the memory. We all turned toward the sound to see Matias’ smiling face. I itched to push his messy black hair out of his crystalline gray eyes. Seeming to know what I was thinking, he did it himself then shoved his tattooed hands into his jeans pockets and walked toward me.

Being in the solarium made him nervous, even if he didn’t fully admit it. All those potions and ingredients lying around were enough to make anyone not familiar with them a bit on edge. He never knew what he was brushing up against and what it would do, so he kept his hands in his pockets and his arms tucked in close to his body. Not much scared my ferocious vampire mate, but he had a deep respect for casters and their workshops.

When he reached me, I touched his arm and went up on my tippy toes, giving him a sweet kiss.

“You ready, little one?” he asked when I pulled away.

“Yeah.” I turned back to Devlin and Irna. “Can I think about it?”

Irna looked down at the table in front of her and mumbled something