Two months had passed since the last time Viserys had taken her and Alicent still hadn't had her monthly courses. It would mark her eighteenth month since she last had them and she knew she was not carrying a child. Based on her symptoms of missing her cycle, frequent hot flashes and night sweats, she feared she knew what was happening to her.
Oh, she cursed the Gods'! She was too young for this as she'd always heard that this change occurred in women at least ten or more years her senior. Yet it was hard to deny the facts. Her last cycle had occurred the month before Lord Corlys had revealed that Rhaenyra was alive and had 10 children of her own. Since then, she hadn't bled even once though she'd long tried to pass it off as it just being irregular, just like it had been since she'd started acting as Queen before her marriage.
It just wasn't fair that she had completely lost her fertility at the young age of 33 and now, as a woman of barely 35, she knew she needed to get the truth confirmed. Alicent was barren.
So she summoned Grand Maester Mellos and the Red Keep's chief midwife to her chambers.
After much examining of her and testimonials from her trusted maids that it had been over a year since she'd last bled, both drew the same conclusion that Alicent herself had already done. She had reached menopause.
After receiving the news, she had her guards take her to the Sept where she threw herself down before the Mother crying out about the unfairness that she had not been able to deliver even one living child and how her womb struggled to even conceive. It just wasn't fair that Rhaenyra, the cursed spawn of generations of incest and sorcery, had been able to carry and birth 10 healthy children, including a set of twins and a set of triplets with seemingly little difficulty while she, a devoted daughter of a Holy House, had not been able to do so. Why had her Gods deserted her when all she had been trying to do is their will? She had just been trying to save the Realm by ensuring that their next ruler was one who was entirely devoted to the Light of the Seven and yet she had failed.
Alicent knew word would soon reach Viserys and her Father so she spent the rest of the day praying for a miracle. Praying that she would wake the next morning with a swollen belly and a son who loved to kick though Alicent feared her prayers would be in vain.
Oh, her Father was going to be absolutely furious with her and she feared that Viserys was going to send her to the Silent Sisters since she was no longer even capable of having a child.
What Alicent didn't know is that Fate was soon going to deliver her an even more cruel blow.
As Alicent exited the Sept, she was hit by something mushy and soon her two guards were busy fighting off a mob.
"Whore!" they yelled.
"Traitor!"
"The Gods' have cursed you for what you did to the Realm's Delight, the Princess Rhaenyra!"
"Queen Aemma was a far greater Queen than you have or will ever be!"
The crowd yelled and screamed insult after insult at Alicent before she finally got fed up and yelled, "Yes, I did arrange for the good for nothing entitled incestuous bitch Princess Rhaenyra to be ruined. The world would be better if she was dead but somehow she's used dark magic to ensure that fire won't hurt her. Believe me, I tried to rid the world of her and her bastards but her dark magic prevented me and I was wrongfully punished for it. Their blood was meant to be a sacrifice so that you would have a proper God Fearing King under the Light of the Seven and guidance of House Hightower.
Yes, my family, the Maesters and the Faith have been working for generations to eliminate the abominations called the Targaryen's and their evil beasts. We've killed many in the womb and cradle and have ended the lives of their mothers. Queen Aemma had to die so that I, a superior woman, could take her place but somehow, members of this terrible house have found out and have used their dark magic to curse my blessed womb…"
Before Alicent could confess more and before her guards could stop it, a man from the crowd rushed up with a blade in hand.
"Your womb will never carry a child!" he said as he plunged the knife into it six times as he chanted "Once for the Conquerors, once for Aenys and Maegor, a time for Jaehareys, a time for Alyssa and her sisters. Once for Good Queen Aemma and last for the Realm's Delight!"
Once done, he quickly disappeared into the crowd to never be seen again.
Alicent's guards finally managed to reach her and then swiftly carried her into the Red Keep.
"Get the Maesters! The Queen has been stabbed!" they cried as they carried the Queen to her chambers.
The Maesters quickly arrived and began to tend to the Queen but it was very quickly apparent that, even if it was believed that Alicent could still conceive, that her womb had been damaged beyond repair and as such, her last hope for a miracle had been dashed for good.