From the Ashes {Game of Thrones}

Chapter 19: Diamond Chair

Karina pulled Jaime into an alcove hidden from everyone and smiled at him. "Shouldn't we be going to the hall?" Jaime asked resting his hands on her hips.

"We have a little bit of time before the guests will be making their way to the hall," Karina replied. "I wanted a proper kiss before we had to deal with all that," she stated leaning up and capturing his lips in a kiss. Jaime happily complied and kissed her back. His tongue pushing for entrance. Karina's hands trailed up from his chest until they were tugging at his hair gently. Jaime moaned into her mouth at the pull which in turn made her grin. She pulled away from him for a breath of air. "That was better," Karina said seeing a slight tint of red on his lips.

"Had we kissed like that in the Sept, we would've scandalized all the guests," Jaime replied resting his forehead against hers. Karina let out a laugh before attaching their lips once again.

"We should probably head to the hall now. The guests will be arriving soon," Karina said after pulling away from his lips again. She smiled at the slight puffiness of Jaime's lips due to them kissing.

"Lead the way," Jaime said holding out his arm for her to take. Karina took his arm and led him towards the hall where the feast was to be held. The shining diamond chair catching her eye instantly as she walked towards the high table. Jaime saw it as well and wondered why the Spyres had one diamond chair. It didn't look comfortable at all.

Jaime helped Karina sit down at her assigned seat. "You look beautiful," Jaime complimented sitting down next to her. The Lannister cloak had been taken off and sent back to her room.

"Thank you," Karina said smiling at her husband looking around the hall to see some final touches being placed by the servants. "I don't want to go through with the bedding ceremony. I'd rather not have the people I grew up with see me naked," she told her husband.

"If any man tries to put his hands on you, I will maim him," Jaime promised. "We'll sneak out before any of them can even think to say bedding ceremony," he added. Karina nodded gratefully. She was no stranger to what happened during Westerosi weddings in the noble houses. The two continued to talk amongst themselves as people started arriving. Handmaidens led each person to their assigned seat. "Why is there a seat of diamonds?" Jaime finally asked his wife.

"For my aunt Laena," Karina told him glancing at the diamond encrusted chair. "She was called the Diamond in the Falls. Father had that chair built after her untimely death before the Battle of the Trident during Robert's Rebellion. On every important occasion we place that chair as to honor her memory and presence," she explained. Jaime nodded. He thought back to the days that the Mad King still ruled. He remembered the raven haired blue eyed woman that would paint in the gardens of the Red Keep as the silver haired prince played his silver harp. Rhaegar married Elia Martell, loved Lyanna Stark, and sought comfort from Laena Spyre. Glancing back at the diamond chair, Jaime couldn't help but wonder if there was an ulterior motive in placing the diamond seat next to his father. The Lannister army had been the one to capture Laena on her way back to Veritas. It had been under Tywin's command that she was handed over to Robert, who had eventually murdered her in cold blood.

When Tywin saw the high table, he expected to be sitting next to his son and daughter by law, in a seat of more importance. He was greatly disappointed when he found himself to be sat five seats away from his son and pushed to the edge of the table with his younger son no less. He wouldn't have minded being closer to his daughter, a Queen. Tywin kept his mouth shut, but when he found out that the Spyres placed an empty chair closer to the newly wed couple, Tywin voiced his complaints. No chair was more important than Tywin Lannister. He was the father of the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. He was the one who funded the King's whims.

He found Aren Spyre and pulled the lord to the side. "A chair, Aren? You have an empty chair while my son and I pushed to the side," he asked annoyed by the lord.

"It's Laena's chair. As per our tradition since her death, we keep her chair at all important events like marriages," Aren replied. "Had she been alive, my sister would have been sitting there so her chair stays there," he said not wanting to argue with the lord about this. Nothing he said would change his mind on the placement of the chair.

"The dead are gone. Leave them in the past," Tywin told the dark haired man. He was sick of hearing of the dead. First Robert with Lyanna and now the Spyres with Laena.

"The phoenix never dies, Tywin. It is only reborn time after time, ready to fulfill the course its predecessors set," Aren said leaving Tywin alone as he went to take his seat again. What Tywin didn't understand at the time was Aren's threat. The phoenix would never die at the hands of a lion.