Page 134 of An Inheritance of Monsters

The covenant was fulfilled, and now she could finally speak.

I took her hand, letting her pull me up on wobbly knees. “Is it… over? The comet is gone?”

Elizabeth looked up at the vortex. “It’s gone… for the next hundred years. By then, you will likely have a daughter who will receive her own inheritance and renew the covenant, and then you will be free.”

I felt shell-shocked and weary beneath my triumph and curiosity, the first obstacle right in front of me. “What about Sierra?”

“She will remember none of this.” Elizabeth raised a hand, looking towards the interior of the Void island.

There was anotherMlul’dranext to Rask.

I started a little; he towered a few feet over my monster, white swirls imprinted among his dark hair, his claws longer and sharper than Rask’s. His form was slightly more feline, sleek and black, next to Rask’s bulk.

The monsters loped towards us, leaving bloody claw prints in the sand. The Klee, still in their Elder forms, were lifting the Dagonites and throwing them far out to sea.

But he was not the only monster unfamiliar to me.

Voraal was slowly shrinking, now only twenty feet tall, and anotherV’uthliwas near him, a tornado of inky shadows.

“Which one is Shuzen?” I asked her, and Elizabeth’s lips curved in a pretty smile.

“He is.” She held out a hand for the approachingMlul’dra. “He was the first of my mates.”

Shuzen took her hand delicately in one of his. “We’re free, Liz.”

He drew out the Z in her name, almost hissing it, but the affection in it was so deep it almost made me blush to watch them embrace.

“Free of this world,” she sighed with relief, wrapping her arms around him. “But I must initiate Juno before we go.”

I had a million questions, my body tensing as I prepared to stop her from going anywhere, but Elizabeth gestured to Sierra’s limp form. “Will you please return her to the manor while I speak with my protégée? She does not belong in this world. We have many loose ends to tie up.”

Shuzen broke away from her, carefully picking up Sierra and loping away over the beach.

I leaned against Rask, exhausted, my burned hand aching where I still clutched the skeleton key.

“How much have you put together?” Elizabeth asked, cocking her head. “Xiar and Shuzen were both quite sure you’ve been in my room before. They smelled your presence and found an open door in my bath, of all places.”

TheV’uthlihad drawn closer as Elizabeth spoke, and the one named Xiar inclined his head, his fiery gaze for no one but her.

Rask and Voraal surrounded me. I realized just how young they looked in comparison to these monsters, who had a hundred years of guarding the Void gates under their belts.

“Enough to know that I must be a Marsh by blood.” I winced as I pried my fingers open, which were already stiffening around the skeleton key. “Because of Sophie.”

Elizabeth nodded. “She was your great-grandmother. The only daughter to leave the island—Ivy was very young when she inherited the manor and its covenant. She sent Sophie to a mainland school in Innsmouth, expecting her to come back… but Sophie chose to move to Essex, forgoing her own inheritance. Over time she was forgotten.”

“Why did you look her up? Why me?”

Xiar wrapped his arms around Elizabeth as she spoke, and she raised a hand to rest on his arm. “All of the daughters are island-bred, but I’m infertile. I was incapable of bearing the next generation, and I feared… that this time, the covenant would not be sealed. But Nadhu reminded me of Sophie, and that a branching bloodline might still exist. I paid dearly to trace her progeny, but when I found you, I dug deeper.”

She stepped towards me, reaching out to touch my hand. “It’s no coincidence you see ghosts, dear. It is the monster's blood in you.”

“Monster… blood… in me.” I stared at her, all eyes.

“Only a drop or two.” Elizabeth smiled gently, like she was breaking disappointing news. “Your grandmother and mother married human men, diluting the bloodline. I’m sorry to tell you that you will never walk on water or heal at a touch, but you still possess the Void-sight.”

“Because I am the Lady of Dark Waters now.”

“Yes.” She watched my face carefully. “Every Marsh woman to accept the inheritance has become the next Lady. We guard the doors of the Void, and guide the lost souls to their final rest. In a hundred years, when you have an heir and she seals the covenant for herself, you will be free to move on to the Void with your monsters and live for an eternity.”

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