Up For The Test (Aru Shah AU)

Chapter Eleven

AN: Thank you so much for two thousand reads on this book! That is incredible. Also, this is the first (and possibly last) chapter that will be in anything other than third person. 

3rd Person

Aru's eyes slowly opened. Her head was throbbing. She looked around and found herself in a bedroom that wasn't familiar to her.

She stood up from the bed that she had been passed out on. Her legs felt like jelly beneath her, and the room spun. Aru closed her eyes and opened them a few seconds later to find the room still again.

She walked over to the door and tried using all of her strength to try to open it. "Let me out of here!" she yelled, banging on the door.

Aru heard the door slowly unlock, and her father walked in. "I'm happy to see you've finally woken up," he smiled.

"I would rather die than be with you," Aru snarked.

"Be happy, little one. My beautiful kingdom has been curious about your pending arrival. Now they won't have to be, seeing as you are here now. You will have authority over the town subjects. Byburn's people would've dismissed you as if you were an imposter."

"If you're trying to get any information, it's not happening."

"Oh, Arundhati. Can't you see that I'm on your side? I'm only here to help you. When the time is right, we can declare war upon pesky Byburn, and I can make you into a perfect soldier."

"I don't want to fight anyone. It's not in my nature. I want to live my life as normal as possible. I want to go home to Byburn!"

"This is your new home, darling. Take a look outside. Tell me that you wouldn't love it here."

Aru walked over to her window. Everything seemed dark and gloomy. The sky gave Aru the chills. Aru didn't want to take in any more detail. She wasn't going to stay there longer than need be.

She turned around. "I won't nor will I ever love it here. I love Byburn. I care about the well-being of people, not whether I have authority over them."

"It's in your blood to rule a country, Aru. It's in your heritage to-"

"No, no it's not! What's in my blood is to give up and leave my family when it gets hard. You don't know me, so you don't get to say what's in my blood!" Aru snapped.

Suyodhana glared at Aru, looking down at her. "You will not speak to your father like that."

"You were hardly a father! And consider this," Aru started, taking off her father's old watch and throwing it to the ground. "the last thing you will have ever given me," she finished, bringing her foot down onto the glass and gears in one swift movement.

"You know, I was going to let you visit your mother, but I think you can wait a while."

"What?"

"You didn't know that I had your mom?" he laughed. "Wow, kids are stupid these days."

"I am not a kid! You would know this if you ever paid attention to the fact that I am now fifteen!"

"You will always be a child to me, Arundhati," Suyodhana said, turning around and leaving.

-Back at the castle. A little after someone realized Aru had been missing-

Aiden's POV

"Aru's been gone for what, an hour now?" Rudy asked, looking at his watch.