Kiss of the Dragon by Nicola Claire

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 -