Before long, everyone at the Quarter had watched the video. Ruban knew by the way they walked on eggshells around him, their voices hushed, gazes flitting away as if to avoid direct eye contact. As if one wrong move was liable to make him snap.

His phone buzzed incessantly. Calls flooded in from Unnati and Raizada and a slew of others from the IAW. Not to mention the various media outlets, most of which his phone automatically screened out. Ruban was inordinately grateful for that small mercy.

He even received a call from Hiba Asrar, the cabinet secretary herself.

He couldn’t bring himself to answer it. In fact, he couldn’t bring himself to pick up any of the calls. Not until he’d had a chance to talk to Ashwin, first.

But he had no idea where Ashwin was. Or how to reach him. Not without lighting an Aeriel feather and sparking further controversy.

After all, Ashwin was the one with wings. If there was something they needed to talk about, somewhere they needed to be, he was the one who came to Ruban. Not the other way around. At least, not under normal circumstances.

These circumstances were anything but normal. But Ruban dared not make a move that’d draw more attention to this mess than was absolutely necessary. Partly for Ashwin’s sake. But also because he didn’t want to find out what would happen if the video reached Safaa, before they’d had a chance to neutralize Dhriti Pathak.

It might just provoke Safaa to declare war on earth.

And wouldn’t that mean Dhriti got exactly what she wanted?

“Why would she do this?” Simani asked, her hand resting on the steering wheel as Ruban slipped into the passenger seat beside her. “Surely, she understands the potential repercussions? Why make an enemy of the entire Aeriel monarchy? Why provoke them so openly?”

“Because her back is against the wall, and she can feel it.” Ruban barely registered the click of the seatbelt as he strapped himself in. “And she might still believe we won’t be able to trace the video back to her. That it’ll just be our word against hers.”

After all, it wasn’t like Dhriti had released the video on her personal account. It had been leaked anonymously on the dark web. It garnered thousands of views and shares within that community, before making its way onto mainstream social media platforms.

But those who spread the video were ordinary social media users seeking some salacious drama. There was no way to trace their online activity back to the video’s dark web origins.

And once it hit social media, there was no stopping the viral surge a video like that would inevitably get. Within hours, it’d racked up millions of views and shares. The authorities tried desperately to suppress it, take it down. But copies of the video kept popping up all over the internet like the severed heads of Hydra; two sprouted for every one that was cut down.

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And Dhriti had to have known this would happen. A graphic recording of one of Janak Nath’s infamous torture sessions, starring none other than the prince of Vaan…

If nothing else, it would deflect attention away from her family’s connection to HAVA and the feather mafia. Send the public into a frenzy of gossip and speculation; and keep the authorities busy trying to contain that speculation.

Two birds, one video.

“Perhaps she’s hoping it’ll provoke Ashwin into openly attacking her.” Simani steered the car through a series of tight bends, maintaining steady control. “Give her an opportunity to play the helpless human victim of a violent Aeriel aggressor. That’s the narrative she’s been peddling, after all. What better than a live demonstration to validate her theory?”

Ruban wished he could say it was a stupid plan. That it would never work. But a knot of uncertainty tightened in his gut. In truth, he wasn’t sure how Ashwin would react.

In the past, he’d often wondered if ice flowed through Ashwin’s veins. Nothing rattled him, nor cracked that breezy smile which masked an iron control.

But he could be terrifyingly unpredictable, when cornered. Even self-destructive. Ruban tried not to think about that night almost three years ago, at the villa in Ibanborah. How Ashwin had used the enhanced sif ores stolen by Tauheen, in order to kill her. All but killing himself in the process.

And this video…this was worse than being cornered. It felt more like being buried alive.

And if it felt that way to Ruban, how must Ashwin have felt watching it? Reliving those nightmarish days of his captivity at Reivaa’s castle. At the mercy of Janak Nath.

If Dhriti tried to use these videos to blackmail him, twist his arm with the threat of further humiliation… Ruban wasn’t sure he could keep Ashwin from dispatching her as he had Tauheen. He wasn’t sure he’d want to; the consequences be damned.

“Remember Nihar Joshi from CXN?” Simani asked, her eyes fixed on the road ahead. “He was one of the reporters grilling Ashwin, at that first press conference after the alliance was announced.”

“Of course. How could I forget?”

“Well, he’s temporarily taken over Viman’s show at CXN.” Simani’s voice grew strained. “And he’s suggesting—” she cut herself off, veering past a lumbering bus. “He’s suggesting that Ashwin was the one who leaked the video.”

“What?” Ruban said blankly, too baffled even to be angry. “Why would he do that?”

“To garner public sympathy, apparently,” Simani scoffed. “Win support for the alliance…by making himself (and Aeriels by extension) look like the helpless victim of the mafia and the cults.”

The thought of it made Ruban’s blood boil. Unsure how to reply, he pulled out his phone.

The video was eliciting all kinds of reactions from the public – ranging from sympathy and solidarity to disgust and outrage. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. This was part of Dhriti’s goal, after all. Besides humiliating Ashwin, she wanted to cause a further fracture in society. Drive a bigger wedge between those who supported the alliance and those who opposed it.

And Nihar Joshi wasn’t the only one suggesting Ashwin had leaked the footage of his own torture at the hands of Janak Nath and his Qawirsin. The theory had originated on the dark web forums where the video initially circulated.

If anything, Nihar Joshi had echoed some of their talking points almost verbatim on his show.

Of course, no one theory – no matter how salacious – garnered unanimous support on the internet. So there were naturally those who argued the opposite. That the video had been leaked by Ashwin’s enemies, in order to discredit him.

But you didn’t need a degree in public relations to figure out which of the two theories was more captivating, sensational.

More likely to stick in the mind of a neutral observer.

Which is what the majority always was, no matter the debate. Most people didn’t care one way or the other. So they’d go with the theory that better held their interest; that was more worth talking about.