The Mark of Fate: Book 3 of The Marked series Ford, Rinna (most read book in the world .txt) 📖

only darkness over the field. I loved it when my dreamscapes were light and calming, not when they were like this. But what did I expect when the situation I was in was so dire?

I was worried my father wouldn’t be there like he wasn’t there the last time I entered into our shared space. I needed him and his guidance because if there was ever a time to need it, it was this exact moment.

He stood under a tree on the edge of the field, his hands in his pockets and his eyes hard and determined. He stood still, making no attempt to come to me so I walked through the tall grass to get to him. Time was of the essence since it was limited in the dreamscape. I needed to get any help he would offer before my time with him ran out. I hated that there was no time for pleasantries, no time to savor just being in my father’s presence.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

My father’s words were gentle, even though his face wasn’t.

“Dad. Please, tell me what to do. I’ve been…”

“I know, that’s why you’re here. You’re in trouble.”

“It’s the Council, right? They’re the ones who have taken me.”

He shook his head. “This is the work of one man with illusions of grandeur. He has many followers, in and out of the Council, but there are those who will stand by your side. When they offer their help, trust your instincts. They haven’t steered you wrong yet.”

“Like with Alec?” I looked at my dad skeptically. Alec tricked me, he tricked everyone. I thought he was a good person.

“You knew something was wrong with him, but you wanted to believe he was good because of where he was found. You didn’t trust your gut.”

I looked at the tree to my dad’s left as I considered his words. I was a little weary of Alec because I saw how charming he was. He charmed me too, but I knew that it wasn’t right. I turned my eyes back to my father and nodded, understanding what he was talking about.

Dad looked to the sky and frowned as if he’d seen something he didn’t like, then back toward me, his expression a little more frantic. Suddenly, the wind got stronger and the air got colder, indicating what I already knew from the way my father was looking at me. My time was up.

“Is there anything else?”

I had to speak loudly to have my words heard over the wind that swirled around me and through the trees. Dad opened his mouth to tell me what I needed to know but the wind was too loud in my ears. His words were carried away into the sky, away from me.

“What? I can’t hear you!”

He tried to say it again but the edges of my vision began to blur and moved inward until I was pulled from my dream and away from my dad.

* * *

Shivers wracked through my body, waking me up from sleep and for a moment, I wondered if the coldness from the dreamscape made me cold in reality. The longer I lay there, the more I realized that it was the concrete floor. It was unforgiving and the coldness seeped into my bones, which made me even colder. Even my teeth were clenched together as I tried to warm myself up by rubbing my hands over my bare arms.

When that didn’t help, I rolled onto my stomach and put my shaking palms on the ground and tried to push myself up to no avail. Whatever Alec hit me with when he touched me, drained every bit of my energy. I wondered how long I’d been out.

I looked around the darkened cell, seeing a small mattress pushed off into one corner and a bucket in the other. Knowing the mattress, no matter how dirty it was, would be my best option, I began to move myself in that direction, using my hands, knees, and whatever else I could to get there. It took several minutes and despite being nearly frozen, I was sweating profusely. I had to keep pushing wet strands of hair out of my eyes and it was making the floor harder to grasp. I ended up resorting to digging my nails into the groves of the concrete to push me along. Effective but when I finally made it to the mattress, most of them were broken and bloody. I didn’t care. A little pain would be nothing compared to what was going to happen to me if I didn’t find a way out of there.

I slowly turned myself over to lay on my back with my arms stretched out as far as they could go in the cramped space. Reaching inward, I searched for Soleil and my vampire, not finding either one.

Losing my magic was hard, even if it was meant to be temporary, but it was my choice, so I could live with it. However, having parts taken from you that made you, you, without your consent, well, that was heartbreaking.

Even though I couldn’t feel the strengths of those parts of me, I still felt some of the weaknesses. Hunger being one of them, and I don’t mean for food. The need for blood was strong and I knew it was because I was so drained of energy. Reaching up toward my throat, I fingered the half-inch thick metal band that circled my neck. This had to be what was suppressing my vampire side. I ran my slick fingers all the way around not finding a latch or anything that I could try and pry open. It was completely solid and I wondered how Alec got it on me in the first place.

I needed to find a way to get back all the parts of me that were missing. If I had my magic...

Letting go of the spelled choker around my neck, I reached down to touch the small front pocket of my exercise leggings and