"Compiled Qt Quick is an elegant solution to these problems: .qml files as well as accompanying .js files can be translated into intermediate C++ source code. After compilation with a traditional compiler, the code is linked into the application binary. This entirely eliminates the need of deploying QML source code, it reduces the application startup time and allows for a much faster execution on platforms that do not permit Just-in-time compilation."
XAML engine is native C++ code, no VM. Since Windows 8 there isn't also a VM as such on the .NET side, given the AOT compilation support.
Similarly QML is only interpreted in the free version. Commercial Qt compiles QML into native code.