Chapter four rolling around for you guys

Please read the notes at the end of the chapter, they're mostly important

Alex

Brandon and Ned exchanged sisters as the new song started to play. Alexandra enjoyed a quiet dance with Ned as he never had much to say, after her dance with Ned, the Starks went to sit at their assigned table. Lyanna was smiling happily as she spoke to Ned about the discoveries that she and Alexandra had made when they went to explore the keep. Alexandra had been asked to dance by Oberyn Martell, she had graciously accepted and so Brandon had taken Elia Martell as a partner for the song.

"Your brother is quite protective of you Lady Stark" said Oberyn as they danced, Alexandra raised an eyebrow.

"Would you not be protective of your own sister, your grace?" she asked in an innocent tone, Oberyn smiled at her, there was not denying that the Dornish man was a handsome one.

"I would my lady, but tell me why is it that a Northern lady finds herself this far south?"

"The king asked for all the noble ladies to attend the feast, your grace, and I had found myself becoming bored at home, a trip to King's Landing proved to be a diversion" she said choosing her words carefully.

"Only a diversion? Not plans of becoming the wife of your prince?" he asked in an interested tone, Alexandra smiled at him.

"Look around, your grace, all this ladies have in mind that they will be the next Princess save for my sister and I, and that is because my sister is a wild soul that would rather become a septa rather than talk about marriage now and me because I found myself bored at home, do you truly think I would leave the amenities of my home for a man I have no chances with?" Alexandra lied easily, but since it was not completely a lie, could it still be counted as one? Oberyn seemed to like her answer.

"Are you sure you have no chance with your prince?" he pressed; Alexandra shook her head.

"Tis the first time I've been to King's Landing, I'm a northern, practically a foreigner here, what would the prince see in me? I have the blood of the wolves running through my veins, we are to be wild and reckless your grace, surely the king would not like a constant headache in his life"

"So you say my Lady, but I'd say the prince would welcome a cold northern breeze in his daily life" Alexandra had to chuckle at Oberyn's words.

"You must know the prince so well your grace"

"He was supposed to be my good-brother, we became good friends, that until mother realized that she did not wanted Dorne to marry into Westeros, he is a nice one, the prince" Oberyn got a faraway look on his face.

They kept talking until the song ended and Arthur Dayne, the fabled Sword of Morning, claimed Alexandra for the next dance. Dornishmen, she found, were prone to gossiping like old ladies, she liked Arthur Dayne as he held himself with noble pride and was a very good dancer.

"You are a magnificent dancer my lady" he said as he twirled her, Alexandra allowed herself to smile.

"Thank you Ser Arthur, you are not half bad yourself" she answered, he smiled at her and she couldn't help but notice that he was a handsome man, too bad he was a Kingsguard and she needed to marry the prince at all costs if she wanted her plan to work and her family to survive.

After the song was over he led her back to her table she smiled courtly at him before he took his leave, Lyanna was grinning at her, Alexandra rolled her eyes at her sister, Brandon and Ned were still dancing with some other ladies. Alexandra's eyes roamed across the dance floor, she couldn't see the silver blond hair of the prince, someone placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to find herself staring into violet eyes.

"Will you dance with me, my lady?" the prince's voice was soft like velvet, but manly, Alexandra's heart fluttered in her chest, she could appreciate a handsome man when she saw one, he offered his hand to her and she placed her hand in his slowly.

"Of course, your grace" her voice was steady, she stood gracefully and as she headed to the dance floor the made the mistake to look back at Lyanna who was grinning and winked at her, she heard the prince chuckle.

"Your sister seems amused, my lady, should I be worried" he said as they started dancing, Alexandra rolled her eyes playfully.

"My sister is under the misconception that I will marry you, your grace" she said nonchalantly, she had to play the cards right, this was a game after all.

"And how about you?" he asked with interest, Alexandra smiled softly at him.

"I'm more of a realist, your grace, I'm just a lady from the north who came here because she was bored, you have better choices, prettier choices, besides I'm not cut out to be a wife" she said indifferently, Rhaegar raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think me so shallow?" Alexandra couldn't help but to smirk at the prince.

"I don't really know, your grace, tis just an assumption" she answered as he twirled her; he brought her closer to him so he could whisper to her.

"Do not be so fast in your assumptions my lady, you will find yourself disappointed, say why you're not cut out to be a wife?" his voice took as husky tone, Alexandra threw her head back and laughed.

"I am not a follower of orders your grace, I could be a friend and a partner, but never a submissive wife, I'm too much of a wild one for that, and I'll try not to assume things, your grace" she said once she had stopped laughing, the prince had them do a turn, Alexandra kept on smiling the whole time. Once the song had ended he returned to her table and kissed her knuckles.

"It has been a pleasure Lady Alexandra" he said in the same husky tone as before, Alexandra smiled at me.

"Just Alexandra, your grace" she answered, he gifted her a smile.

"Alexandra" he repeated softly "A beautiful name"

Alexandra danced with Brandon and Ned several times after dancing with Rhaegar and as she moved across the dance floor with her brother she could feel Rhaegar's eyes on her, and who knew, perhaps marrying the silver prince wouldn't be that bad.

At the end of the dance, Rhaegar stood from his chair in the high table and started his thank you speech, according to the King's order he had to pick his future bride at the end of the dance. His eyes roamed across the hall and he could see the ladies waiting expectantly for his big reveal, all save for one. Alexandra Stark was having an apparently very interesting conversation with her brother; at that moment Rhaegar knew what he wanted. His mother the Queen had prepared a crown for him to crown his princess, Ser Arthur was currently holding the delicate crown.

Rhaegar took the crown gently and walked through the crowd not sparing anyone his glance, Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan were flanking him as he walked. He stopped in front of Alexandra, she looked up at him and raised a defying eyebrow, Rhaegar smirked as he placed the crown on her head and offered her his hand so she could stand; she took his hand softly, glanced at her siblings and stood gracefully. Rhaegar pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek.

"Are you certain that you want to do this your grace?" whispered when he got close, he gave her a little space and smiled.

"Never been more certain in my life, and please, it's Rhaegar" he whispered back then he turned to address the other guests "I present you now my Princess, Lady Alexandra Stark of Winterfell"

Varys stood in front of the King, mad violet eyes gazed upon him, perhaps it had been a bad idea to come straight to the king after the prince's choice, but it was too late now, the King hadn't liked his son's choice, and Varys had to admit that the choice itself had surprised many. Most people believed that perhaps the prince was going to choose his former betrothed Elia, or maybe a Tyrell wife, but never they thought that he was going to end up choosing a northerner.

"Those Starks are plotting against me, I want them burned" ordered the mad King, Varys was fast to placate him.

"Your grace, maybe this is the chance you seek, with their eldest daughter married to your line The North will be at your disposition, their armies are big and their blood is as old as this country and pure at that, they come from the noblest bloodline from Westeros, kings once, this alliance can only benefit you, your grace" Varys was fast to explain, Aerys seemed to ponder Varys' words.

"You are right Varys, much right, Rhaegar shall marry the Stark bitch in four days! Make it happen Varys"

"Yes your grace"

Varys left the king as soon as possible, he was playing his own game, he only hoped it worked, for if he was wrong about the girl Westeros would burn under Aerys' rage.

Alexandra stood in her room watching the crown Rhaegar had placed on her head, it was currently resting on top of her bed. She had done it and she felt horrible about it, she had played her cards right and was now a player of the Game, but she couldn't help but to feel like a cheater, she had played the people she cared about, her only consolation was that it was for their own good.

The crown laid on the bed innocently and Alexandra wondered for how long she had been staring at it, she then heard a knock on her door and looked up to find Brandon entering the room followed by Ser Arthur, Ned and Lyanna, she looked at them confusedly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked warily.

"Not at all my Lady" said Arthur, Alexandra glanced at her siblings then nodded at the dornishman "The king has decreed that you are to marry Prince Rhaegar in four days my Lady" he said, Alexandra kept her face impassive.

"Very well Ser Arthur, anything else you wish to tell me?" she asked raising an eyebrow; Arthur shook his head.

"I shall take my leave, my lady" he said, Alexandra waited a moment until she know he was far enough and she turned to her siblings.

"As soon as I am married to the prince you must leave King's Landing" she said in a hushed tone, Brandon and Ned seemed surprised.

"Why would that be Alex?" asked Ned.

"Its not safe for you here, I want you three safe in Winterfell and faraway from the King" she explained, Brandon did not seem to like the idea.

"And what about you? Who will keep you safe?" he asked, Alexandra smiled softly at him.

"The prince will, but I need to know that you will be safe with father and Benjen, as far as possible from here, at least while the King rules" Brandon raised an eyebrow.

"I will trust your judgement, but if something happens to you I will raise the North and destroy this place, understood?" his voice was firm and Alexandra nodded, he hugged her and Ned and Lyanna joined the hug.

The next day Alexandra was moved to the Maidenvault, she had got Lyanna to stay with her and for that she was eternally grateful. The Queen had visited after she had been moved, Lyanna had been with Brandon and Ned during the visit and Alexandra couldn't help but to wonder if the Queen herself had staged the visit. Rhaella Targaryen was beautiful, but then again that seemed to be a trait of the Targaryen family; for Alexandra had no doubt that in his prime, Aerys had been handsome too.

"Your Grace" curtsied Alexandra as Rhaella entered her room, followed by a small boy, who Alexandra supposed that was Viserys, and Ser Barristan.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Lady Alexandra" the Queen said as she took a seat by the solar, Alexandra joined her and sat too.

"The pleasure is mine your grace" Viserys also joined them looking warily at Alexandra, the small child was extremely cute. "And who might you be?" asked Alexandra addressing the child, the small prince smiled at her"

"Visewys Targawyen" the child stumbled across his surname and Alexandra had to stop herself from squealing, "I'm a dwagon"

"Is that so, my prince?" she asked him, the Queen observed the exchange with a small smile on her face.

"Yes, Whaegar says that we awe dwagons, mamma too" he said proudly, Alexandra motioned for the kid to get close to her, the small prince did and she helped him up to her lap.

"Can I tell you a secret?" she asked him in a hushed tone, but still loud enough for the Queen to hear. Viserys nodded "My father says that my family are wolves" she told him with a smile, Viserys eyes opened wide.

"Awe you a wowf too lady Alexandwa?" asked Viserys in a small voice.

"I am my prince, but you shan't fear me for a wolf never hurts its pack" she said smiling at the small child. He grinned at her and she winked at him.

"You are good with children" said the Queen after Viserys had wondered back to the main room, Alexandra smiled sadly at her.

"My mother died when I was three and ten, my youngest brother was six and I had to help raised him, my sister Lyanna also suffered much from my mother's death and while father did everything he could to lessen the lost he still had the North to rule, it was up to me and my brothers to keep our family okay from harm" she explained and the Queen could feel that the she-wolf was being sincere.

"What do you think of my son?" the Queen asked leaven Alexandra gobsmacked for a moment, she didn't thought the Queen would be so blunt.

"He seems like a good man Your Grace, you have raise him well, I think he's a passionate man yet he seems haunted as if he's missing something vital, still he pushes through the hardships of the world, perhaps not a knight by choice, but a fighter, I believe he will be a model husband and a great king someday my Queen" the Queen nodded at Alexandra's words, they reassured a small part of her, and perhaps her son had a chance of a happy marriage.

Thanks for reading, truly, also thanks for taking time to review.

Now several important things to know

On Chapter length: While I'm the one who writes the story, to avoid autor's blocks and such the chapters of my stories dont really have an average length, which means that sometimes you will be stuck with short chapters and sometimes you will be stuck with long chapters, my stories write themselves and I dont really pressure things, they just happen, so yea, bear with me with this.

On Updates: sometimes you will see that I will magically disappear for weeks and then come back with chapters and then disappear again, that its because I do have a 9 to 5 job and I'm also a student and usually I dont really like to write and post immediately, I will probably write for all my stories like for a month or two, non stop, and have like five chapters ready, review them, change stuff here and there, block myself to the story, start another story to diffuse the primary block, go back to the other story and so on, its a vicious circle that allows me to write 7+ fics at the same time, we all suffer, you dont get chapters soon and I get really stressed and snappy, sorry.

On the story title: why Ice Burns? well the title is about Alex, which is rather obvious, but ice does burns, usually worse than fire in the correct conditions (check out stories on the web from people who have tried to climb Mt. Everest) so the title is basically a forewarning that even though Targaryens have Fire and Blood, Winter is Coming and ice can do as much damage as fire does, that and I was trying to be original, I think too much sometimes.

On Alex being a possible seer: she doesn't want to be one as it comes with responsibility, she knows that Rhaegar is one to believe fully in fate and she is trying to save the world not screw it further, she also wants to allow her friends to make their choices free from knowledge about the consequences of them, so rather than claim to be a seer, she will subtly push them in the right direction.

On what does Alex looks like: In many of my stories she looks the same, because I like to keep her as my constant, here she has grey eyes because is a Stark feature that she needed to have, that is why she was reborn in the universe rather than popping out of nowhere, I try to make Alex as human and relatable as possible, so her looks sometimes do matter, once someone asked that she contradicted herself because she first saw herself as nothing special but then said that she was beautiful, again I repeat she's only human, somedays we feel smoking hot, other days we are couch potatoes so how she looks or how she describes she looks will depend on her mood for stories written in first person is hard not to become Narcissistic with the character as they are the ones narrating the story, we're seeing the world through their eyes, and Alex is complex, multidimensional, she's not pretty, or ugly, she's Alex and you're usually seeing the world from her perspective.

On what I write about: this answer is a bit complicated, because if you have checked my bio you can see what I have published and what is coming in a few weeks, I dont really pick fandoms to write about, plot monsters (as I refuse to call them bunnies anymore) pester me until i have a 30k+ story written with me.

as for recommendations made by Guest Amethyst, I cant do True Blood as I havent watched the show or read those books,

A story about Alex/Clark Kent (Man of Steel version) is being written by a friend of mine and she will probably publish it here so I'm not going to write that pairing again, I trust my friend.

NOW I am writing an Alex/Bruce Wayne based on the Batffleck from Dawn of Justice, because I loved Ben's portrayal of Batman and while Dawn of Justice was not all I wanted to see it was a movie I enjoyed and it gave me an excuse to try to write a much sobered story and to explore a new side of Alex.

As for an Alex/Thor pairing, its not happening, sorry, I love Hemsworth's Thor but I just can't picture Alex with the guy, although they will be very good friends in the Alex/Steve fic.

I can't do Mortal Instruments because I really don't find the stories that good (oops sorry) so I apologize that you wont see Alex/Jayce, Nor a Final Fantasy one, I love to play video games but the ones I play are Mario Kart and Super Smash Bro's and occasionally Crash Banditcoot (I think its spelled right)

For more info, please do check my profile

This got long, if you made it until here give yourself a hug from me. you rock.

Thanks for reading!

Alex.

Ps. part of this Answers will be published on my profile.