Kiss of the Dragon

by Nicola Claire

  This was unfortunately true. But I couldn't allow him to think I agreed. I fumbled for a moment for an excuse, for a reason why I had chosen him, but my mind seemed to be getting more and more sluggish. I blinked rapidly trying to clear my vision and sucked in a couple of deep breaths to stop the headache that had started behind my eyes. Something was definitely wrong, but I didn't have time to consider what right now, I had to get Aliath back on side.

  "I was drawn to you, Your Majesty. I could no further ignore you sitting there than stop the dance on my own."

  I think he liked that, he shifted my body closer to his. It confused me slightly, Aliath was better at playing Court politics than this, yet right in this instant he was reacting and not thinking his responses through. Then it dawned on me why I might be so tired, he had consumed more of my courage than ever before, wearing me out and because of that, he was now compromised too, as though drunk on it. It made some sense, but there was something in the back of my mind that led me to believe that wasn't entirely correct.

  Aliath's head came down to rest on my shoulder, an intimate gesture that the Grey Lord would never have performed before. It startled me so much that I looked down at him, thankfully his eyes were closed and I didn't get bamboozled by all that gorgeous green. He was breathing deeply though, matching my own efforts to get enough oxygen into my lungs. You'd think we had both run a marathon, but whereas I had an excuse, having been pushed to my physical limit to perform the spin moves, Aliath did not.

  I bit my lip and looked around at the Hyrða guards surrounding us. None of them were paying us attention, their backs to us to provide privacy which seemed a most ridiculous thing to do. I could have been attacking Aliath. Unless, of course, I already had his trust.

  I let a slow breath out at that thought and cleared my throat.

  "Aliath, you seem unwell. Maybe I should notify one of your guards." No question, I was being vigilant in the way I spoke with him. But I knew my statement would garner a response.

  He stiffened and sat upright, his arms tightening their hold.

  "No, Princess. I am..." He shook his head. Then shook it again. "Do you feel it?" he asked, not only surprising me with asking a question at all, but by the words he spoke.

  "I feel nothing," I replied honestly.

  He looked at me, I avoided his eyes, but watched out of the corner of mine as he took in the pallor of my skin. His gaze roaming over my face as though searching for an answer.

  "You are tired," he stated.

  "You pushed me with that spin." I wasn't afraid to admit it, I was beyond tired now and if Aliath did trust me, I needed to trust in return that he would help hide my fatigue from those who would attack. I may have been on his side, but that didn't mean all of his Court were on mine. Their Queen had just died in my realm, some of them would not be happy with that even if she had been a bitch.

  "Were you this tired when the spin was completed?" Another question. Something was definitely wrong with the Dökkálfa King.

  I shifted away from his chest, but remained on his lap. He didn't seem in a hurry to release me, but I was thinking that was more for show now, than because he wanted me nearby. Along with a feeling that something was wrong, Aliath the Grey Lord had also returned.

  "Not immediately," I said slowly, trying futilely to puzzle this all out. Aliath was more switched on than me, despite any residual effects of imbibing on my courage.

  "So, this tiredness," he said just as slowly, "came on afterwards. Was it sudden?"

  I thought back on it and decided it was, but it was also getting worse. I told him so.

  He stood abruptly, the guards all coming to attention and swiftly turning to face us, their backs now to the room. I swayed in Aliath's arms, but thankfully he didn't release me.

  "The Princess is under my protection," he said immediately to the head guard who stepped out of the circle to approach me. No doubt planning to take me from their King and throw me in the dungeons. He stopped as soon as Aliath spoke, no evidence of disquiet at what Aliath had decreed on his face. They were either loyal to their new King or thought him taking me under his protection made sense. Maybe because they assumed he'd wish to feed on me again?

  "Gather the guards and secure the castle," Aliath demanded suddenly. That provoked a change in the Hyrða's expression. Concern etched every plane.

  "Is something amiss, Your Majesty?" For some reason the guard asking a question suddenly made me feel ill. I swallowed several times to avoid vomiting. A strange reaction. Sure, I'd drummed into myself the need to avoid questions when around fairies, so I was bound to baulk when someone asked one within my hearing. But to feel nauseous? That was overkill.

  Aliath stroked a hand over my hip as though he knew I was deteriorating and he was trying to reassure with that simple, yet intimate act. The nausea increased and my legs weakened. A guard immediately brought a chair up beside the King and Aliath helped me to sit. He also took a seat on his own chair to the side and said a few curt words in Fey. Quietly, to just his head guard. Either because he didn't want me to know what the problem was, or because the problem was completely Fey.

  I suddenly wondered if we were about to be attacked by the Ljósálfar. The war between the Light and Dark Courts was still waging. I was unsure how it had progressed as I had been securely locked away, but I was sure the entire time I spun and performed repetitive Weapon Dance moves in my room, Aliath had not been idly watching. He was now King of Dökkálfa, the war was now his to command.

  It took all of my effort not to curl up in my comfy chair and fall asleep. I was so damn tired and all I really wanted was my bed, but if the Light Fairies were about to come charging into the castle I sure as hell wanted to be awake to see them coming.

  A groan escaped my lips and I wrapped my arms around my stomach. Leaning forward slightly in the chair I open-mouth breathed through the increasing amount of bile trying to come back up my throat. I think I might have been panting.

  "It won't be much longer, Princess," Aliath said softly off to my side. I couldn't answer him, I couldn't even turn to look at him. And he was no longer touching me, a distance had appeared between us, familiar, but right at this moment, unwanted.

  I noticed Aliath raising his hand out of the corner of my eye, but didn't realise what the motion meant until Sora knelt at my side and brushed my hair out of my eyes. She placed a cool cloth across my forehead and started quietly whispering in my ear.

  "Not long now, Princess." So similar to what Aliath had said, but it still made absolutely no sense.

  "I need to go to my room. Lie down," I muttered.

  "The King said it would be better if you are visible when they arrive. To avoid any confusion."

  Her words meant something, but all I could do was focus on not bringing my lunch back up. Goddess, I felt awful. So exhausted, so weak, so fragile and the whole wanting to be sick thing was really not very nice. Any moment now and I was going to embarrass myself by hurling in front of the new Dökkálfa King. I groaned again.

  And then out of desperation, pleaded with Aliath, "Please, can't you heal me?"

  He held my gaze, no vivid greens there, but the intensity was too much. My lids flickered down and blocked out his stare.

  "It is better if you do not owe me, Princess. We will be negotiating enough before too long."

  I swore softly under my breath, sure he could still hear me, but not giving a damn. The bloody fairy could heal knife wounds and broken bones without having to be asked, but as soon as I am compromised by food poisoning - it was the only conclusion I could come up with - he not only refuses to heal me, but keeps me upright and out of bed. I had thought he might end up torturing me in his dungeon. It seemed he'd found a better method than the rack.

  Time seemed to slip past and I just felt more and more wretched. Sora continued to wipe my head, saying soothing platitudes that I could no longer understand. She tried to offer me water to drink, but even a sip threatened to unleash everything I was tryi
ng my damnedest to hold inside. In the end she just fell silent - as silent as the rest of the room - and continued to wipe my forehead with the cloth.

  At some stage the nausea ebbed and I sat up in my chair a little straighter. I still felt so, so weak. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand, but at least with the nausea passed, I could hold my head up again and look around the room. The Dökkálfa all wore expressions of nervousness and on some a little fear. But underlying it all was a strange sense of anticipation, almost excitement.

  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 something.

  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.

  Chapter 4

  Negotiations

  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?