When the doors opened and the guards announced her presence, Diane smiled and walked into the Small Council meeting. She was wearing one of her best day-to-day dresses and her hair was carefully braided to frame her face. All in all, she looked like a woman who was about to get her plan approved by the Small Council.

'Your Grace,' Diane curtseyed a little as she approached the table.

The first thing Viserys did was check out the cleavage in her dress. The first thing Otto did was raise an eyebrow and subtly look her up and down with the corners of his lips tugging slightly upward.

Daemon not-so-subtly sighed.

'May we, perhaps, get her a chair? It's not fair to make Lady Diane stand while we all are sitting,' Rhaenyra said.

'An excellent suggestion,' Viserys nodded, and a few guards immediately scrambled to get it.

Due to how the seats were assigned at the table, the only empty place was on the right side of the King. Right near Otto. Diane smiled at that, lowering herself on the chair with a graceful motion and knowing full well that Otto's eyes were following her every movement.

'No, what is it that you wished to discuss, Rhaenyra?' Viserys turned to her.

'It has come to my attention that there is a cold spreading amongst the small folk in King's Landing right now, especially in Flea Bottom. And I believe the crown should lend a helping hand to its people. I propose we provide them with some basic medicine to keep it from spreading any further than it already has,' the princess said.

'There is no need to spend money on such things, I believe,' Mellos interjected. 'It is just a cold that goes around every few years and the crown has never concerned itself with such trivial issues.'

'Trivial or not, if untreated even the smallest cold can be fatal,' Diane said. 'Even more so amongst the poorest. Malnourishment and hard labor never did anyone's health any good and-'

'You are unnecessarily exaggerating,' Mellos interrupted her. Diane's gaze hardened. Daemon wished he brought snacks. 'The cases of cold such as this are mostly mild but I do not expect a woman to under-'

'If the next time you bring a whore to your rooms and she just happens to have a mild case of a cold, would you be so sure about your own well-being?' Diane interrupted him right back. Mellos paled. Otto pursed his lips to keep himself from smiling. 'I do not believe it is wise to be so reckless with your health at your respectable age, Grand Maester.'

'That's another issue this cold might bring,' Rhaenyra interjected. 'It is not a secret that most of the guards and golden cloaks are frequent visitors of Flea Bottom. If they get ill, they won't be able to attend to their duties.'

'We have some wiggle room just in case because someone gets ill all the time,' Daemon added, 'but nowhere near enough to cope with a shortage due to an epidemic. And the crime rate in the city has just gone down, we can't show weakness now.'

'And besides, if it spreads to the Red Keep, it would be rather unfortunate,' Diane said, looking at Viserys.

The King, who had been as useful as a chocolate teapot this far, nodded, 'That it would be.'

'We do not have the funding for it, Your Grace,' Lord Beesbury said. 'With all the planned expenses we do not have that much wealth to spare.'

'One of the charities Prince Daemon and I set up has enough money to cover the cost of basic remedies. And Dragonstone has generously offered to provide the healers,' Rhaenyra said.

Everyone looked at Diane. Otto raised an eyebrow. Diane smiled and said to the King, 'Treat it as a friendly gesture, Your Grace. We can easily spare five of our healers and a dozen of their apprentices who need to get some practice. All free of charge as long as the crown covers the cost of the travel. And shipment of the remedies because the ones we make are better,' she added with a smirk. And if it sounded like a dig at maesters in general and Mellos specifically, it absolutely was.

Viserys looked at Diane in genuine surprise and then turned to Daemon. 'You approve of this?'

'I do. But not like I have to. She is the ruler of Dragonstone, brother. She makes the decisions,' Daemon said proudly. It was extremely uncommon to pass the seat to someone while its previous holder was still alive and not like they made a fuss about it, but Daemon didn't feel the need to keep up with the ruse anymore. Diane was the one to truly rule over Dragonstone - successfully so - and the prince had no problem with giving his daughter proper credit.

Viserys looked like he didn't know what to do with this information so Diane turned to Lord Beesbury and asked, 'Will the crown be able to cover the cost of travel?'

'As I said, the budget is pretty tight right now-'

'There is room in the budget,' Otto interrupted. 'Dragonstone has its own ships, does it not?' he looked at Diane.

She smiled, 'We do. But in case we will be lacking, I believe Lord Corlys would be amenable to lend a few of his to us. For a fair price, of course.'

Corlys nodded, 'I'm sure we will come to an agreement if needed.'

'So the only thing the crown needs to pay for is the labor of sailors and maybe some fee to Lord Corlys to help with the shipment,' Otto summarized. 'It doesn't get any cheaper than that.'

Lord Beesbury pursed his lips but nodded, 'I shall make it work.'

'It is settled then,' Viserys declared with a smile as if he wasn't completely useless during this whole conversation and the Small Council couldn't come to an agreement without him.

The conversation moved on to other issues with King bringing up the turney he wanted to hold after Rhaenyra's child was born, and Otto suddenly felt a hand on his knee. He tensed on instinct but then his brain caught up with whose hand it was and he glanced at Diane's direction. She looked all too unsuspicious, leaning on a table with one elbow and listening to the King as if what he was saying was the most interesting thing in the whole world. No one asked her to leave the meeting after they were done with an issue that warranted her presence and Diane definitely wouldn't be the one to leave of her own accord.

Otto's lips tugged slightly upward and he covered her hand with his, his thumb starting to stroke the back of her hand. He kept doing that till the meeting was over and Diane unfortunately had to slip her hand from his.

***

'I was thinking about getting him flowers. Not for any occasion, just... you know, to show how much I appreciate him,' Gwayne said thoughtfully, taking a bite of a loaf of bread. He didn't have time to have any lunch that day so this would have to do.

'I don't know, man,' another golden cloak said. 'My girl gets fucking ecstatic when I bring her flowers and I always get lucky later, if you know what I mean,' he added with a self-satisfied grin, making Gwayne chuckle. 'But with the guy it's sort of... different? Does he even like flowers?'

'I don't know, actually. I don't think anyone has given him flowers ever so that's uncharted territory.'

'He seems like a guy who will appreciate any thoughtful gesture if I'm honest,' the golden cloak said, stretching his hand and prompting Gwayne to share his loaf of bread.

'You think?'

'I mean... I opened the door for him the other day 'cause his hands were full and he stopped to thank me profusely,' the golden cloak took a bite of bread. 'That was actually very cute. I think he is this appreciative with everyone.'

'Wow, thanks, makes me feel way less special.'

The golden cloak let out a laugh and clapped Gwayne on the shoulder, 'You know what I mean,' then he looked behind Gwayne and straightened immediately, bowing slightly, 'Your Grace.'

Gwayne turned to see his sister approaching them. She didn't look very happy so he wondered whether she was unhappy with him specifically or it was just her general mood for the day.

'May we talk?' Alicent asked him as soon as she came closer. 'In private, perhaps.'

'Of course, dear sister. Lead the way,' Gwayne agreed. Alicent nodded and kept walking.

Gwayne followed her at first, then came back, snatched his loaf of bread from the golden cloak's hand, and hurried after his sister again.

'What seems to be the problem?' he asked as soon as they were alone.

'Who said there was a problem?' Alicent immediately said, sounding way more defensive than was necessary.

'You and father have the exact same face when you are mad at me,' Gwayne took a bite of his bread and wondered out loud, 'Why are people always mad at me? I can't be that bad. Diane says I'm a joy to be around.'

Alicent scowled harder at that. Gwayne pretended that he didn't notice and asked, 'So what did you want to talk about?'

'I wanted to talk about your... indiscretions,' Alicent stated, her hands tightly clapped together in front of her.

'Look, I know it's not precisely a good tone to eat while on duty but I didn't have a chance to eat today with the recruits setting their room on fire! On fire, sister! The candles were not even lit. Ugh, I swear to the Gods...' Gwayne then took another bite of his bread and mumbled something intelligible that might or might not have been a curse word. On a good day, he loved his job but there were also days that made him question all of his life choices.

'What? No, it's not about that,' Alicent shook her head. 'I saw you yesterday.'

'Oh? When? You should have said "hi".'

'When you were sinning!' the Queen exclaimed.

Gwayne frowned thoughtfully, chewed on his bread for a few seconds in silence, and then said, 'I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific.'

'With... with that boy!'

'Oh. Yeah, his name is Athelstan. I'm courting him... I think. I had this idea of getting him a bouquet of flowers but I-'

'You can't do that!' Alicent exclaimed.

Gwayne frowned, 'You think? I know that flowers are mostly given to women but like... they look pretty and smell good to everyone, I don't really see the issue.'

'No, you can't-' Alicent came closer to him and somehow managed to exclaim in a whisper, 'You cannot court a man!'

In the next few seconds, Gwayne went through a range of emotions while the pieces of a puzzle were joining together in his mind.

Oh, right...

Now, in retrospect, Gwayne had no idea why he thought his sister would be supportive of him finally finding someone whose company he enjoyed so very much. But the man might want to dream sometimes, you know?

'Brother, you and I both know it's a sin,' Alicent whispered, and she looked truly worried so Gwayne decided to cut her some slack. Their mother raised them in the Faith of Seven so he knew where his sister was coming from but wasn't she old enough to start to question it?

'Let's not go there, alright?' Gwayne offered. 'Just... I really like him, Alicent. And I will keep seeing him. I don't think discussing my love life is the best idea right now.'

'How could you so easily put... put your lust over your soul?' Alicent asked and, Gods help him, she looked so sincere in her question. It was really hard to be angry at her.

'It's not lust, Alicent. I won't say I love him because it's too fucking early for that and we are still figuring this whole thing out, but I have feelings for him. It's not just sex... surely, it's a nice bonus but-' Gwayne paused. 'I've never thought I would say anything like that to your face. Now I feel weird... But so what if he is a man? He makes me happy.'

'But that's wrong!'

Gwayne frowned, 'Me being happy?'

'No! You are my brother, I want you to be happy,' Alicent grabbed his arm. 'Of course, I want you to be happy. But you are supposed to be happy with the woman you marry! Not with- not with a low-born servant boy!'

'Ah,' Gwayne made a sound and extracted himself from Alicent's grip. 'I see. This conversation is over.'

'No, it's not!' the Queen grabbed his arm again. 'What can't you understand?! I don't want you to suffer forever!'

'I won't suffer forever, Alicent, that I can assure you-'

'But you will if you keep sinning! Even if you don't think it's a sin, it doesn't matter. The Faith is very clear about-'

'I converted to Valyrian Faith,' Gwayne blurted out, and the way Alicent almost jumped away from him was simultaneously hurtful and amusing.

'Wh-what?' the Queen asked in pure disbelief.

'Well, technically it's called the Faith of Fourteen Flames because of the volcanoes in Valyria but when it spread around the world, it became known...' Gwayne started but then stopped himself. 'You don't look like you will appreciate a history lesson right now.'

'How- how could you do that?! Why?' Alicent asked, her mouth agape.

'Well, partly because I don't want to burn forever just because I enjoy kissing men,' Gwayne said, and the way Alicent's face turned disgusted for a split second was way more hurtful than he wished to admit. She was his sister, after all. He wanted her to if not support him then at least be understanding. But the more they talked, the less Gwayne thought it was going to happen. 'But other than that... Valyrian Faith just feels more right to me. It doesn't go against my morals and doesn't have all these ridiculous rules that don't make any sense if you really think about them,' Gwayne shrugged.

Converting to the Faith of the Fourteen Flames was not something Gwayne necessarily planned in advance. But he had been distancing himself from the Faith of Seven for a while now and after getting to know Diane, he was able to hear more about her religion. They talked more than a few times about her beliefs (because he wanted to know more and she didn't mind educating him) and he was astonished to find out how much freedom Diane seemed to have while following all the necessary rules. And to think about the Gods as someone who exists not for the purpose of punishing you but to help you out if they think you deserve their favor. It was frankly so liberating.

So he asked Diane what it would take for him to get initiated into the Valyrian Faith and was surprised at how easy it was. Apparently, Diane didn't lie when she said Valyrian Faith was very welcoming. She brought him to jaehossalentor under the Red Keep and it all took about ten minutes, including the time Gwayne spent pondering over what God he should choose to be his protector. He chose Tyraxes and was happy to find out that Diane and he shared the same protector.

'But the rules are there for a reason! These gods are false! Gwayne, don't you understand? They are trying to drag you away from the true God!'

'They?' Gwayne questioned because if she meant Valyrian Gods, then her argument kind of went against her previous statement of Valyrian Gods not being real.

'Diane and that filthy sinner!' Alicent exclaimed.

'What filthy- Athelstan?!' Gwayne realized, his face turning angry. He gave his sister a lot of grace but he had no grace left to give. 'Don't you dare talk about him like that! He did nothing wrong.'

'He corrupted you!'

'He did not! Alicent, he is not the first man I've slept with. He is just the first man I want to be in a relationship with.'

'Nor the first? How long have you been sinning?!'

Gwayne just looked at her for a few seconds and then said, 'No. I'm not doing that. The conversation is over,' before walking out and slamming the door behind himself.

Alicent huffed in frustration. Why didn't Gwayne understand she was worried about him? She never liked his friendship with Diane, to begin with, and now this awful woman was pulling her brother from one true God! How was she doing that? Was she a witch? Alicent wouldn't put it past Diane to be connected to some dark, sinister magic.

Bastards are known to be monstrous by nature, after all.

***

'And then the little red dragon headed back to the castle... it doesn't make any sense. Why would he go there?' Otto frowned, looking at the book in his hands.

'Because that's where the old black wolf told him a magical book should be,' Diane answered with a smile.

'But he has just barely escaped that angry basilisk! She will eat him alive the next time she sees him.'

'The little dragon really needs this book to defeat an evil wizard and save his family.'

'But why not come back later? A few days won't make much of a difference and he can come up with a solid plan. Why does he have to go back now? It's not a good strategy, he will probably just die and his family will be doomed forever. And why won't he find allies? I am very sure that the evil wizard did a lot of bad things to a lot of people... and animals. Why won't he raise an army-'

'I think you are worrying way too much about the strategic choices of a fictional dragon from a children's book,' Diane commented, laughter evident in her voice.

Otto looked at her for a few seconds and then said somewhat defensively, 'I am merely pointing out inaccuracies in the little dragon's plan.'

'This is a story about friendship, and love, and magic... animals talk in there, it doesn't have to be accurate,' Diane chuckled and looked at Aegon on whose bed she was sitting. 'And it did its purpose. He is sound asleep,' she then tucked the boy in and left a kiss on his forehead.

'I suppose,' Otto said but looked hesitant to close the book.

'You want to know what happened next to the little red dragon, don't you?' Diane teased, moving to check on Aemond who had been asleep in his bed for a while now. He was too young to really appreciate the bedtime stories but Otto's voice did lull him to sleep nonetheless.

'I want to know whether or not his suicidal mission turned out to be successful or all his efforts were in vain,' Otto said, turning a page to take a peak at the next chapter when Diane closed it right before him. 'Hey!'

'You want to know what happened to the little dragon, you come tomorrow and you find out with all of us,' she said, leaning on the table and looking at Otto with a smile. 'No cheating.'

The man sighed, leaning back on his chair, 'I don't know why I agreed to come today in the first place.'

'Because Aegon asked you oh so nicely and you didn't know how to say "no". And it seems to me you had a rather good time. Definitely got invested into the plot.'

Otto chuckled, 'I suppose.' Then he moved, putting his hands on Diane's hips, and said, looking up at her, 'I wondered if you would like to join me in my rooms tonight.'

Diane didn't answer right away, and Otto felt more than saw how she tensed at his words. 'Or not. It was merely a suggestion,' he added, starting to remove his hands from her body. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable.

Diane's hands covered his and kept them where they were. She sighed and said, 'Do not perceive it the wrong way. Your advances are not unwelcome, I want you to know that. It's just...' she paused as if trying to find the right words.

Otto knew that Diane was not playing hard to get. She did that before and he enjoyed it but this, here and now, it was about something way more important. Way more intimate.

'Whatever the reason is for your hesitation, I shall respect it,' Otto said, deciding to give her the way out if she wanted to take it. A part of him wanted to know, wanted to prod and get answers, but he understood it wouldn't do him any good. 'Diane, I am not going to try to take more than you are willing to give me,' he added, and he knew he said something right by the way Diane's gaze noticeably softened. It rarely felt so open before.

Diane smiled and stroked his cheek, 'It just happens that my affections are... unfortunately spoken for at the moment.'

Otto instantly knew she was talking about the King. He scowled before he could stop himself from doing that. Diane let out a laugh, 'Believe me, this brings me as much pleasure as it brings you.'

The implication of what she just said was way deeper than her actual words but Otto was not precisely surprised. Viserys never worked hard for anything in his life. There was no reason for him to change, even for his mistress.

'I see,' Otto answered because he didn't know what else to say.

'But... I believe it's not gonna be this way for all much longer,' Diane said. Her hand was stroking his neck and that was fucking distracting but Otto did his best to follow the trail of the conversation.

'Oh?' he made a sound. 'How long?'

'We've been through this, haven't we? It won't be fun if I tell you all my secrets,' Diane teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

'You'll let me know?'

Diane leaned in closer and said, 'You won't miss it.'

On any other day, Otto would have taken it for what it was: a threat. Because if Diane were to end her relationship with the King, it meant that Viserys would be of no use to her anymore. Which meant she would achieve something that would significantly strengthen Rhaenyra's position and significantly weaken his. He probably should have been concerned, tried to do something about it, prodded for more information to try and prevent it but...

But Diane kissed him, and Otto couldn't give any less of a fuck about his political position as long as he could stay with her in this moment forever.