Chapter 160

Chapter 160
Isla
It takes a lot of vampires and force to subdue Idun.
A lot.
Many more than I thought it would. Aeron, Michael, Samuel and even Einar have to hold her down, while Hakon binds her in silver. All the while, Idun thrashes, screams, demands, commands, kicks, hisses, and bites.
The other ancients have to step in to help. The ones who stood by her side when we entered throne room quickly switch their allegiance, and those who don't help simply stand to the side and watch the spectacle.
Nicolette giggles and every so often she bumps me or her newest bride. A pretty young girl who looks estatic to be here. She seems nice, but judging by the way Nicolette is ignoring her she won't be with us long.
Everyone warned me never to get too attached to Nicolette's brides or her children. I can see why now.
Even if Aeron does let her go now, Idun won't be able to rule again. She has lost everyone's respect. Despite being older than almost every vampire, she can't fight back. She can't even command her own children anymore.
It takes vast amounts of silver to finally detain Idun. She's wrapped from shoulder to ankle, and her skin is softly sizzling, steam rising from her like grilling meat.
My mouth starts watering. She smells good. Like roast pork.
Aeron bumps me with his shoulder, a frown between his eyes but a smile on his lips. "Isla," he says with fake disapproval. "Mind your imagination."
I take it as an invitation, not a warning. I cast an image into Idun's mind, of her hogtied to a long stake, belly down, apple in her mouth, slowly rotating over an open fire like a pig.
In the real world, her eyes go wide and she screams.
I scared her. I managed to scare a vampire who is thousands of years old. I would be jubilant if I weren't so fucking surprised.
"You can't do this!" Idun screams. "That is against the law. I claimed this kingdom. The lords accepted me as their new queen."
"Yes," Aeron says. He has no idea what I showed her, but he takes my side without even thinking about it. "Then I claimed it back. You broke another law, Mother. As I understand it, you killed a whole garrison of young vampires who were guarding the gates, and you threw my brother in the dungeon even after he was named the new king."
She tries to speak in her own defence again, but Nicolette bounces over and places a ball gag in her mouth. The gag is wrapped in leather, but I can see the silver peaking out through the stitching.
Idun looks like a silver buritto by the time they're done with her. Einar tries to take her, but Aeron shoves him out of the way. "I am the king of the South, I rule the East and soon the North will be mine as well. Idun is my responsibility now. I do not trust that you will keep her under control, Einar."
He used his father's first name. I've never heard him use his father's name.
And judging by the look on the others' faces this is a big deal.
Aeron smirks at Idun who is staring at him in terror, and to my big surprise, Einar bows his head. "Your majesty."
And I am simply burning to ask someone, anyone, what the fuck is going on.
"Samuel," Aeron says in a soft, but chilling voice, "go to the dungeon and release your brother. Tell him to come to the throne room immediately and to take comman. He will be my vassal as Valeria is my vassal."
Samuel gives a crisp little bow, and Aeron doesn't tell him to stop. "At once, your highness."
"Queen Isla and I will take my mother to the howling pits, where she will serve a sentence of one hundred years. In that time, my father will serve as advisor to the new king of the North, Zael Stoneheart."
I can feel it. There's a shift in the air, mostly around Aeron, who just walked in here and did what his mother did. He took a kingdom. Did he not break the law in the same way Idun did?
Do they just make this shit up as they go along?
Aeron throws his mother over his shoulder and gives me a meaningful look. I will have to keep up as we leave the castle - he doesn't have to tell me for me to know that. I cannot, under any circumstances, make him look weak. Even though I'm just a baby compared to all of them, I am basically a goddess, and to them a goddess is infallible.
I'm not that. I am full of flaws, and one of them is that I can't keep up with Aeron even on my best days.
It's for this reason, I'm sure, Aeron strolls out of the throne room like he's on his way to the beach, his head swiveling from left to right as he goes, his body language screaming at someone, anyone, to challenge him.
Hakon, Michael, and Nicolette fall in behind us, and behind them are the brides they brought with them. Sara is here, for which I am happy. I like her, and I'm not afraid to ask her questions. She never makes me feel like a fool, and despite the fact that I'm powerful, I still know almost nothing about the basic functions of being a vampire, or our laws. Something the others have apparently forgotten.
As soon as we're outside, we kick off, soaring into the air. I've gotten much better at flying, but I'm acutely aware that everyone, even Sara, has to slow down so I can keep up with them.
"Idun doesn't know the law," I tell Aeron. "No one taught her the new laws. She was stone when you made them, wasn't she?"
"She knew the laws," Aeron says, offering no further explanation.
"How could she have? She was stone."
Aeron gives me a passing glance. "The laws she broke are older than the curse. She knew the law."
"Oh. But I don't. I don't understand. Valeria also tried to take a kingdom... you didn't punish her-"
"I am not punishing Idun for taking the North. I'm not even punishing her for killing the garrison. She invaded, she won."
"Then what are you doing?"
"That was his excuse," Nicolette says. "To get rid of her. Murdering the garrison, throwing Zael in the dungeon, it was the only legal way he could throw his own mother in the pits."
"We could have killed her," Hakon says. "She did infect our castle with Sorrowshade
"The lords would not have liked that. No one likes a vampire who kills their own maker," Aeron offers up. "No. The only option is the pits, although... death would have been kinder."