To Take What Is Rightfully Ours

Chapter 24. Dealing with Pregnancies and Rumors

'Oh, wow, good morning,' Gwayne said, running into Diane at the gates of the Red Keep. 'Have been busy, are you?' he commented, noticing two heavy bags in Diane's hands and some sort of pot under her arm.

'Something like that,' she smiled. 'A few things from Dragonstone that I requested.'

'We have a very different understanding of "a few things",' Gwayne chuckled. 'Here, let me help you,' he offered, extending a hand.

Diane looked at him for a second, then shrugged and gave him one of the bags and a pot. Gwayne gave the latter a critical once-over. 'Why would you request a pot with a stick in it?'

'I didn't. I bought it on the market.'

'The question still very much stands.'

'As if I will tell you all my secrets,' Diane smiled mischievously and continued walking, forcing Gwayne to rush after her.

'Just tell me if it's poisonous or not,' he said, holding the pot sheepishly. 'Because it would be a rather silly way to die.'

'Just don't eat it and you shall be fine.'

'That... doesn't give me much confidence if I'm honest,' Gwayne frowned but held the pot a little bit more firmly.

'What are you doing here at such an hour anyway?' Diane inquired. 'You have a day off today if I'm not mistaken.'

'The fact that you remember all the golden cloak's schedules still amazes me. But yes, I'm off today. I've visited my father. Family matters and all that.'

'And how unhappy is he with you today on a scale from one to Daemon Targaryen?' Diane asked, making Gwayne laugh.

'I'm not sure. Five and a half? I'm kind of used to it actually. It has always been rather obvious I'm not the type of son he wished to have.'

'Your father doesn't strike me as a man who wanted to have any children if I'm honest,' Diane said thoughtfully.

'You are probably right. You know, with an amount of affection - or rather a lack of it - in my parents' marriage, it's rather a miracle that I or Alicent came about,' Gwayne chuckled.

Diane wouldn't have called the birth of Alicent a miracle but she understood Gwayne's sentiment. It was not surprising to hear that Otto and his late wife weren't close. After all, the happy marriage among nobles was more of an exception than the rule. No wonder everyone was rather shocked when Daemon brought Rhaenyra flowers the other day just because he walked through the market and thought of her.

'It has been proved that affection is not required to create a child. Have you seen Borros and his wife? I have never seen married people who despise each other so much, and yet they have four daughters,' Diane pointed out.

'And I don't envy them. I figured Borros hates his wife because she wasn't able to give him sons so he can't treat his daughters much better than that.'

'You know, nuns at Dragontemple say that it's a male seed that determines whether a child will turn out a boy or a girl and not a woman's womb,' Diane said. 'I don't know if that's true but if it is, then Borros has no one to blame for the lack of male heirs but himself.'

Gwayne chuckled, 'Just don't tell him that. He wouldn't be pleased.'

'If he pisses me off enough, I just might.'

'Oh, you are petty.'

'And rather proud of it.'

Gwayne helped Diane carry her bags right to her rooms, then (still rather sheepishly) gave her back the pot and bid her goodbye. Diane made sure he disappeared from her sight just in case before opening the door to her rooms and shuffling the bags inside.