Willa’s eyes tripled in size, and Max could easily relate to her apparent shock. He shook his head. “Wipe out the human race? Anyone who thought they could pull off such a feat had to be diabolically whacked.”
“Not entirely.”
He blinked at Aurele’s resigned statement. “Pardon?”
The elder shark shifter blew out a slow, heavy breath, her shoulder’s sagging. “Reva planned to steal the trident.”
It took a moment for her meaning to register. “Poseidon’s trident?”
“Surely your father told you of its existence.”
“He said it was destroyed. A long time ago.”
“It wasn’t. That tall tale was created in the hopes of keeping evildoers from going after it. The truth is, the trident can’t be destroyed. It’s physically impossible.”
“Jesus.”
Aurele’s smile held no humor. “I’m afraid even He can’t help us. Not if the trident is ever discovered.”
Willa broke into the conversation with a pointed cough. “Would someone mind explaining why this trident has you both looking spooked?”
He rubbed his palm along Willa’s arm, the gesture as much to reassure him as Willa. “You’ve seen pictures of Poseidon with that pitchfork-looking thing, right?” He waited for her affirmative nod before continuing. “That’s the trident.”
“Okay.” Willa’s gaze ping-ponged between him and Aurele. “At the risk of sounding incredibly dense, what’s so scary about it?”
Aurele waved a hand, apparently giving him the floor. He coughed into his fist, looking for the right words, before settling on the blunt approach. “The trident is a weapon.”
Willa’s eyebrows slashed low. “You mean like a gun?”
“No. A lot more powerful than that. It holds the force of the elements. Strike it into the Altar of Atlantis, and it’ll create a tidal wave capable of flooding the entire planet.”
“In other words, it’s the oceanic version of Armageddon,” Aurele added somberly.
Willa gulped. “Holy shit.”
“My thoughts exactly, dear. So you see why Reva was so intent on possessing the trident. Not only would she wipe out humankind, but she would return Atlantis to what she perceived as its rightful ruling place.”
Max grunted. “With her at the helm, no doubt.”
Aurele inclined her head. “Naturally. If not for a very unlikely source, her plan might have seen fruition.” She shuddered as if a ghost had walked across her grave.
“Unlikely source?” Max prodded.
“A leviathan that Reva enlisted to help build her army.”
“I’ll be damned.” Max’s memory backpedaled to the leviathan that had snatched Willa. “The little I know of the butt-ugly beasts, I never would have taken them for the do-gooder kind.”
“Trust me, the creature wasn’t necessarily being altruistic. It seems the leviathan had a change of heart once it figured out that Reva was about to annihilate its entire catalog of souls. The leviathan turned mole, and instead of killing me and Willa as Reva commissioned it to, the creature revealed the duchess’s intentions to me. The information came too late for me to be able to save the royal family, but I grabbed the trident, along with Willa, and escaped. The royal army captured Reva, and from what I understand, a subsector of the Atlantean military has been holding her prisoner in an undisclosed location ever since.”
“She’s still alive?” Willa’s face turned a dangerous shade of red.
“I know it’s distressing, dear, but her royal status saved her from execution. Or even being brought to trial. I believe her family convinced those in the know to cover it up in order to avoid scandal and inciting possible riots from the Atlanteans. It’s amazing what large sums of money can buy.”
“Guess that explains how Reva Bellemuir’s name was never leaked as the perpetrator.” And why the fucking case had remained unsolved all these years. Max growled, every fiber of his being railing against the injustice. He remembered the countless nights, as a boy, when he’d walk in on his father poring over the murder evidence in search of the tiniest clue. The case had become an obsession for Grayson Truitt, damn near ruining his life and putting a wedge in his marriage. It’d taken ten years to convince his dad to move on, let the case go cold. As a result, things drastically improved at home. But those were still missing years that could never be taken back.
Aurele laid her hand on his forearm. “I can see that you’re angry.”
“Yes, damn it. Aren’t you?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then why did you go along with it? For God’s sake, you’ve known the truth all this time and never said a word.”
“You think that doesn’t kill me?” A wealth of pain and anguish rode every inch of Aurele’s patrician features. “All this time, this horrible secret has burned a hole in my gut. In my soul. But to come forward, show the community I was alive and not a missing body somewhere would have stirred too many questions. Soon the whispers would start. If I had survived, who’s to say the others missing hadn’t fared the same?”
Max’s gaze immediately shifted to Willa.
“It was my duty to protect her,” Aurele continued. “And in return, by erasing Willa’s existence and creating a new one, humankind would be protected too.”
“H-how do you mean?” Willa stammered, her cheeks pale.
“My dear, you were with me when I hid the trident. You know the location.”
“But I don’t remember anything.”
“Because of the mind sweeper. He did a thorough job, but he warned that it might not hold forever. I also had the location wiped from my mind, in case the unthinkable happened and I was tortured into revealing the hiding spot.”
“Tortured?” Willa croaked the word.
“There is at least one who would love to get her hands on the trident. Reva. If our existence was ever uncovered…” Aurele glanced at Max. “Well, as you can see, it has been.”
Max firmed his jaw. “Nothing that’s been said here will leave this room.”
“I know. You’re Grayson’s boy. That alone is enough to make me trust you. Beyond that, I can see the light of honesty and justice in your eyes. You’re a good, honorable man. But there are those with far less admirable qualities. They’re the reason I commissioned the mind sweeper to work his magic on Willa, as well as implant the fear of water into her psyche. As long as she never steps foot into the ocean, Reva’s sympathizers will remain clueless of Willa’s existence.”
Aw shit.
His expression must have given him away because Aurele frowned and demanded to know what was wrong. He scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “I pulled Willa out of the Atlantic. It’s how we met.”
Aurele’s complexion went whiter than a sheet. Her gaze veered to Willa. “B-but that’s impossible. Your fear would have prevented you from even approaching the ocean.”
“The leviathan,” Willa whispered before blinking. “I heard it calling my name.”
Lines of strain pinched tight around Aurele’s lips. “What leviathan?”
A bolt of electricity shot down Max’s spine, the sensation eerily similar to those he experienced while in his shark skin, cautioning of danger ahead. He’d felt this precise current moments before spotting Willa and her captor the other day. “Are you talking about the leviathan that took you?”
“What do you mean the leviathan who took her?” Aurele demanded.
Max recounted the series of events leading up to the present. Aurele swayed for a moment before lowering herself onto the couch cushion. “I don’t understand how this happened. The leviathans shouldn’t be aware of Willa’s existence, much less have been able to lure her into their domain.”