Kiss of the Dragon (5 page)

I looked at one fairy and then another and quickly glanced around the room. Whatever was about to happen, the fairies feared it and wanted it in equal measure. I took a sip of offered water, relieved I could hold it down without ill effect, and waited with them.

I wasn't afraid, other than afraid of feeling nauseous again, but I certainly wasn't excited either. Aliath still hadn't told me what was happening, but I got the impression he definitely knew. I turned in my seat and looked at him, ensuring I avoided looking in his eyes. He didn't look back at me, but would have known I was watching him. He simply looked out over all of the fairies in his Court, held his head high and effected a regal pose.

We all waited with the
Dökkálfa
King.

I shook my head and turned back to look out over the fairies too. Today had certainly turned strange. First an audience with Aliath, then the spin fighting dance to the fairies chimes. Then his feeding on my courage, his strange intimate behaviour and the onset of my illness. To this. A suspended moment in time waiting for
some
thing
.

I crossed my leg over my knee and slumped back in my chair, the nausea still constant in the background, but nothing like it used to be. Sora knelt at my feet, her head bowed and hands cupped on her lap. I felt my lids grow heavy as I watched her preternaturally still pose. It reminded me of the vampires. How still they could be so easily. I'm a fidgeter, I can't help moving. Right now my foot was bobbing up and down softly, slowly, just enough to keep me settled, but not enough to make me feel more ill.

Thinking of vampire stillness made me think of Michel. How he could turn to stone or a statue at the drop of a hat. It used to creep me out, even after I understood what was happening; he'd be visiting the
Iunctio
network and was mentally just not there. Or he was trying to hide a strong emotion, a reaction to something I had done he didn't want me to see and he'd had little control over.
Or
he was injured and he needed to retreat to heal. No matter what reason watching the man you love become little more than a wax model was unnerving.

Sora wasn't quite as still as that, but she was definitely holding her pose longer than most humans could, and way longer than me. Michel used to tease me, about my constant needed to move. Occasionally he'd like to spend a morning curled up on the sofa reading newspapers or surfing the internet on his tablet computer, but I would always have to get up and fluff, make coffee, move cushions, right magazines or books on the side tables. In other words, never sit still. He threatened to tie me down more than once. I smiled at the memory of the ensuing arguments to those threats.

No matter what he did though; sitting still, commanding a room full of vampires, politicking, engaging, conversing, fighting, just being near him was always enough to calm. Despite how tired I felt now, I also felt that same calm I have when he is nearby. When I am connected to him. It's as familiar as my own skin. Even though it had been months since we had been joined that first time and I had only experienced it again for less than an hour before I was pulled through a portal to
Álfheimr,
I would always recognise that connection to him that caused me so much calm.

Like I did now.

I sat upright in my chair and glanced around the room frantically.

Aliath shifted next to me, but didn't make a sound. My heart began to beat quickly, my breaths came in excited short huffs. Sweat graced my skin in a chilling but delightful wash.

But it wasn't my kindred who walked through a rip in space before us and for a split second that confused me and broke a little of my heart.

Until I spotted my vampire, one of my
Tego Texi Tectum
duos. Sergei. Who immediately upon appearing in the throne room of the
Dökkálfa
Royal Court, got down on bended knee before us. Head bowed, hand fisted across chest.

"I come before you as an emissary to the Champion of the Nosferatu and beg audience with the new King of
Dökkálfa
."

A
Hyrða
guard approached from the side, holding one of those golden filigree nets and without a moment's pause, threw the strange substance over my vampire. I shot to my feet, swayed slightly, but the filigree thing simply slipped off Sergei's shoulders and fell discarded to the floor. I collapsed back into my seat with relief and renewed exhaustion. I tried to hide both from my face.

Sergei looked up at Aliath who was blazing all manner of green from his eyes - even I could see the colours flashing in the room from my slightly turned away stance.

"Your Majesty," Sergei said coming to his feet. "The Champion asks for your understanding, but allowing you to curb my talents is not possible in light of the fact you hold his kindred Nosferatin."

Aliath glared at my vampire, who simply stared impassively back.

Michel had thought of everything, including the fact that with Sergei here all fairy magic in the vicinity would be moot. I wrapped my returned Light around me and relished the feeling of wellbeing seeping back into my frame. It wasn't a complete elixir, although I had expected it to be, but then it occurred to me I wasn't suffering from food poisoning at all.

The joining separation had caught up with me as soon as the portal Sergei had used opened up.

I smiled to myself, I could handle a little joining sickness. And then I sent my thoughts of undying love out to Michel through my mind, receiving in return, the most exquisitely beautiful and longed-for words in my head...

Ma douce, welcome back
.

The silence that surrounded us in the throne room was complete. No one moved, not even me, despite the need to jump up and down with delight. Sergei flicked me a small glance, his eyes taking in my entire frame in vampire speed before returning his attention to Aliath. I was sure he had noticed my pale pallor, the sweat that coated my skin. I probably had dark lines under my eyes, but the tiredness had come on so suddenly I hadn't had a chance to check myself out in a mirror yet. I still felt like crap though, so no doubt looked like it too. And Sergei wouldn't have missed a beat.

He didn't show any reaction, his vampire mask was well in place.

We all waited for Aliath to speak. It was his Court, his throne room. Sergei had appeared unannounced, but despite this transgression, no one in this room could doubt what he brought to the table by being here at all. A portal had been reopened. If one was reopened, then they all could be and then the reason to keep me captive would no longer stand. The charm had already been broken though, so the incentive to keep the portals open also no longer stood.

Aliath was not going to simply hand me over to the Champion without securing some form of insurance first.

"I think we should eat," Aliath announced and I let a little breath out in both relief and frustration. Eating was not something I could envisage managing right now. My Light back had warded off the worst of the fatigue, but the nausea was still threatening to return. I needed to get back to my kindred, delaying it was not welcome news.

Within minutes though, the throne room had been transformed into a banquet. It was quite remarkable to witness. Several
fīfrildi
fluttered about the space laying out settings along a long table that blue
Dökkálfa
fairies had hurriedly brought in. Once the
fīfrildi
had set the place settings out, food was quick to appear. This time carried by fairies with red skins. The colourful procession of fairies was only matched in hue by the colourful food they presented before us. Before long the entire room was bedecked with a beautiful feast, most definitely fit for a King.

I was helped to a seat on Aliath's right hand side, opposite me sat Sergei, who held my gaze for several seconds after the King sat at the head of the long banquet table and we followed suit. Dinner was served, none of which Sergei could eat, nor I could stomach. But we both made gestures as though we would.

For several minutes the fairies ate, then as stomachs were filled, conversation started to interrupt the clang of cutlery on china, the scrape of a chair over the marble floor or the glug of a carafe of sweet wine.

"Let us get down to business," Aliath announced quietly, in between sips of his drink. Not so quiet that others nearby wouldn't have heard though, but they didn't eavesdrop. Perhaps it too was against
Dökkálfa
rules. "You have an offer from the Champion." A statement, we were on fairy ground and I prayed Sergei knew all the rules.

"Yes. He is prepared to leave the portals open for the safe return of his kindred Nosferatin." I knew this was simply the start of negotiations, not too much defined in the initial proposal, just enough to get Aliath to lay down some desires of his own. I hated politics.

Aliath took a sip from his glass. "There needs to be a guarantee."

"The Champion speaks as leader of the Nosferatu. Our words are more." Which was true, words to a vampire had meaning, to say them you had to mean them. But...

"I am not Nosferatu."

"He is the Champion." I guess that meant Michel's words weighed even more than words from any old ordinary vampire.

"It is not enough. I seek reassurance that is foolproof."

"You seek an accord or Fey charm."

"Correct."

"The Champion would agree to an accord."

"I would insist on a Fey charm."

"Then the portals will close and the
Iunctio
will attack to free the Champion's Nosferatin at their leisure." Oh hell. Meaning they would use their access to the portals to mount an attack to free me.

"And I would simply kill her."

Sanguis Vitam
filled the air, crackling and hissing in a defiant show of power. Aliath didn't bat an eyelid, just continued to sip his wine. But I didn't miss the obvious. Sergei had been a level two
Sanguis Vitam
Master Vampire when I last saw him, and now he was quite clearly level one. He didn't look at me, but I couldn't stop looking at him. When had he gained this additional power?

Vampires could continue to increase their
Sanguis Vitam
over time, but usually by the time they reach Sergei's age, somewhere around two or three hundred years old, it was pretty much all done. If they lived to the type of ancient age that the
Ambrosia
was at, then power could again grow. But Sergei should have been well contained within his power level for some time, yet here he sat across from me with more than what he formally had.

Sanguis Vitam
levels are rather like the Richter Magnitude Scale. For every point up that scale, the strength of a vampire increases tenfold. From level two to level one the vampire increases their power level by ten. Sergei was ten times more powerful than he was before. It was magnificent and frightening. But more than anything a little puzzling too.

I ignored the whys and hows and concentrated on the deterioration of negotiations before me.

"No one is going to kill anyone or attack anyone," I stated firmly. Both sets of eyes turned to me. "Rein it back in," I commanded Sergei. He immediately obeyed, his
Sanguis Vitam
smoothly retreating on the air.

"Aliath," I went on, "I presume you want the portals to remain open." Not a question, but he answered with a nod anyway. "I would like to return to my kindred, so this is really very easy."

Two sets of eyebrows raised up at that somewhat simple statement. I raised mine in a challenge back at them.

"The Champion will not go for a charm that would threaten to take me away from him again, should things outside of his control activate it." I looked directly at Aliath. "You must understand that." He nodded slowly. "I also understand your reluctance to rely on an accord as insurance too. Someone has to compromise though, but I'll say just this... I consider you a friend, Aliath. I consider you my ally. I would hope you would enter this discussion with all of those points foremost in your mind."

I had nothing to offer up as a bargain, I would help Aliath where necessary, to ensure the portals remained open and that his people were assimilated into our realm. I'd come a long way from the first few days when the
Dökkálfa
were freed and began to feed on humans. They did have honour and rules, and I now could see their feeding as little more than what a vampire did. Aliath, as the
Herra
of the Grey Lords, had been adamant about that. I couldn't imagine as the King of
Dökkálfa
that his standards would have slipped.

But my reassurances would never be enough, and the bottom line was, I was not the Champion. The Champion would always have the final word. I just hoped being
me
that my reassurances were enough to convince Aliath to enter an accord, instead of a charm. Michel would never, ever, go for one of those again.

"You ask a lot, Princess," Aliath said softly.

"My friendship is worth a lot, Your Majesty."

He held my gaze for a moment then murmured, "Yes, it is."

His attention returned to Sergei. "An accord then. The portals remain open on the word of the Champion." Sergei nodded in agreement, but Aliath hadn't finished. "But I insist I have access to the Princess. She is a Princess of
Álfheimr
, of
Ljósálfar
in fact, although I will not hold that against her." His smile was brief. "But as a Princess of
Álfheimr
I would like to remain in touch."

"You don't need an accord for that," I said when he had finished.

Aliath looked up at me and his smile turned a little knowing. "You do not fully understand men, Princess. He would keep you from me if he thought I was a threat."

"But you're not a threat," I said defiantly, and also with a hint of a challenge. His smile broadened.

"He will never see that where you are concerned."

I looked over to Sergei to gauge his reaction to all of this. He would have received instructions from Michel prior to coming here, I wondered if this had been expected at all. Sergei's face was vampire impassive.

Michel?
I whispered in my mind.

Ma douce
, came his dry reply. I think he had been expecting me.

Would you keep me from seeing Aliath?

You are mine.

Well that spoke volumes, but then Michel wasn't here. No doubt Sergei was indeed his emissary and therefore an accord with Sergei was as good as an accord with Michel. But Michel had been forced to send a
Tego Texi Tectum
to me, in order to nullify fairy magic and have the upper hand. However, Sergei was not his vampire. Sergei was mine.

"Make the accord, Sergei," I instructed. My vampire turned his head slowly to look me in the eye.

"I speak for the Champion, Mistress."

"Yes. And I am the Champion’s kindred Nosferatin, and the Champion is not here." I didn't need to say
and you're mine
. But mentioning I was Michel's kindred was always enough to get vampires' attention. Whenever Michel had been absent, his vampires had always deferred to me.

Sergei nodded slowly and then returned his attention to Aliath.

"An accord. The Champion's kindred Nosferatin is returned to him and the portals remain open on the Champion's word." Then reluctantly it seemed, he added, "And you may have access to visit with his kindred."

Aliath chuckled, clearly thinking he had got the better of the deal and maybe he had. Michel, if he had been here, would not have allowed that last concession. He may have considered there to be an imbalance in the accord, but I didn't. Aliath would have insisted on a charm, which Michel would definitely not have wanted. In return for his concession of an accord, Aliath got an assurance he'd be able to keep seeing me. Pretty fair, if you asked me.

"Agreed," Aliath eventually replied.

A knife appeared on a silver tray immediately to his side, the tray thankfully was just plain silver and not fairy silver as it didn't call to me in any mysterious and entirely evil way, and the knife appeared to be stainless steel. It wouldn't have been nice to offer a silver one to their vampire guest whilst trying to seal an accord.

Palms were sliced, the accord's terms were again voiced by each side and then Aliath and Sergei shook hands. Or at least allowed their blood to mingle thereby sealing the accord. Much like a Fey charm which uses magic to bind the subjects to it, blood in this case bound both Aliath and Sergei to the accord. It couldn't be broken, but loopholes could be found in the words. I had noticed that Sergei did not guarantee the portals remaining open, only that they would do so on the Champion's word.

Words to vampires mean something, so this wasn't an entirely hollow statement, but it also wouldn't mean Michel's death or his imprisonment in
Álfheimr
should it fail - they'd have to catch him first and that would mean war. So no, not hollow, but also not final either. Michel obviously believed a war - if it should come to that - an acceptable consequence, bearing in mind the portals would be closed and Aliath's
Dökkálfa
would find it impossible to mount an attack.

I didn't want to think too closely on it all, besides I was feeling so very tired all over again. I had to hope the accord would hold, that the portals would in fact remain open and that I would see my fairy friends again. Not just Aliath, who I had grown somewhat fond of, but I also hoped Sora
would visit. Even if the
fīfrildi
hadn't been as close on this stay as the last, she was still my friend, evidenced by her care when I felt so sick just now. Her ministrations were genuine, her words not just platitudes to ease my discomfort, but said from the heart.

Well done, ma douce
, Michel whispered in my mind, distracting me from my thoughts and returning tiredness.

Well done?
I asked in surprise and then it hit me.
You knew he'd ask for that, didn't you?

Of course.

And it doesn't bother you that I forced Sergei to agree to his request?
I asked, feeling a little uncertain how he would reply.

His soft laughter ran right through me, warming me from the inside out, filling me up with promises and sending delightful shivers down my spine.

He'd planned it, he'd known all along that I would intervene, but by doing so I had allowed him to remain aloof of it all. Aliath was aware that Michel would protect me from any threat and that hadn't changed. But I had enabled Michel to make a concession, to complete the accord and save face at the same time. I was unsure if he would ever have agreed to letting Aliath remain in contact with me, but I'd never know now. I had made the decision for him.