Fifteen minutes later, Viman sat back, flabbergasted. “I don’t understand,” he said, his voice slightly unsteady. “How could…where on earth could Brij possibly have found this?”

“It’s obviously been edited,” Menaka was saying, seeming to have rediscovered some of her faculties now that she had shared her burden with her boss. “You can’t hear what the Aeriel is saying to the Zainian nobleman. Isn’t he the same one Casia Washi was parading around a couple of months ago? And a lot of the background details are blurred. But my God, this video! We could play this and nothing else for the entire hour today and we would be at the top of every ratings chart for the next week at least. When I first saw it, I would’ve sworn it was at least partly doctored. But IT says it’s a hundred percent authentic.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“So the rumours are true then,” Viman said, ignoring Menaka’s chattering. “The Aeriel Queen has resurfaced. She was the one who attacked SifCo. It’s a surprise it ended as well as it did, really. If half of what they say about her is true, we could have been swimming in casualties after that attack.”

“What?”

“The Aeriel, the one that made it out. The one that was talking to the Zainian. Didn’t you see its wings? The three red marks. It was Tauheen, the last Aeriel Queen.”

Menaka gasped. “Oh-oh my God. I-I didn’t–”

Viman cut her off. “Go tell the output people we’re running this today itself. Rewrite the script; call SifCo and the IAW for comment. I need to make a call.”