Trigger Warnings: non-explicit rape (not a main character), a rather graphic description of violence.
***
Rhaenyra felt giddy, walking back to her chambers with Diane. She couldn't wait to tell Daemon that she had gotten properly initiated into the Valyrian Faith and that Arrax was the one to grant her protection. She knew he would be just as excited for her as she was.
After a few staircases and turns, they suddenly ran into Joanna. 'What are you doing here so late?' Rhaenyra asked before she could take in the state of the girl before her. She was disheveled, her clothes looked dirty and it was obvious she was crying.
'I- I-' Joanna muttered, her gaze jumping from one place to another in an obvious state of panic. Her hands were shaking.
'What happened?' Diane asked, her voice commanding yet gentle. She always knew how to handle a crisis, and the situation was starting to look like a crisis by the second. 'Joanna, dear?' she reached out, and the girl immediately flinched from the touch, her hands wrapping around her abdomen in a defensive gesture.
The longer Rhaenyra looked at the girl before her, the worse she seemed. There was blood on the tips of her fingers and it was hard to tell whether or not it was hers. Bruises were starting to bloom on her arms, and then the princess noticed that the top of her dress was torn as if someone forcefully yanked it down.
Diane glanced at Rhaenyra, and the princess caught her gaze. She wasn't sure what precisely happened but was starting to get the idea.
'Joanna, dear,' Diane called again, trying to catch the girl's attention. 'Did someone hurt you? It's alright, you can tell us.'
Joanna looked at her, then tears swelled in her eyes and she broke into violent sobs. 'They- they-'
Diane reached out again and this time Joanna didn't flinch away so she pulled her into a hug. The girl clung to her and sobbed. Diane wrapped her hands around her and then looked at Rhaenyra, 'I need you to go to my rooms, find Athelstan, and ask him to fetch Haisa...'
Before the princess was able to nod in confirmation, Joanna pulled away in panic. 'No, no! Don't tell anyone! I will be ruined!' she begged between sobs, obviously terrified.
'Shh, dear, it's alright. Haisa was my mother's friend and Athelstan is sworn to me. They will take this secret to their graves,' Diane assured the poor girl, then looked back at Rhaenyra. 'Tell Athelstan to ask Haisa to bring moon tea to my rooms. And then order him to arrange for a bath.'
Rhaenyra nodded and rushed away, leaving Diane and Joanna alone. Diane looked around, making sure she couldn't see or hear anyone. 'Can you walk? My rooms are not far from here but a few staircases are still on the way.'
'I- I think so- I-' Joanna sobbed, wiping her tears away. 'I- it's all my fault- I'm so stupid-'
'No. No, dear. It's not your fault-'
'You don't know what happened!' she exclaimed.
'I don't have to. It is not your fault, no matter what happened.'
'You- you- you don't understand! I never should have come! I- I knew I shouldn't be out so late but he- he was so nice-' Joanna sobbed.
'Who was?'
'R-rick...'
'Wait, as in- Rickard? Rickard Thorne? The member of Kingsguard?!' Diane exclaimed. She was not the one to jump to conclusions but it was the only man that came to her mind who could be called Rick and be in the Red Keep at night.
And then Joanna nodded, the tears running down her cheeks. 'He- he- he said he liked me- he- he wanted- to- to meet me and spend time together-'
'And?' Diane asked, even though she wasn't sure she was ready to hear how this sentence ended.
'And he lied!' the girl sobbed. 'He- he- he brought his friends- they forced me- they- they laughed-' she broke down again, and Diane pulled her into her embrace again, trying to bring the poor girl comfort at least somehow.
'How many of them were there?' she asked calmly but her blood was burning so much it threatened to burn right through her skin.
'Th- three...'
'Do you know who the other two were?'
'N-no... but- but I think one of them had a golden cloak.'
Diane's grip on Joanna tightened. 'And I'll hang him on it.'
The girl leaned back, startled. 'Wh-what?' Surely she didn't hear her right.
Diane smiled as reassuringly as she could master. 'Do not worry about it for now. Let's get you cleaned up first,' she said and then slowly led Joanna towards her rooms.
***
The knock on a secret door startled Daemon who was reading a book in his armchair and waiting for his beautiful wife to come back so they could retire to bed together. He frowned, put the book aside, and went to open it when no one came in after a few seconds.
'Diane?' he asked with surprise in her voice when he saw his daughter on the other side of a secret door, dressed in a gray cloak.
'I need your help,' she said, handing him something. It took a second for Daemon to realize it was another gray cloak.
'What do you need?'
'I need to hang three rapists at the main gate. And I need another set of hands to do it before the sun rises. Will you help me?'
Daemon looked at the cloak and then nodded, 'Of course. But can you tell me...'
'On whose behalf?' Diane guessed.
'Yes.'
'Joanna.'
'Nyra's lady-in-waiting?'
It had taken him a while, but Daemon did memorize all the women in Rhaenyra's close social circle.
'Yes,' Diane sighed. 'They hurt her. Badly.'
The prince nodded, grabbed Dark Sister, and then put the gray cloak on. 'Did you ask Haisa-'
'Yes. Rhaenyra and she are with her right now. I don't- Haisa will treat her injuries and Rhaenyra will offer her comfort but it's not enough, is it?'
'No, it's not,' Daemon agreed, walking out of his room and closing the secret door behind him.
'We can't let them see another sunrise after what they did to her.'
'Then let's hurry. Do you know the names?'
'Only one,' Diane said, and then a cruel smile appeared on her lips. 'But we will find out the rest by the time I'm done with him.'
***
Diane didn't think of herself as a cruel person. Violence was a big part of her life, there was no denying that, but she couldn't say she usually took pleasure in seeing others suffer.
Only on special occasions.
Rickard Thorne wasn't hard to find. The fool was still wearing blood-stained clothes and too drunk for Diane's liking but they had to make do. After all, pain sobers the person up.
He blabbered who the other two were and where they could find them pretty quickly. Pathetic. What a member of the Kingsguard couldn't take a little bit of torture? How unreliable. Diane believed she had quite good skills but she still did not expect Rick to spill quite this fast.
Maybe he hoped they would stop if he told them. Maybe he had hoped to keep his life.
What a fool.
After what he did, he didn't deserve to live longer than was strictly necessary. Diane and Daemon made sure he did not. Seeing the life leave his terrified eyes was satisfying but not yet enough.
They hid his body for the time being, and then they split. Daemon volunteered to go after the man who should have no right to call himself a golden cloak. After all, he was his Commander. It would be fair for Daemon to get his hands dirty with this one.
'I promised Joanna I'll hang him on his cloak,' Diane said before they separated.
Daemon smirked, 'I shall arrange for that.'
The third man turned out to be one of the servants, the younger brother of the golden cloak. He was barely eight and ten but Dianw did not do second chances when it came to sexual violence. After all, no reason in the world could excuse rape. None at all.
That guy shared his room with another male servant. She could have killed him quietly without waking the other one but it was not what she wanted. She wanted that bitch to suffer. She wanted him to experience at least a little bit of the pain and humiliation that Joanna now had to carry for the rest of her life. So Diane did the next best thing.
If you can't get rid of someone, make them your accomplice.
She didn't know if it would work because she didn't know the character of the other servant but she decided to take the risk. After all, the murder of a witness was always a second option.
Long story short, the other servant's name was Brock and he had three younger sisters, so as soon as Diane told him what his roommate had done (without revealing Joanna's name, of course), Brock got on with the program really fast.
Diane knew she was on a time crunch but she still was prepared to take her time with him. Sadly, this one wasn't quite as resilient as Rickard had been and definitely not as fun because he passed out almost right after Diane cut off his dick, even though his blood loss was nowhere near fatal. Diane could eye-measure such things after so many years in the field of murdering people for money.
Because it was no use torturing someone who was out of it, she had to pack up early. The fucker was still breathing when Brock and she wrapped his body into sheets and carried him out but that was fine. The chance that he would wake up was rather slight and the rope on which they would hang him at the gate would deal with any life that was left in him.
Daemon was already there when they approached and he blinked in surprise when he realized Diane brought someone else with her. He raised an eyebrow.
Diane shrugged, 'What? I'm an outgoing person. I make friends anywhere I go.'
Daemon snorted, 'You sure he won't tell?'
'Of course. He is an accomplice now. And we are noble, the worst that could happen to us is the King banishing us to Dragonstone... he, on the other hand, can pay with his life for just being in the vicinity.'
Well, technically the law still applied to both her and Daemon, but Viserys would never order the execution of his brother and his brother's daughter who he wished very much to make his mistress over something like this.
After putting the body where Diane directed him to, Brock bid them farewell and went to clean up the murder scene. After all, Diane left quite a mess behind and if Brock didn't want to get accused of murder in the morning, he had to clean it up fast. And Daemon and she had to get to the hanging if they wanted to finish before the sun started to rise.
'I have some money with me in case the guards on the other side of the gate hear something and come to check,' Daemon informed his daughter, looking up at the gate and assessing the situation.
'And if they refuse?'
'Well... what a few more bodies?'
Diane let out a laugh. 'You know, father, if not for such a sad occasion, I would have said that going on a killing spree with you is quite enjoyable.'
Daemon smiled, 'Perhaps we should do it more often.'
She smiled back, 'Perhaps we should.'
***
Rhaenyra got up from where she was sitting at the foot of Diane's bed when she heard the secret door unlock. Diane stepped in a second later, a cloak in hand and her clothes covered in blood. The princess didn't even have to ask to know what exactly Diane had done.
'How is she?' Diane asked quietly, dropping her cloak to the floor and going across the room to clean herself up.
'Haisa looked her over and gave her something so she would sleep better,' Rhaenyra whispered, coming closer to her friend. 'We put her in your bed, I hope you don't mind...'
'Of course, not,' Diane answered, dipping the cloth into the bowl with water and starting to clean up the dried-up blood from her hands. 'She shouldn't be alone right now anyway. I'll keep an eye on her.'
Rhaenyra nodded, then sighed, 'I couldn't believe they did it to her.'
'Men do this every day.'
'I know. But she is- she's a lady, she is a Lannister... no one deserves it, of course, but surely there are more repercussions for... well, for harming a noble lady and not a commoner.'
Diane sighed, taking a break from cleaning herself and leaning on the table for a few seconds. 'I hate to tell you that, Nyra, but usually men face the same amount of repercussions for violating someone which is none,' she glanced at the princess. 'What noble lady would come forward about something like that and risk being ruined and antagonized because of something that was in no way her fault? That's why men do this. That's why these fuckers did it. They thought they would get away with it.'
'They did not, I assume,' Rhaenyra pointed out, picking up a cloth and wiping the blood from Diane's cheek. Whatever she had done, it had been quite a massacre. And yet, Rhaenyra felt like it was less than these men deserved.
Diane chuckled and took a cloth from her friend's hand, 'They did not. Now, I suggest you go and help your husband get the blood out of his hair.'
Rhaenyra scrunched her nose because getting blood out of white hair was THE TASK but then she realized what Diane was saying. 'Daemon helped you?'
'Yes. It was a two-person job. And besides, I couldn't let him miss out on all the fun,' Diane answered, the corners of her mouth tugging slightly upwards.
'What exactly did you do?'
'You'll find out in the morning. Everyone will.'
Rhaenyra nodded and squeezed her hand before going to the exit, 'Goodnight.'
'Goodnight, Nyra,' Diane answered, even though one look outside told her that there wasn't much of the night left. Sun always came early during the summer so the horizon had already started to brighten.
Diane changed and lightened up the fireplace. It wasn't precisely a chilly night but it had been cold enough so no one would question the fire burning. And she needed to burn her clothes because it was way faster than trying to get the blood out of them. Throwing her shirt in the fire, Diane looked at the bed and then asked, 'You are not really sleeping, are you?'
There were a few seconds when nothing happened, and then Joanna sat up on the bed. 'No,' she shook her head. 'I can't.'
Diane got up and walked to the bed. 'I know it's hard but your body needs rest,' she sat at the foot of the bed so as not to invade Joanna's personal space.
'Did you really kill them?' Joanna suddenly asked, looking Diane right in the eyes.
'I did.'
There was a pause.
'Why?'
'Because they did not deserve to see another sunrise after what they did,' she answered, watching as a few rays of light entered her room through the window. 'And now they won't.'
Joanna bit the inside her lip and lowered her gaze, obviously contemplating what Diane had just said. 'I don't know how-' she started after a few seconds of silence. 'I don't know how to survive it. How to- how to move on. How to come back to- how to come back from it.'
'You never come back from it. Not really,' Diane said, making Joanna look up at her. 'I do not want to discourage you but- the pain never really disappears. You just learn how to live with it. How to live despite it. And with time it will fade away enough for you not to notice it anymore. What these fuckers did to you is horrible and so, so unfair but it does not have to define you.'
'You... you sound like you're talking from experience,' Joanna said quietly.
A small, sad smile appeared on Diane's lips. 'That's because I do. And I'm telling you, it will get better. Maybe not today and not tomorrow, but it will.'
Joanna nodded, her fingers nervously twisting the covers. 'Did they beg for mercy? When you killed them?' she asked.
'Yes.'
'And what did you say?'
'I laughed.'
***
The next morning the inhabitants of the Red Keep were woken up by the screams and commotion. Some poor maid spotted three bodies hanging at the main gate early in the morning. Two of the men were hanging on the ropes while the third one was dangling on his golden cloak. They were pantless with their cocks cut off and the words "rapist" carved on their stomachs.
By the time the guards managed to get their bodies down, most of the Red Keep had already seen them. Joanna decided not to look at them because she felt like it would bring her more distress than closure and she also felt rather weak because her blood came after she had drunk the moontea.
'At least, she won't have to carry a rapist's child. I suppose that's something,' Diane muttered to Rhaenyra, and the princess couldn't agree more. They couldn't undo what those fuckers did to her but they could avenge her and make sure to keep it a secret so as not to stain Joanna's reputation.
While Joanna decided to stay back, Rhaenyra, on the other hand, wanted to see what Daemon and Diane had done. 'It's rather ghastly,' the prince warned her just in case. After all, knowing and seeing were two completely different things.
The princess smiled and nodded, 'As it should be.'
Diane and Daemon accompanied her there because they just couldn't pass on the opportunity to see their work in daylight. It did not disappoint.
'Am I seeing it right or did you really-' Rhaenyra asked, squinting her eyes to see better.
'Stuffed their mouths with their own dicks? Yes, we did,' Daemon said, and he sounded way too proud of himself.
That made Rhaenyra smile. It was rather fascinating that she managed to fall in love with the man who equally loved blueberry scones and violent murder.
'Then why the one hanging on a golden cloak doesn't have... you know,' she said then.
'I believe he swallowed it while he was still alive,' Diane informed.
'Oh,' the princess made a surprised sound. 'Well, that's somewhat ironic.'
One of the guards on the top of the gate cut the first rope and Rickard's body fell down like a sack of stones. 'I appreciate them treating their bodies like dirt,' Diane commented.
'That's because they don't deserve anything else,' the voice sounded, and they turned to see Harrold Westerling approaching them. 'Your Graces, my lady,' he said in the form of a greeting. 'They shall be buried according to the rules of the Faith of Seven but without any honors,' he then informed them.
Daemon hummed in agreement. He would have given their bodies to the pigs but well, it was a matter of taste, he supposed.
'The last thing these men deserve is honors,' Diane added.
'Can't agree more,' Harrold said. 'I will be reviewing the candidates to replace Rickard tomorrow and I would like to invite you to join me, my prince, if you have time,' he then said to Daemon. 'Your input on this matter would be much appreciated.'
'I'll make sure to find time, Ser Harrold,' Daemon agreed. After all, the Kingsguard was tasked to protect the King and his family, and Daemon would love to have a say in who exactly was chosen to protect them.
'And I hope the next time whoever is responsible for-' Harrold started but was interrupted by a sound of another body hitting the ground. '-for bringing such a justice would inform me about the situation beforehand. Especially if it has something to do with the men under my command.'
There was no way for Ser Harrold to know what exactly went down or who was responsible for the murders and the hanging, but he knew Daemon long enough and he observed his daughter for a while so he could make an educated guess. But that didn't really matter. Justice was served, even if in an unusual manner for King's Landing. There was no need to draw any more attention to it.
'I want to believe that with such a display there will be no next time, Ser Harrold,' Diane said to him with a small smile on her lips.
The corners of Harrold's mouth tugged slightly upward, 'As do I, Lady Diane.'