To keep her place in the King's bed was even easier than Diane thought it would be. Viserys was happy she was just there and he got to fuck her every three days, and Diane just treated this whole thing like she would have treated a job. Gods know, she had done worse for money. And besides, it was the same schedule as she had when she visited the King for his treatment, just this time around she needed a bath after.

After Valyria, the court life felt somewhat slow or at the very least there were no life-threatening, life-or-death emergencies. Diane got to spend time with her family, watching Rhaenyra grow bigger and bigger by the day.

'I swear to the Gods, as soon as she found out how to use her legs, she decided I'm her personal punch bag,' the princess grumbled, rubbing the side of her stomach. She still felt mostly alright, definitely enduring her pregnancy way better than her mother used to, but it was getting harder to get around and she got tired way faster. The long walks definitely had to wait till this baby was out.

Diane smiled, looking over her book, 'You are so sure it's a "she"?'

'Well, I don't know. I just have a feeling, I guess. And if I'm right, I already have a name picked out,' Rhaenyra smiled.

'And what is it?'

'Visenya.'

'Nice. A good name for a future Queen,' Diane said nonchalantly, turning a page in her book.

Rhaenyra hummed, rubbing her stomach absently. The princess had to give Diane proper credit for bringing such an important issue so casually. She never really thought about it but she apparently had a decision to make. If her firstborn was a girl, would she be her heir or would she be passed on in favor of her younger brother?

Rhaenyra knew that having a son be her heir would probably improve her position in the eyes of more conservative houses but did she really want that? If they managed to change the Widow's Law, the law would be on her side anyway and her father had already set a precedent of naming a first-born girl heir despite having sons after. Should she screw over her own daughter to support her standing?

'Indeed it is,' Rhaenyra made a decision. It was easier than she thought it would be, actually. If they were changing the world anyway, what sense would it be to do it only halfway? They should go all in and see what happens. Fight the battles now so their children won't have to.

The corners of Diane's mouth tugged into a smile. 'You know, I thought that if I ever have a daughter, I'll call her Rhaena. To honor what she was and still is to me. But only if the name has not already been taken. No need to overcomplicate our already complicated family tree,' she added, making the princess chuckle. 'That was before I went to Valyria, of course, but well-'

'There are other ways to have children,' Rhaenyra offered. Diane had told her that she wasn't sad about being barren but the princess wanted to comfort her anyway in case Diane was unhappy about it and just did not want to admit it (to others or even to herself).

'Oh, I know. I have two sons and I have never even been pregnant,' Diane let out a laugh. 'But I don't know... we will see, I suppose. Sometimes the Gods have things in store for us that we can't even imagine.'

***

Diane opened the door and came face to face with her father who immediately pointed a finger at her and exclaimed, 'You!'

Diane blinked, 'Me?'

'You!' Daemon repeated, still pointing at her but not elaborating.

Diane looked at him for a few seconds in pure confusion and then asked, 'Aren't you supposed to be at the Small Council meeting?'

'You did something to him, didn't you?' Daemon asked, and he did not look angry or anything like that. After taking another look at her father, Diane realized that the best description was "very fucking confused".

'To who?'

'Otto bloody Hightower!'

Diane blinked, 'Not... not yet? Sorry, father, but I'm not sure I'm following.'

'Do you have to walk so fast, honestly?!' Rhaenyra's voice sounded, and she appeared in the doorway, breathless and supporting her belly with one hand. 'I was almost right behind you but then those fucking stairs...'

Daemon looked at his wife, 'I didn't know you were following me...'

'That's alright,' the princess patted him on the shoulder, trying to catch her breath. Men and their dramatics...

'I'm sorry but what is going on?' Diane asked, trying to circle back to the issue at hand. She felt like she missed a part of a very important conversation and she did not like the feeling.

'I need a drink,' Daemon stated, moving right past his daughter to go raid her secret stash of alcohol.

Diane followed her father with her eyes and then looked back at Rhaenyra. 'Remember the increase of brothel tax?' the princess asked, taking hold of Diane's upper arm for balance and still trying to catch her breath. Diane nodded. 'Daemon has asked for some of the funding to go to the golden cloaks.'

'Did he say what I told him to say?'

Rhaenyra smield, 'Yes, he did good. The new funding for golden cloaks was approved.'

'Well, that's great, isn't it?'

'Yes, it is. It's just-'

'Otto fucking agreed with me!' Daemon exclaimed from across the room, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. 'And then he downright argued with Beesbury on the behalf of my proposal,' the prince took a sip right out of the bottle. 'I thought I was having an aneurysm or something.'

Diane chuckled, 'Really?'

Rhaenyra closed the door with her free hand and said quietly to Diane, 'Otto looked like he was cutting his own limb off but his arguments were reasonable.'

Diane smiled at that, glancing at the bouquet of black roses that still stood in the middle of her table. They should have already wilted and withered but what good having Molfar ancestry would be if she couldn't manipulate laws of nature for her own comfort.

'You know, I think the same situation might be occurring right now in the Tower of the Hand,' Diane said, gesturing at Daemon who was drinking right out of her whiskey bottle.

'I wouldn't even be surprised,' Rhaenyra shook her head, smiling. 'Have you any idea why these two hate each other so much? I mean, I know they are dicks to each other on a daily basis and Otto tries to usurp my throne but what did truly start it?'

Diane shrugged, 'No clue. They probably looked at each other funny during the Great Council or something and then blew it the fuck out of proportion.'

The influence on Viserys was probably one of the reasons as well. The King was rather easy to manipulate but Daemon was not the manipulative type so Otto probably got there first and that made Otto an enemy in Daemon's eyes (justified, of course). But Diane still thought it was all just the consequences and the initial animosity appeared over something completely insignificant and both of them were just too stubborn to admit to that.

'It just might be the case,' Rhaenyra hummed. 'Men are ridiculous sometimes.'

Diane let out a laugh, 'Tell me about it.'

***

He lost his pin. Otto had no idea how or when this happened but in the evening he noticed that his pin was just... not there. It wasn't the end of the world, of course, not like his position as Hand of the King depended on it and he could easily order another one but it was just... the symbolism of losing it was not something Otto wanted to consider. He worked too hard and too long to get where he was right now and going back to Old Town with nothing was definitely not in his plans.

If anyone could make him lose his job, it would be Diane. She wasn't back that long but the King was surprisingly cheerful lately which only confirmed Otto's beliefs that Diane was his mistress. The rumors had been going around for a while and Diane definitely used Viserys' attraction to her for her gain but if she truly shared the King's bed, then it meant she had an influence on the King in a way Otto could never have. Not that he wished to, obviously, but it was still threatening to him and his position specifically. If Diane was good (and she was, of course, she was), she could turn Viserys against him. He could lose his position as the Hand (or even his head, Gods know Targaryens were blood-thirsty) and there wasn't much he could really do on that front. He still had Alicent who was Viserys' wife... but he was not about to try and explain to her how she should please her husband to counter Diane's influence at least in some way. It was a recipe for disaster.

So the only thing Otto had left to do was hope that Diane didn't actually want to kick him out of court. Don't get him wrong, he was not delusional enough to think that whatever was going on between them would stop Diane from destroying him (figuratively and maybe even literally) if she got the chance. But he also knew that Diane liked to be able to keep an eye on him and his scheming because it gave her a chance to put a spoke in his wheel almost immediately or do damage control.

And besides, as informed as Diane was, she had to understand that Otto was responsible for the Seven Kingdoms not falling apart. Because Viserys didn't do shit. He sat the throne sometimes and was present at Small Council meetings but that was pretty much it and this alone couldn't keep the Seven Kingdoms intact and all the potential rebellions at bay. So Otto picked up the slack. He did that for Jaehaerys I (even though this man had an excuse of being extremely old and half-senile) and he kept doing it for Viserys. Otto liked it that way because it gave him power and kept him informed but it was also a shit ton of work. He was always so busy because he was doing the work of the Hand and the King. And if he was removed, who would do that? Surely not the King who got too comfortable in not doing his part in the past decade. And what other man would step up as Hand and would do everything that was required to keep the Seven Kingdoms running, let alone discreetly and fast enough for it not to become a problem?

Diane could probably do it. Otto heard a lot about how she was running Dragonstone and how she turned the place around in only three years she was officially Lady of Dragonstone. And with all the schemes she was running... Diane could pull this off, he was pretty sure, but something told Otto it was not the position she wanted to be in. So he figured his position as the Hand of the King was more or less safe. At least for now. Who knows, the tables might turn at any moment.

But, to circle back to the issue at hand... where did his fucking pin go? It was definitely not in his chambers because he looked. He also asked a servant to keep the eye out but the chances of anyone finding it were very slim. After all, the castle was huge and he had been to a lot of places that day. And not like anything was out of the ordinary... or well...

He had witnessed one of the maesters running for his life while that terrifying Valyrian creature (Otto still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Diane called it Mike) was chasing him through the corridors. Wings definitely gave Mike a speed advantage. He debated whether or not he should be concerned when he saw Diane, standing to the side and laughing at this whole scene. So he approached her and they just stood next to each other, watching a poor maester run in circles from Mike who very obviously let him get away sometimes to keep the game going.

'Should we maybe intervene?' he asked after a short while.

Diane glanced at him with a wide smile, 'We?'

'You. I mean you.'

'No. This man had the audacity to call my pet ugly. Mike took it too close to heart,' Diane shrugged.

Otto could somewhat agree that it hadn't been a smart move on the maester's part. 'Are you sure risking the death of a maester is the right choice?'

'Oh, please. He'll be fine,' Diane turned to face Otto and suddenly the maester's well-being stopped being a concern of his. 'Mike is just playing with him. He'll get a few scratches at most. And besides,' she added with a smile, putting her hands on his chest. 'Do you really want to keep talking about him?'

'Not at all,' Otto immediately answered, his hands taking hold of Diane's shoulders. At that very moment, the maester could go and die for all he cared. 'I think we can find other things to discuss.'

'Oh, is that so?' Diane's smile widened and she leaned slightly closer.

Suddenly there was a rather loud yelp that was followed by the sound of someone falling down some stairs.

'On the other hand, I should go and check on them,' Diane decided, taking a step back.

'I'm pretty sure they are fine,' Otto immediately said, taking a step forward because he did not want to let go of her.

There was another wail. Diane raised an eyebrow. Otto sighed and let go of her shoulders. 'Go on then.'

'How considerate of you,' she said, then suddenly pecked him on the lips and was off before Otto was even able to process what had happened. He also thought about it for the rest of the day.

Alright, yes, so in hindsight he shouldn't even be surprised he lost his pin that day. It was a miracle he didn't lose anything else. But still...

Where the fuck did it go?

***

Aliyah looked up from the book she was reading when Diane walked in. 'How glad I am to see you, my dear. Is everything alright in King's Landing?'

'Yes, more or less. I gave a small order to the goldsmith, now waiting for her to be done,' Diane smiled, leaning on the woman's desk. 'How are you finding Dragonstone after so many years?'

'Strangely familiar if I am honest. It didn't change much and yet it changed quite a lot. And it definitely has more people than I expected.'

'Yeah. I suppose when we offered a safe haven for queer people, we didn't quite expect so many would actually want to take us up on that offer.'

According to Gerardys, the project of building new housing was going well and Diane even saw some of the new houses with her own eyes, but they were still a little bit behind on accommodating everyone. While Diane had been away in Valyria, they even had to temporarily open the East Wing of the castle for the newcomers because Dragontemple had been at its capacity, Though, to be fair, they managed to relocate most of them since then. But other than that, everything else was going more or less smoothly.

Dragons were behaving themselves, people were working, the new guards were trained and put to work, criminals were brought to justice and fed to Cannibal if needed. The rumor about Dragonstone being queer-friendly spread around crownlands and people started visiting Dragonstone to have "a fun time" without fear of being persecuted by the Faith of Seven which prompted Jamaya to almost triple the amount of her whores (girls, boys, and people who were marketed as a "secret third option"). There were also a few gambling rooms and a couple of new bars opened to keep the visitors drunk and spending money. The two inns on Dragonstone that had been half-empty almost at all times before were expanding to accommodate demand, and two others were about to open their doors in a month or two.

Duncan Hanh bought out four small ships from Driftmark and put them on the schedule so they would take visitors to and from King's Landing swiftly and discreetly. They also sometimes picked people up from Rook's Rest, Sharp Point, and Driftmark but only if they were scheduled in advance. Diane wasn't sure how exactly that system worked but it seemed to be working well and bringing in money so she just let Duncan handle it.

'But it is wonderful,' Aliyah smiled. 'Community is everything. Reminds me of the times in Molfar Ālion before the Doom,' she let out a sigh. 'These times are long gone.'

'But you said there are communities of Molfars around the world still...'

'Very few, yes, but- it's not the same, is it? I understand the need to preserve natural magic and one of the ways to do it is to continue our lineage,' Aliyah said. 'But it does not mean locking ourselves away from the world and just sitting on all of this knowledge. There is supposed to be a compromise between keeping our blood pure enough to still have magic and welcoming new blood to bring variety... as long as they are not Valyrians. No offense, dear.'

'No, I understand,' Diane shook her head. 'Too many powerful uncontrollable people who have an issue with authority is a recipe for disaster.'

'I wonder if it is the reason your mother never told you about your heritage.'

'To control me?'

'To shelter you,' Aliyah smiled a little. 'You lived your first life completely unaware of what you are truly capable of.'

'Yes but- thinking back, I wish I did know. To protect myself. To protect people I care about. Because now I'm thinking... all the times I felt utterly helpless... was I truly? Why didn't she tell me? Why didn't she tell my father?'

'Dear, you need to understand... people like you were considered a threat for centuries. If you were born in the Valyrian Freehold and it was proven that you are half-Molfar - because the fact that you have Valyrian blood is very obvious - you would have been killed. They would have made it as painless as possible but you would have never seen adulthood. Or lived past infancy, really. And from what I know, Molfars now hold the same beliefs. Sure, it varies, but- your mother might have been afraid if she said it out loud, if she admitted to who she was, it would put you in danger.'

'I figured you do not hold the same belief then. About me being a threat and an abomination?'

'I believe that there is always a place for exception. That there are times when people like you are needed to turn history around. And you were chosen by the Gods, Diane, it's not up to me to judge your worthiness.'

Diane nodded, kept quiet for a few seconds, and then asked, 'Have you given some thought to my offer?'

'Of course, I did, dear. To bring magic to Dragonstone would be an honor but I'm afraid it is not something I can do single-handedly. I mean-' Aliyah got up and walked around the table. 'As people say, one warrior in the field doesn't make much of a difference. Safety is always in numbers. I will help where I can but anything I do will heavily depend on me being there and actively doing it. As soon as I go or even get distracted...'

'The magic will stop working,' Diane finished.

'Yes. Dragonstone has the potential of absorbing magic into its core but it will take time...'

'And more Molfars. Right?'

'Yes.'

'It always comes to the lack of people, doesn't it?' Diane sighed. 'When I started, I thought my biggest problem would be the lack of resources... or money... but it's always people.'

'The importance of good, hard-working hands is always underestimated,' Aliyah smiled, putting a hand on Diane's shoulder. 'There is supposed to be at least one Molfar community in Westeros... the one that your mother came from. Maybe more. I'll do my research and we can start from there.'

'Thank you, Aliyah,' Diane smiled a little, squeezing the woman's hand. 'Your help truly means a lot.'

'We are family, dear. That's what family does.'