'Alright, are you ready?' Daemon asked expectantly.

Rhaenyra and Diane - who were sitting on the sofa - glanced at each other and then simultaneously nodded. Daemon grinned and pulled the blanket off. 'Lo and behold months of my work and the reason why I have two bandaged fingers,' he said, pointing at the cot with both of his hands.

It was made of dark wood and was carefully engraved with protective signs and prayers in High Valyrian (Daemon consulted mandia Abby on that matter to make sure the baby would get the best protection possible). It looked beautiful and even though it wasn't technically perfect, it was perfect for Rhaenyra.

'Why- why are you crying?' Daemon asked worryingly because his wife bursting into tears was not a reaction he was expecting. 'You don't like it?'

Diane smiled knowingly, stroking Rhaenyra's back in a calming motion, 'Don't worry, father. I think it's the opposite, actually.'

'I really, really like it,' Rhaenyra sobbed, wiping away her tears. She did not mean to cry, she didn't even really want to, it just somehow... happened. 'It's your fault,' she pointed at Daemon. 'For being so sweet, and so excited, and so caring, how dare you.'

'Totally agree, everything is my fault and I apologize,' Daemon said because he knew that mood. Rhaenyra would probably be embarrassed about it as soon as she calmed down but right now she wouldn't be possible to reason with. So Daemon took all the blame she needed him to take. After all, Rhaenyra was growing a whole new person inside of her so her being irrational and overly emotional from time to time was something he could get behind. 'Come here, my little dragon,' Daemon approached his wife. Diane got up and he took her place on the sofa so Rhaenyra could hug him if she wanted to. She did. 'I love you so much,' he added, stroking her shoulder.

Rhaenyra sniffed and said, 'I love you too.'

'That's a really good cot,' Diane said, looking it over from all the angles. 'Great job, father.'

'Thank you,' Daemon answered. 'It's definitely an upgrade from where you slept as a baby.'

Diane raised an eyebrow, prompting Daemon to elaborate. The prince sighed, 'You slept in a drawer.'

'In a what?' came a simultaneous question from Diane and Rhaenyra. The princess even sat up straighter, wiping her tears away.

'So like... Iris' room had this dresser with three drawers and we made one of them into a makeshift bed for Diane. Don't look at me like that, she liked it,' Daemon said at the look on Rhaenyra's face.

'Why would you put her in a drawer?' the princess asked genuinely.

'There was no room for the cot and we didn't have a lot of money either,' Daemon answered. 'I wasn't yet eight and ten, my allowance wasn't precisely huge...'

'Oh,' Rhaenyra made a sound. She sometimes forgot that not only Diane wasn't raised as a noble but also Daemon had a period in his life when he lived more or less like a commoner.

'It got us by, don't get me wrong, we weren't poor. But we struggled sometimes. So we had to make do,' Daemon looked at his daughter.

'I'm pretty sure I was fine,' Diane said with a small smile.

'I want it stated for the record that in a few months, we moved places and you got a proper bed.'

Diane's face turned thoughtful and then she asked, 'Did it have like... a bunch of colorful birds painted on it?'

'Yes. Yes, your mother painted them. She wanted that bed to feel like your own... and you used to like birds,' the prince said.

'It's nice to know. I don't really have a lot of memories of mum,' Diane said, her smile looking bittersweet. 'Haisa says I'm a lot like her.'

Daemon smiled, 'In the best possible ways.'

***

Diane walked out of her room and as soon as she turned the corner, she came face to face with Otto. 'Good morning, Lady Diane,' he said nonchalantly as if him being in this part of Red Keep at this time of day was a totally normal thing.

Diane raised an eyebrow, 'Good morning to you too, Lord Hand.'

'May I inquire where you are headed?'

Diane smiled, 'I promise, nothing nefarious. Just to visit the boys.'

'Then I guess you won't mind if I accompany you.'

'To visit the children?' Diane asked just to be sure.

'To visit the children,' Otto confirmed. 'I am their grandfather, after all.'

'Do they know about it?'

Otto rolled his eyes, 'Why do you have to be so difficult at all times?'

'Because apparently that's something you are into,' Diane's smile turned wicked.

Otto looked at her for a few seconds and then sighed. She wasn't wrong, after all. But he didn't want to admit to that out loud so he offered Diane his elbow instead, 'Shall we?'

Otto knew it was a bad idea. He knew that even before Diane looped her arm around his elbow. If they were seen - and they would definitely be seen at least by someone - the questions would arise. And if it got back to the King... it might make his life three times more difficult. Viserys wouldn't be able to call him out because a man like him would never admit to having a mistress, but he would still be pissed at him.

Why did Otto offer it then? Well, it was rather simple. He wanted her to touch him and it sounded like a good enough excuse. Plus he would definitely enjoy having Diane on his arm, even if for a little while. And if there were any negative consequences, he would deal with them later.

'Did you hear about the nasty cold spreading around King's Landing?' Diane suddenly asked, pulling Otto out of his thoughts.

'I did, yes. But from what I understand it's mostly located in Flea Bottom.'

'Is the crown going to do something about it?'

'Like what?'

'At the very least, provide medicine. The cheapest cough syrup and a half-decent remedy from fever will do.'

'Why would we do that? A cold goes around every few years, it will pass eventually.'

'Well, yes. But by then a lot of people might die.'

'You are being unnecessarily overdramatic. Four years ago the same cold was going around and it barely had an impact.'

'Yes, but it was mostly located at Market Square,' Diane said, and Otto looked at her in surprise. 'What? I did my research. The point is that right now it's going around Flea Bottom. Do you see how this is different?'

'Not really.'

'One whore may see up to twenty men in one day and-'

'That much?' Otto couldn't help but ask.

Diane smirked, 'Some men enjoy sharing whores with their friends so they buy her time together and it's like a package deal... but that's not the point I'm making. The point is that if she gets a cold and still has to work, she will pass it on to all these men. And there are lots of whores in Flea Bottom who see men from all around the city,' Diane made a pause to make sure Otto was following her logic.

'You mean it might spread faster from there than it did from the Market Square?' Otto asked.

'It not might, it will. Because when you get naked and sweaty, and exchange saliva, and another person is ill, you will most likely get ill too,' Diane said and then added, 'I don't suppose people did that a lot at Market Square.'

'Alright, you do have a point,' Otto agreed. 'But what we do not have is money to spare.'

'Since when does the crown have money problems?' Diane asked.

Otto pursed his lips. A small part of him was a little bit offended but the tone of Diane's voice told him that she was asking genuinely. So he answered, 'We don't. But Princess Rhaenyra's child will be born soon and, knowing the King, he would want to have some sort of big celebration. Lord Beesbury and I have to account for that.'

'So... some turney is more important than the lives of people?'

'Diane, that's not my decision.'

'No, I know,' she patted his hand. 'I'm just thinking out loud.'

Otto hesitated for a few seconds and then asked, 'Can you perhaps... use your influence to persuade the King?'

After all, Otto also didn't want a full-blown epidemic on his hands. Gods knew a lot of guards and male servants visited Flea Bottom quite frequently and he didn't want them bringing this cold into the Red Keep.

Diane glanced at him and sighed, 'I'm afraid even I can't make the King choose the lives of small folk over celebrating the birth of his first grandchild.'

Otto figured as much. Maybe it was a good thing? If she managed to change the King's mind, he would know exactly how she did that and that was not a mental image he wanted to have. The sheer knowledge that Diane shared Viserys' bed made Otto irrationally angry on a good day. He knew why she did that, he just... Viserys did not deserve it, alright? He did nothing to earn her affections except for conveniently being in the position of power which he also did not earn with anything except being a man.

'But if I mayhaps find another way to make it happen,' Diane continued, 'will I be able to rely on your support?'

'In what way?'

'Well, that will depend. Not putting a spoke in my wheel might be a good start,' Diane smiled at him, knowing full well that he was weak for that smile.

'I think I can manage that,' Otto answered. After all, it wasn't that hard to do nothing.

They approached the children's rooms - surprisingly not running into anyone on their way there - and Diane let go of his arm, entering the room first. There was an excited "Mommy!" that probably came from Aegon, and Otto smiled despite himself before following Diane into the room.

'No, mommy, don't look yet. It's a surprise,' Aegon asked, covering his drawing with his little hands. He was sitting at a desk with a bunch of paper and crayons around him while Aemond was building towers from wooden blocks on the carpet with Frella.

'Don't worry, sweet boy,' Diane came closer and kissed the top of his head. 'I swear I'm not looking.'

She then proceeded to go to Aemond, lowering herself on the carpet near him. 'How are the boys behaving themselves?' she asked Frella, kissing Aemond on top of his head as well.

'Sweet as honey, my lady. The most well-behaved children I ever had the honor to raise,' the nursemaid smiled.

'And how is your hand?' Diane inquired and Otto, who was observing from the doorway, noticed that the nursemaid's right hand was bandaged.

'It's doing better but Haisa says it still will be some time before she can remove the stitches.'

'The Valyrian steel cuts clean so there wouldn't be too much of a scar, I don't think.'

'I am not worried about that, my lady. There is always a risk of getting hurt when you are looking after young children.'

'I figured Aegon learned his lesson of not sneaking his dagger out of its holder without an adult present?'

'He did. Moreover, he keeps apologizing to me for it. I say that I've already forgiven him every time but I think he truly feels bad and won't break this rule again.'

'Well, that's good that he understands now why the rules might be important but I wish it wasn't at your expense,' Diane smiled a little and squeezed Frella's shoulder.

'Mama!' Aemond exclaimed, and Diane looked down to see what was going on. He handed her his toy Caraxes and made a sound that might have been roaring but didn't sound quite like that while waving with his hands.

'What is he saying?' Otto's voice sounded, and Diane realized that he had left his spot at the door and came closer to them.

She smiled and explained, 'He wants me to do this.'

She then positioned the toy in her hands in a way that allowed the toy dragon to face the brick tower and with a rather confident "Dracarys!" smashed the tower with the toy. Aemond giggled in pure delight and started building the tower back up so Diane could do that again.

As a rule, Otto didn't think about children much, even when his own kids were at that age. It was just always... uninteresting to him. You couldn't hold a conversation with a toddler and your ability to reason with them was mostly very limited. Plus the children cried a lot and it stressed him out.

But when he watched Diane interact with her children - and they were her children, Otto couldn't deny that even if he wanted to - he realized he found the scene somewhat... endearing. Mostly because Diane was in it, of course, but maybe he also understood just a little bit what she felt when she looked at her boys.

'You are mommy's friend?' the voice sounded, and Otto looked down to see Aegon tugging at his sleeve.

Oh, well...

'Yes, I am,' Otto answered. He knew he should have told Aegon that he was his grandfather but for some reason, he didn't precisely want to do that.

'What's your name?'

'You can call me Otto.'

'Alright. I'm Aegon. I like your pin, Otto,' Aegon pointed with his hand.

'Thank you. It means I am the Hand of the King.'

'Oh,' Aegon's face turned thoughtful. 'Does this mean you are important?'

Otto chuckled despite himself, 'I want to think so.'

Aegon lightened up like a little dragonfire, 'Amazing! Then you can help!' he exclaimed, grabbing Otto's hand and tugging him after himself. Otto raised an eyebrow but went willingly.

When Diane looked up from where she was playing with Aemond - it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, really - she saw Otto and Aegon at the table. Otto was telling the boy something, and Aegon seemed to listen very attentively, adding something to his drawing here and there. The boy was definitely having a great time. But the most interesting thing was that she could say Otto was having a good time as well. These two were really engrossed in whatever they were doing.

'You know, it's the first time I see Lord Hand interacting with any of the children,' Frella said, making Diane look at her. 'He comes around sometimes but he usually just watches them play from a distance.'

Diane hummed, looking at the table again. Otto looked up from the paper on which Aegon was very actively drawing something and caught Diane watching him. The corners of his lips tugged into a small smile before he focused all of his attention back on the boy.

'I think it's best if no one knows his behavior has changed,' Diane said, looking at Frella.

'I do not know what you are talking about. Lord Hand was never here.'

Diane smiled at that. It was good to know that at any given time Frella's loyalties to her were stronger than to the Queen. She might be hired to look after young princes by the crown but she knew who truly wished the best for the boys.

'Do you think it's alright?' Aegon whispered to Otto but he was just loud enough for everyone to hear.

'I think it's the best you can do,' Otto answered. Aegon narrowed his eyes at him, not sure how he should take that comment. Otto chuckled, 'Go show your mother.'

Aegon brightened up at that, jumping from the chair and running to Diane. 'Look what I did!' he stated proudly, showing her a paper.

'Let's sit on the couch and you will tell me all about it,' Diane smiled, getting up and taking Aemond with her, because the boy snuggled to her a while ago and now refused to let go. 'Alright, so I see a table,' Diane said as soon as they got comfortable on the couch, holding a drawing with her free hand. Aegon nodded eagerly. She noticed the small circles on the table that might or might not have been plates. 'Is it a dinner?'

'No, it's a meeting! That important one with the King. See!' Aegon pointed at the vague shape of a person who was sitting at the table and had something akin to a crown on top of his head. 'And there's Nyra,' he pointed at a figure with long hair. 'And that's grandpa,' the boy then pointed to a figure who had a sword as tall as him. 'And Otto helped me with the others,' Aegon smiled.

'You drew the Small Council meeting?' Diane asked with a chuckle.

'Yes!' the boy exclaimed. 'Nyra told me it's an important meeting she has to go to. Even with a baby in her belly!'

Diane smiled and pointed at the figure of a second woman in the picture who sat near the figure that probably represented Otto himself. 'And who is this?' she asked because as of right now only one woman was on the Small Council and it was Rhaenyra.

'That's you, mommy!'

'Oh? But I don't have a seat at the table, love.'

'I know. But Otto said you are meddling so much you might as well be there so I drew you too!' Aegon exclaimed with a wide smile.

Diane slowly raised her gaze to look at Otto who pursed his lips into a thin line, trying not to smile and failing miserably at that. She rolled her eyes with a snort and looked back at Aegon. 'It's a beautiful drawing.'

'Do you like it?' the boy asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.

'Very much, love.'

'But... um... is it alright if I give it to Otto?' Aegon suddenly asked.

'I don't see why not,' Diane answered, looking just a tad surprised. 'May I ask why?'

'He is my new friend. And he helped a lot! It will be fair,' Aegon stated seriously.

Diane smiled, 'Alright, go on then.'

The boy nodded, walked back to Otto who still sat at the table, and handed him the drawing solemnly. The man took it somewhat hesitantly. 'You should come more often,' Aegon said. 'Mommy sometimes- oh! Mommy, can you tell us again about how you and grandpa fought the bad guys?' the boy ran back to Diane, getting distracted by his own idea and forgetting whatever he wanted to say to Otto.

Otto looked at the drawing in his hands and suddenly realized that he had never been given a child drawing before. Surely his children drew something when they were little but he never saw any of it. And now Aegon, who knew him all of ten minutes, decided that he was worthy of such a present. Of course, the art was of questionable quality but it was the sentiment behind it that was important.

Otto didn't know how to feel about it.

***

Alicent had just come back from the sept and was walking out of the carriage when she saw her brother standing in the courtyard. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was talking to Diane's servant. The boy had this terrifying Valyrian creature on his shoulder and, after she came closer, she realized that Gwayne was feeding it something.

'So what about today?' Gwayne asked. 'I heard there is a street play planned for today.'

'Sorry, I can't. Today is... well, a bath day so Diane will need my help.'

Gwayne nodded, 'What about tomorrow? I'm not sure about a street play but a night in the city shall be fun anyway.'

The boy smiled, 'Alright. I'll need to ask Diane first but I think she will be fine with me leaving for the night.'

Gwayne's lips tugged into a rather happy smile. Then he gave Mike another piece of meat and commented, 'Every time I do this, I think he is going to bite my fingers off.'

'He is really quite harmless.'

'That maester with a dislocated shoulder and scratches on his face will probably disagree.'

'Well... he was mean to Mike, and Mike doesn't tolerate insults. But you are nice so you should be fine.'

'I can be way more than nice,' Gwayne answered, and Alicent didn't like his tone for some reason.

Athelstan's face turned just a little bit red. 'Surely not right here...'

'Of course, not. Come with me.'

Gwayne then proceeded to grab the boy's hand and tug him in the direction of one of the staircases. A small voice in Alicent's head warned her that it was a bad idea but her brother was acting weird and being way too friendly with Diane's servant so she had to find out what was going on. It was bad enough when Gwayne was associating himself with Daemon's bastard and now a low-born servant boy! What was he thinking?!

It took her a few minutes but she followed them into one of the smaller corridors that were mostly used by servants. Alicent stopped in her tracks when she saw Gwayne push the boy into one of the walls, and Athelstan laughed, taking Mike off his shoulder. The spider-raven got the hint and flew to the closest windowsill to give the two some privacy.

Alicent barely contained her gasp when she saw Gwayne smile and then kiss Athelstan rather demandingly, his arms pushing the boy's body even closer to his.

Surely it was not happening. No, no, her brother wouldn't kiss a man. Or would he? It was a sin! How could he do that? Why would he do that? It didn't make any sense! Her brother wasn't like that.

Gwayne prompted Athelstan to hook one of his legs onto his hip, pushing the boy even further into the wall and grinding against him. One of Athelstan's hands ended up in Gwayne's hair, making an absolute mess out of it. When Gwayne broke the kiss, moving onto Athelstan's neck, the boy made a sound that should be a literal definition of sin.

Alicent felt frozen in place, her brain struggling to process what was happening. What were they even doing? Whatever their lustful intentions were, they were both men! Not like they could have sex!

She stopped being so sure about that though when Gwayne's hands found Athelstan's pants and tugged them down. And then her brother dropped to his knees...

Alicent turned around and basically ran away from that corridor before she could see anything else.

***

Otto was sitting at his desk, looking at the drawing Aegon had made, when the doors to his rooms opened. Before he was even able to see who it was, he threw the drawing into one of the drawers and slammed it shut.

Alicent walked in and went to sit on the closest empty chair without saying anything. Otto looked at her for a few seconds and when she didn't say anything but kept looking troubled, he asked, 'What's the matter, Your Grace?'

'I... saw something,' she said hesitantly.

'Well, I should hope so, you have two working eyes.'

Alicent gave him a dirty look but Otto stayed unfazed, patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for her to continue. The Queen took a deep breath and said, 'It's about Gwayne.'

'What about him?'

'He sinned.'

Otto just looked at her, then sighed and said, 'I'm pretty sure it's not as bad as you think it is.'

'No, father. It's bad, really bad.'

Generally, a very small amount of things fell into a "really bad" category for Otto, and he doubted Gwayne went and ate human flesh or married his crazy bloodthirsty uncle. So he said, 'Alicent, you and I both know that your brother is not as devoted to the Faith as you are, and I believe we can forgive him some indiscr-'

'I saw him kissing a man!' Alicent exclaimed, going slightly red in the face. She didn't want to say it out loud but she was fed up with the fact that her father was not taking her seriously.

Now, as far as Otto's observations went, he suspected that his son might be interested in men and women in equal measure so even though it was news to him, it wasn't completely unexpected. Alicent obviously wanted him to be angry but Otto felt like... nothing, really. He kind of didn't give a fuck with whom Gwayne shared his bed as long as it was not Diane.

'What man?' Otto asked just to be in the know. It would only be fair, considering that Gwayne knew who Otto was seeing (or trying to anyway).

'This... this boy! Diane's servant!'

'Oh,' Otto made a surprised sound. 'I did not see that coming,' he said, got up from his chair, then stopped, processed what he just said, and added, 'Pun not intended.'

Judging by the look on Alicent's face, she did not get the joke. Otto couldn't help but think that if Diane had been here, she would have laughed.

'I always knew there was something wrong with this boy, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to be her personal servant-' Alicent continued.

'The boy is fine, Alicent,' Otto interjected, going to get himself a glass of... something with alcohol in it. 'I don't think this issue is any of your concern, really,' he added. He truly thought so. Plus he didn't think it was wise to insult a person who carried Mike on his shoulder half of the time.

'It is my concern!' she got up. 'This sinner is corrupting my brother-'

'Alicent, Athelstan is seven and ten. If anyone corrupted anyone, it was the other way around,' Otto interrupted her again.

He did not want to be part of this conversation and even more so he did not want to explain to Alicent that queer people had a right to exist, despite what the Faith was saying. Diane had a whole fucking island of them, and to Otto's knowledge, they were doing great. More than great, really. At such a rate the next time the crown would need a loan, Otto would have to go straight to Diane about it. On the other hand, he wouldn't have to deal with Lannisters... suddenly Otto wanted Dragonstone to become richer faster.

'How could you say that?!' Alicent exclaimed. 'He is your son! You should- you should do something about it!'

'What will you have me do? He is a grown man and if he wants to share his bed with another man, the best I can do is don't do anything,' Otto said. He truly did not care about it, even more so considering he didn't have a marriage arranged for Gwayne because his son was as stubborn as a mule and it would have blown up in his face if he tried to intervene into Gwayne's love life. Their relationship was rocky as it was and now that they found somewhat of a common ground, he definitely wouldn't be the one to rock this particular boat.

'B-but if he keeps sinning, he will end up in seven hells!' Alicent said and she did look truly worried about her brother.

Otto sighed. He knew his daughter was religious, he just never really understood how much, apparently. In hindsight, he should have guessed it would happen. His late wife was deeply religious which was the root of most of their disagreements because Otto just... he was raised in Old Town, he knew the Faith of Seven better than most, he just didn't buy into what the septons were selling. He never denied the existence of the higher power but not in a way the Faith went about it. Alyrie, on the other hand, did not tolerate even the smallest criticism of the Faith and apparently raised Alicent to be the same way. And now it was his headache for some reason.

'He is a good man and I do not believe his preferences require him to be tortured forever. Do you?' Otto asked.

Alicent looked lost for a few seconds but then said, 'Of course, not! But the Faith says-'

'The Faith is just people, Alicent. And people can be wrong. So unless God in any of their faces appears to you personally and makes a definitive statement, I do not wish to discuss the fate of my son's immortal soul any longer,' Otto took a sip of his drink. 'Am I being clear?'

Alicent pursed her lips, and Otto knew she was disappointed in him. It was a good thing he did not care.

'Extremely,' the Queen spat before turning on her heels and leaving the room.

Otto took another sip of his drink and wondered whether Alicent would go and try to make Gwayne repent for his sins or would do a sensible thing and leave it alone.