To Take What Is Rightfully Ours

Chapter 60. Beating The Odds

TW: mentions of past stillbirth

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Diane would lie if she said that she didn't suspect it earlier. She did. She did suspect it but she kept brushing it off as "impossible" and "wishful thinking". Because it was supposed to be impossible. A small price to pay for all the knowledge Valyria offered her and she paid it gladly.

But it seemed like she was wrong.

'I am... with child?' Diane asked slowly, trying to make sure she understood Aliyah right. She was sitting in the armchair in Aliyah's room while the woman stood beside her.

'Yes. Four moons along or so from what I can tell.'

Diane did the math in her head before she could stop herself. A bit more than four months ago she called off her "affair" with Viserys. And right after that, she started sleeping with Otto. Oh, well, that's just great.

'Alright... alright... fuck,' Diane exhaled, hiding her face in her hands for a few seconds. 'How- how can I be- Aliyah how can I be with child? Valyria should have-'

'Should have made you barren,' the woman finished. 'That's what I thought but... it's not an exact science, dear.'

'I haven't had my moonblood- ever since Valyria. That's how it works, right? As soon as a woman no longer bleeds, she cannot bear any more children,' Diane said, trying to hold her panic at bay.

'Generally, yes, but-' Aliyah sighed as she sat on the armchair next to Diane. 'Only three people ever went to Valyria after the Doom and came back alive. Me, Visenya, and you. I have never got pregnant after I visited the ruins of what once was my home. Granted, I wasn't in my prime childbearing years then but I still bled... and then I wasn't,' she rubbed her chin. 'With Visenya... it was different. She also stopped bleeding in Valyria but then she got pregnant a few months after she came back. And as you know, her daughter was born sleeping.'

Diane looked away, trying to keep her breathing even.

'She neither got pregnant after that nor did she bleed,' Aliyah continued. 'So I decided it was just... a fluke of sorts. Her body was still poisoned with magic to such an extent that she wasn't able to give birth to a living child-'

'Are you saying my baby will die?' Diane interrupted her.

'I am saying that I do not know,' Aliyah's gaze was sympathetic. 'But there is a pretty big risk that... that you won't carry to term.'

'Fuck,' Diane hastily got up, taking a few steps towards the window and covering her mouth with her hand.

Aliyah followed her with her eyes and then said, 'If you do not wish to continue with your pregnancy, I can make you a remedy. You will bleed and it will be painful but in a few days it will be over.'

Diane turned to her. 'But there is a chance- but there is a chance that it will work out?' she asked.

'Right now anything is possible but, dear, you need to understand that-'

'That the chance is small, I know, I get that,' Diane took a deep breath and then very slowly touched her stomach.

She gained weight in the last few months, she noticed that, but she just assumed it was a downside of a more or less stable life. In another timeline she spent most of her adult life on the road, from place to place, from contract to contract, always keeping herself in the best possible shape because it made her job easier. But now, leading the life of a noblewoman, she was able to settle. To have her own rooms, her own bed, food whenever she wished but at least two times a day. She trained, of course, she couldn't just let herself go because the war wasn't over yet and she had to be ready to fight for Rhaenyra's crown if the situation required. However, gaining a bit of weight was still not something terribly unusual.