Chapter 39

Olivia

I needed to find a way to delay the ceremony. Everything depended on it.

I could not become a vampire. I had only just gotten a tiny bit of acceptance back from the other slaves. They would reject me forever if I became a vampire.

And if I changed, would I ever see my family again? What if I did, and I hurt them?

The vampires were ruled by their unholy thirst. What if I looked at my little sister, and saw only a source of blood?

If I became a vampire, I could never be with Jacob again. He would never accept me like that.

So how did I delay the ceremony?

I had no influence over the preparations. I didn’t even know what the ceremony involved. So there was no way I could sabotage the ceremony.

I could sabotage myself, though. If I was injured, I could not participate in any ceremony. That would buy me a little time.

How could I arrange to injure myself? Damien would not believe it if I fell down a flight of stairs. And if I broke my leg in the process, I would not be able to make an escape.

I wandered down to the clearing where I trained every day. Inspiration struck. It would be easy to injure myself while exercising, and I could choose what exercise to have an accident during so that I would still be able to move around. I would still be able to escape with a dislocated shoulder or a broken rib.

I began my warm up exercises. Everything had to look normal. If someone caught me injuring myself on purpose, I would be punished. Damien might lock me back in that tiny cell again.

I shuddered and pushed myself harder. The best way to injure myself would be to work too hard. I could claim that I had not noticed. My body was changing. It was reasonable that I would not know my new limits.

I remembered the guards who had come to push me. I knew Sofia had sent them. She had wanted them to injure me, but they hadn’t. So I had to push myself harder than they had pushed me.

I doubled, and then tripled, the number of push ups the guards had demanded. My body did the work with no protest. How much could I do? How strong was I already? How strong would I become?

Could I make it over the wall already?

Hope swelled in me as I switched from basic exercises to harder training. I was not going to be able to strain myself this way. I would need to cause an actual injury. But while I was recovering, I would be able to try to make my escape.

I noticed a tree branch that was the perfect height to do some pull ups. I had never tried it because I could tell that the branch was partially dead. I did not think it would hold my weight.

That would be ideal. No one could blame me for a branch snapping. It would look like a genuine accident. I could probably manage not to hurt my legs when I landed.

I approached the branch and looked around. There was no one in sight. Sofia had not returned from the dungeon. Maybe I would get lucky and Damien would forget she was down there. I would be free of her for a little while longer.

I grabbed the branch and pulled myself up. The motion was natural and easy. It took my breath away.

I would be able to get over that wall. I just needed to buy myself the time to prepare for my escape.

I managed three pull ups before I felt the branch crack. I ignored the sound, and pulled my chin up to the branch twice more.

It cracked again.

I held on for a moment. I braced myself for pain. I didn’t mind pain.

I did one more pull up, and the branch snapped. It felt like I was falling in slow motion. I had all the time in the world to turn so that my shoulder took the brunt of the fall.

I felt something inside my shoulder crack. I shrieked in pain. I needed the accident to be believable. I wanted to shout in triumph.

Damien must have been nearby. He appeared when I screamed. He scooped me up and carried me to the doctor.

I curled into the vampire’s chest to hide my triumphant expression. My shoulder was definitely dislocated, if not broken. Surely this would make Damien delay the ceremony.

The doctor examined my shoulder. It hurt to move it, but he declared that nothing was broken.

“I’ll just pop this back into joint, and she should rest for a while,” the doctor declared.

Damien nodded. “Do it.”

I braced myself as my arm was forced back into joint. It hurt, but only distantly. I had dislocated my shoulder years ago. I remembered that the pain was nauseating. Now it was just a dull ache.

“There we go,” the doctor said. “She’ll be fine.”

Damien insisted on carrying me back to his room. By the time we reached it, my arm stopped hurting completely.

I subtly tested my shoulder as I sat on my nest of blankets at the foot of Damien’s bed. It did not hurt at all. I was even able to rest my weight on it. I might as well not be injured at all.

I felt sick to my stomach. This must be another side effect of Damien’s blood. I was healing faster than I ever had before.

How could I delay the ceremony now? If I healed so quickly there would not be a reason to put a hold on the event.

“What happened?” Damien asked.

“I fell,” I said.

“You fell. You weren’t pushed? No one interfered with you?” Damien demanded.

“No,” I said. “I was trying to work hard. I tried to use a branch, to do pull ups. It snapped.”

“This was an accident?” Damien asked.

I nodded. “The branch looked fine. I checked it before I put my weight on it. But there must have been a flaw I couldn’t see.”

“Hm. Well, I suppose you can’t be expected to see the future.”

I relaxed slightly. If Damien had realized that I tried to injure myself, he would be furious. But it looked like he was not going to punish me for the accident. I wasn’t going to be shoved into that tiny cell.

“No more training,” Damien declared.

“What? Why?” I protested.

Damien turned and glared at me. I lowered my head.

“I am trying to become stronger,” I said, “so that I can be a better pet for you. Training helps me recover my blood supply faster.”

That was the excuse I had given him. It had made him allow the training in the first place, when other werewolves were forbidden to train.

Why would he change his mind now? I was growing stronger. I hated it when he drank my blood, but I was recovering much more quickly.

Damien shrugged. “You have done enough. You no longer faint every time I feed from you. I don’t think you’re in danger of dying. There is no need to risk another injury.”

My shoulders slumped. If I was forbidden from training, how would I delay the ceremony?

Maybe I should throw myself down a flight of stairs after all. Except it looked like that would no longer be enough. I healed too quickly.

There had to be something I could do.