I freeze. Vaelis frowns.
"The truth is, the war with the Trench is a fabrication," she confesses.
"What do you mean?" Vaelis demands. "I saw the military draft. I saw the fortified front lines on the ridge. I saw the swarm of sharks."
"Minor skirmishes," Mira says, waving a weak hand. "Orchestrated border raids. Provoked to maintain public fear. Distractions to keep the High Council in power."
A wet, rattling cough shakes her chest.
"But Elder Soryn wants more than political power. He wants absolute, permanent silence."
She stares up at me, terror in her milky eyes.
"He wants to eliminate the sharks in the Trench," she says. "All of them."
My muscles lock.
"He wants to wipe you all out," Mira whispers. "Not with iron spears. Not with a traditional Vanguard army."
She looks to Vaelis.
"He needed a visible martyr," she confesses. "He needed the beloved Red Prince to die in the jaws of a Great White. The public grief, the resulting anger, provided the exact fuel he needed."
"Fuel for what?" I ask. A dangerous growl creeps into my new voice.
"The Tidal Bore," Mira says, the name heavy with dread.
The strange name means nothing to Vaelis. It hits me like a detonating depth charge.
Bolt flares in his cage. "The Bore? It's an old myth. A Pre-Collapse terraforming engine."
"It's real," Mira says, shaking her head.
Vaelis swims forward. "You don't know that."
"I do." She bows her head. "I witnessed it years ago while hunting information on the Sea Witch. A sonic cannon. Built into the ancient foundation of the High Plaza."
She shudders under the blanket.
"I thought it was the right path, Vaelis. I lacked the truth. I remained ignorant of the shark-mer nature. I didn't know they were—"
She studies my scarred face. Vaelis wraps his hand around mine.
"Not monsters?" Vaelis challenges, his voice dripping with venom.
She ignores the challenge. "The cannon fires no iron projectiles. It fires an acoustic frequency. A concentrated resonance wave designed to liquefy solid bedrock."
She meets my eyes.
"He outlined a final blow in the last Vanguard meeting. He plans to fire it into the Trench," she says. "He plans to collapse the canyon walls. He intends to bury the entire shark civilization under a mountain of falling stone. Using your noble name, Vaelis."
Vaelis goes pale. Gliding backward, he hits the pile of woven nets.
"In my name?" he whispers.
"The Vaelis Memorial Strike," Mira confirms. "Scheduled for the climax of your grand mourning ceremony. Two days from now."
"Genocide," I say. The heavy word tastes like burning ash on my tongue.
