"This is twenty silver—make sure she dies in the coffin." I wasn't the maid who heard that. I was the maid who said it. "Do it and my lord will forget," Ryan Bennett said, teeth a sneer. "You get paid. I get a clear line to inherit. She breathes, I lose everything." "You're a coward," the maid whispered. Her hands trembled. Her apron had flour on it. She looked younger than the advertisement on her back suggested. "Shut up," Ryan snapped. He tossed a small bag toward the maid. Silver spilled, bright on the leaf litter. I moved before I could count reasons. "Go die yourself!" I screamed. They all froze. Ryan's hand covered his mouth. The maid stared at me like I had jumped out of the dark and stolen her future. "Who—" Ryan started. "Nobody's dying tonight," I said. I stepped closer. "You toss silver like you own the world. Watch me tell you off." The grove smelled of birch and old ash. Moonlight split the trunks into white knives. One of the estate grooms, a dull-eyed man named Travis, laughed in the wrong way. "Hey now, what is this?" Travis said. "A maid with a mouth." "I don't care what you call me," I said. "I care that you're bribing people to bury a living woman." Ryan's face went flat. "She'll be tucked in, won't she? Quiet. An easy coffin job. Everyone's happy." "Easy for