To Take What Is Rightfully Ours

Chapter 17. Taking Back The Wedding

Diane thought that wedding preparations were not supposed to be that hard and time-consuming. She and other ladies-in-waiting were running all over the Red Keep to make sure everything was set and ready for the ceremony tomorrow. Diane also somehow ended up in charge of almost all the decisions regarding the celebratory feast because Rhaenyra had only so much time on her hands and Daemon literally went into hiding so the housekeeper with all her wedding-related questions wouldn't find him. And not like the King was very keen on being in charge of the wedding preparations either.

The thing was that Viserys was still not happy with his daughter's choice of a husband. His relationship with Daemon was more or less mended (even more so when they started meeting to train with swords three times a week), but he still thought his younger brother was after the throne and not head over heels in love with his daughter. Diane tried to salvage the situation on her end as well - she was visiting the King in the chambers every three days now to treat his wounds - but Viserys was stubborn in his opinions.

The good thing was that he seemed to be listening to her. If she managed to make the King subconsciously trust her opinions, she would be able to get more power over him than Viserys would ever realize, but such machinations required time. Diane figured that was how Otto made his way into the King's trusted circle over the years and that was why Viserys was now much more keen to listen to him over his own brother.

To give proper credit, Otto was good at the "game". Diane rarely met someone who knew exactly how to manipulate people the way she did. And, all the high stakes aside, it was kind of exciting to have a proper opponent. It would make her victory over him and her revenge much more satisfying.

But that had to wait. Wedding first. And she still had so much to do before dawn that her head was spinning. Athelstan was doing the best he could to help her but even he with all his determination and eagerness wasn't able to be in three different places at the same time.

Diane was on her way to the kitchen to go over the wedding menu one more time when she heard noises. Grunts, and moans, and whispered words Diane couldn't quite catch - someone was definitely having fun nearby. And normally she would leave whoever that was be, but this couple - she was pretty sure there were two of them but she might be wrong - chose quite a risky place to scratch their itch. Which told Diane that they were not the usual inhabitants of the Red Keep (because these ones knew how to hide properly) and were probably some of the guests who arrived for the royal wedding. So she was best to shoo them away before anyone else caught them and made a big deal out of nothing. Or maybe not nothing. After all, if you are not doing something you are not supposed to do, you have no need to sneak around. Gods forbid, someone's wife or husband found out they were cheated on the day before the royal wedding.

So Diane walked confidently in the direction of the noises, ready to startle these adventurous lovebirds. When she turned a corner and found Laenor and Joffrey in a rather compromising position - which basically meant with pants down - she wasn't even really surprised. On second thought, she would be more surprised if these two weren't a thing. Laenor and she never really talked or wrote to each other about their lovers, but Joffrey was shining like a damn dragonfire every time Larnor looked at him so there was definitely something there. Well, a lot, considering the recent development.

Diane contemplated for a second about what was the best way to let her presence be known but then just loudly coughed. She wasn't sure who exactly squeaked but both of the men immediately scrambled to pull up their pants. Then Joffrey turned sharply to face her, somewhat hiding Laenor from her sight. What a gentleman.

'Out of all the secluded places the Red Keep has, this one is nowhere near acceptable,' Diane leaned on the wall.

'That's not what you think it is,' Joffrey said because to deny everything was his first instinct.