Random Aru Shah Stuff

You'll Be The Death Of Me

This is just Aiden's point of view of a few of the Aruden scenes in Nidra's realm. It has the prophecy scene, but also the scene from earlier. 

Aiden Acharya had always been haunted by the idea of love.

From his understanding, it could hurt people. It could break their hearts. Just like what it did to his mother, Malini, when his father betrayed her.

But he'd come to learn that he couldn't live without it.

The events that had happened in the last twenty-four hours swarmed in Aiden's mind: Seeing his grandmother and her grief, performing in the band that he had wanted to ignore forever, and his song...

The Potatoes scanned the halls of Nidra's realm. Aiden didn't know why a sudden unsettling feeling had settled inside him, as if something horrible was about to happen.

A few feet away from him, Aru Shah trailed along the hallway. Aiden's stomach twisted with the reminder that he needed to talk to her, tell her about his feelings. Even now, the words of the prophecy hung in the air, haunting him like a ghost.

The girl you love will be the death of you.

Aiden glanced around the room cautiously, looking for anything unusual or out of place. But everything seemed fine, which told him that this moment was precious. It wasn't very of- ten that everything was fine when you're on a quest to kick some demon butt. Which meant that this was the perfect time to talk to Aru, and moments like these might not come again.

He fell into step with her, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Aru's head snapped up immediately. Aiden could see the different emotions her milk chocolate eyes held, and the only positive one was a tinge of curiosity. The rest was fury and grief and hurt. Her anger seemed like a flame, active and about to increase with one wrong movement. Aiden tried not to let that bother him. Her bold gold costume glimmered with every step. In Aiden's opinion, yellow looked best on Aru. This could actually be annoying, because he noticed that every time she wore that color, he blurted things he didn't want to say. Like the time Aru had tried Nikita's enchanted pants on their quest to find the Tree of Wishes, or the encounter they had before the wedding when Aru was in a golden lehenga.

Or now.

Aiden tried to ignore those thoughts—as well as the list of things that could go wrong that his annoying brain was making—and instead let his fear for the prophecy fuel him.

"Hey, do you have a second?"

"For what?" asked Aru, lifting an eyebrow. "Clearly Brynne, Mini, and I are in the middle of apocalypse-thwarting. I don't want to risk getting distracted."

Just then, Brynne and Mini started an argument about poached eggs.

"Undercooked eggs carry a risk of salmonella!" protested Mini.

"Poached eggs are rich and luxurious, and I won't hear them slandered!" shot back Brynne.

"Yeah..." said Aiden. "I can see that."

Aru scowled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brynne give him a thumbs-up, and Aiden realized the sudden conversation change hadn't been unintentional.

Aru picked up her pace, abandoning Aiden.

Aiden felt some of his courage deflate, but his determination boosted him up again. "Shah, wait up," he called, catching up to her. He touched her elbow and uttered one word.

"Please."

Aru made a face, but she paused until the others passed. Then she spun toward him, her voice sharp. "What?"