At the servant’s words, I dropped the linens, too shocked to even realize what I was doing. What had she just said?

My expression must have said what I was thinking because she immediately took a step back. “M-maybe I shouldn’t have said anything,” she sputtered. “Forget it.”

She started to turn away, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room. “What do you mean the duke is asking about me?” I demanded. “Are you sure?” Because if so…this was bad. Very bad.

“Are you Lady Odessa’s maid Felicity?” the servant asked, lowering her voice.

A wave of nausea rolled over me as I nodded. “What did the duke want of me?” I whispered, some part of me paranoid that he was nearby listening to this entire conversation. Maybe he was lurking in the hall waiting to pounce. Just the thought made me shudder.

“He was asking about when you first came to the estate, and where you came from, and what you do when you have time off, things like that,” the servant explained. “I couldn’t answer any of his questions. I know nothing about the other servants.”

That only made me feel slightly better about this situation. The less the duke knew about me, the better, but why was he asking questions in the first place? I was supposed to be some invisible, no-name servant that he forgot about after a few hours.

“I’m nobody,” I told her. I was feeling more exasperated than ever about all of this. “There’s no reason for him to know anything about me.”

As I said the words, the memory of the look on his face and his hand on the dagger at his waist flashed in my mind. Oh no. Had he…already decided to kill me? Did Odessa betray me and tell her brother how I helped to conceal her from him? That would easily give the duke cause to have me killed.

The servant fidgeted anxiously. “Can I go now?”

I realized I was gripping her by the shoulders, and she looked a bit frightened. Startled, I released her and waited for her to scurry out of the room before closing the door and sinking back against it. As much as I wanted to fight off these feelings of doom, it felt almost impossible.

I had already failed at the one simple thing I needed to do: avoid the duke in all possible ways. I’d hoped—and frankly assumed—that he would simply forget about me. After all, how many times did main characters interact with servants without even acknowledging them? Of course he had to be the one who would remember a face and a name, inconsequential as I was supposed to be.

I took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I was still alive, so that was a plus. But I wouldn’t be around much longer if I didn’t figure out some way to keep myself in the game. The one advantage I had over everyone else was that I knew this place, the map, the story, all of it. I had been playing it ever since it was first released. The world had immediately drawn me in, the fantasy and romance and danger of it all proved addictive, and so I’d spent hours upon hours in it. At least now I should be able to use that knowledge to my advantage.

And I had already used it to help Odessa by steering her away from the closet and sparing her of her brother’s abuse. I could do it again and again. I knew the ins and outs of the game. I’d done all the options, seen all the outcomes. I was practically an expert at this point.

Of course, I’d spent all that time playing as the main character Odessa, whose fight was always far less dire than the poor servant Felicity—who’d been killed simply because Duke Inferno believed her death would somehow hurt his sister. That point of the game had always irked me, even though Felicity was barely a character. She’d essentially been a pawn the entire time, and her death was a point where Odessa was at a disadvantage, brought to one of her lowest points by her brother.

But even if I wasn’t Odessa this time, if there was some way I could use all my knowledge about the game and the characters, then my chances for survival were far greater.

I stood up and walked to the small window overlooking a garden where the vegetables were grown. Two servants were out there now, working in silence. As I watched, one looked up and said something that made the other laugh. It was strange to see them like this, to interact with them when I never really had while playing the game.

Maybe everyone here was a touch one-dimensional, but they felt real enough at the moment. And so did I.

“I can do this,” I whispered. “I can survive.”

***

I returned to Odessa’s room around the time she returned from her riding lesson, only slightly sweaty and smiling from ear to ear. I listened to her chatter while I drew her bath. At least she was a pleasant person to be around and not a tyrant like her brother, or this would have been a torment.

“Felicity, would you add a few more rose petals to the water? I find the scent of horses disagreeable.”

I held up an empty jar. “It looks like we’re out.”

“Go to the garden and collect more then, please.”

Though I knew I had no choice but to obey, the idea of wandering around the estate made me nervous. Not that I really expected to run into the duke himself, but if he’d been asking questions about me, he might have had the guards or servants keeping watch.

I left the room, feeling the guard posted outside watching me closely as I made my way down the hall, pausing every so often just to make sure I wouldn’t be ambushed by the one person I was trying my best to avoid. It might not have been such a worry before, but the fact that he’d been asking about me was extremely troubling. I’m not going to be caught out by you, Duke Inferno.

I emerged from the house and paused, taking a moment to just enjoy the warmth of the sun and the rose-scented air. Dangerous as it was for me, at least this place was beautiful.

Shaking my head, I made my way deeper into the garden and began collecting roses, careful to avoid pricking myself on the thorns. While I worked, my thoughts ran in circles. I should have asked Odessa when the ball was. All I had to do was avoid the duke at least until the ball. If I could manage to last that long simply by avoiding him, then I figured I had a good chance of surviving.

And I knew how to make sure Odessa met one of the three suitors. It really didn’t matter which one. As long as true love blossomed, who cared?

I finished collecting the roses and started back toward the manor, only to find the very last person I wanted to see marching toward me: Duke Inferno himself.

I froze up immediately, my gaze darting around as if I could simply run away from him. But there was a guard standing nearby, and if I did run, I wouldn’t get very far. Plus, the attempt would only anger the duke and likely hasten my death.

As much as I wanted to run, and as much as every bit of me was telling me to, I couldn’t seem to look away from those intensely blue eyes, which were now fixed on the roses I carried.

I stumbled back a step as he drew his knife. “O-oh, these are for—”

I broke off as he snatched one of them away and used the knife to cleave the head from the stem before letting the petals fall and crushing them under his boot. “I find roses cloying.”

Then why in the world do you have a whole garden full of them? Some part of me, the rebellious part I supposed, was desperate to ask, but I chose—wisely—to keep my mouth shut. Words were more likely to lead to death in the duke’s presence.

I watched him like I would watch a snake, startled when he suddenly struck, grabbing me by the chin and forcing me to look at him. I was intensely aware of the knife still held in his other hand. He’s going to carve up my face, isn’t he?

His touch was oddly electrifying, and I shuddered, certain that I was about to die when he spoke again.

“You are Odessa’s servant. Felicity.” I trembled as he gave a chilling smile. “But from now on, you are going to serve me. You are going to spy on Odessa.”