I watched the house approach. Though the day was brilliantly sunny, I was seized with a premonition of doom. What if the monster was already in the house? I was not ready to face it! I did not know if I would ever be ready. I had spent so much time in anticipation of this confrontation. Now that it loomed, I found myself regretting the steps that had brought me here. Each pull of the oars moved us closer to our destruction.

“What is it?” Victor asked. “You look frightened.”

I joined him on his bench, tucking myself against his chest as he rowed. The steady beat of his heart was calming. “I want to keep you safe.”

I could hear his annoyance. “Nonsense. It is my job to keep you safe.” All aggravation left his voice, which became as cold and steady as the mountains watching over us. “And I will. I promise.”

—

Inside the house, though I braced for attack, I found only Judge Frankenstein and several men I did not know. They stood in the dining room. Pale roses, the edges of their petals already brown, wilted in the center of the table, surrounded by food that was sweating condensation. No one ate anything. Why he should have invited strangers to our wedding party, I had no idea. But I had never understood him. I wanted them gone so I could retreat to my room and organize my supplies. I had been stockpiling oil and matches, as well as long branches I had fashioned into torches. I planned to hide them throughout the house so that wherever the monster surprised us, we would have a weapon handy.

“And here she is!” Victor’s father said. “Elizabeth Lavenza, raised as my own all these happy years, and now united with the Frankenstein family in marriage.”

The men looked at me as though I were being examined, then nodded, apparently satisfied. A heavyset gentleman with white hair and black eyes spoke. “We will have the assets accounted for so that Victor may gain access to them at any time. Please write ahead should you wish to obtain any of the funds. But the villa at Lake Como is now in the Lavenza name and available.”

“I would like to have the funds made available immediately”—Judge Frankenstein paused—“for their new life together, of course.”

“Yes,” the portly gentleman said. “Of course.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “But, in keeping with the inheritance rights the court agreed to, they will remain in the Lavenza name and pass only to her heirs. If no heirs are provided, the Lavenza fortune will be reclaimed by the Austrian Crown.”

I looked at them in confusion. I had prepared for attack by a monster. I had not prepared for whatever strange news this was.