The meeting took place inside the hollow tree. Tristan marched me straight to it.

"No need to pull so hard!" I snapped as we went inside. "I'm perfectly capable of walking—especially to anywhere that takes me away from Erica."

"Well if you walk too slowly, Erica won't leave you alive long enough to reach the tree."

I laughed. "Let her do her worst."

He shot me a strange look, as if he couldn't decide whether I was brave or stupid.

My arm hurt from where he had yanked on it so hard, but I couldn't rub it with my hands still bound together. Tristan led me over to a grand looking table on a dais at the rear of the tree-hall hybrid. The inside of the hall was bare; its walls were formed of smooth wood, decorated only with thin garlands of flowers and ivy. Candles served as the only source of light inside the space, which was dim and full of shadows. There was very little furniture besides the table and its chairs, which appeared to have been carved straight from tree trunks. There wasn't even a visible ceiling above my head, although a wooden staircase ran in a spiral around the walls of the hall, reaching up into darkness. The rest of the room was empty space, perhaps to allow for maximum occupancy.

"What's Erica's problem, anyway?" I asked, taking a seat at one of eight wooden chairs.

"She's had it in for anything Helian since she escaped from your Realm—she's probably going to lose the election because of what happened."

Well that was interesting to know. No wonder Erica had lost all of her pretence of diplomacy.

My head cocked slightly to the side, I regarded the Sephan. He definitely couldn't be much older than me, but from the way he was talking and the buzz that had surrounded him on my trip to the capital, I surmised that he must have been running for President. He was so young though; how could he run a Realm, even with a co-ruler? Surely the Sephans must have some restrictions...

Then again, he was slightly older than Brae, who had more or less taken over the running of the Arcan Realm now that his father was too unwell to do so. Brae, who had been training to rule for his entire life, who had been so bold, so commanding, in the Helian Realm that even my grandfather had been taken aback. Perhaps Brae was just a special case; circumstances dictated that he had to take control. Besides, it wasn't as though there were any older Arcan Protectors left other than his own mother and one or two too ancient to be of any use. My grandfather's predecessor had seen to that...

I couldn't imagine taking on so much responsibility so quickly. I had always assumed that I would take the Helian throne at some point, but that was in the distant future; my grandfather was still healthy and my parents were young. I wouldn't choose to take power sooner, as this Sephan appeared to be doing.

Tristan's eyes glinted in the light from the lanterns on the wall, betraying his excitement. He remained otherwise composed, however, leaning on the back of a tree stump chair and regarding me with interest, mixed with something else—triumph, perhaps? He certainly thought that he knew what he was doing, even if I had my doubts...

Moments later, Erica came in, followed by four other Sephans, none of whom were Protectors. They all looked at me warily before taking seats on the opposite side of the table. Tristan took a seat beside me, surprising me, since this placed him firmly on my side.

Erica had a choice: she could either sit beside me, or on Tristan's other side. She hesitated for a moment, as if deciding which position would be most advantageous, before taking the seat beside mine. Perhaps she was worried it would make Tristan look braver than her otherwise.

"Now that all of the candidates are here—" Tristan began, but I quickly interrupted him.

"Wait a minute, where's Nolan?" The large, non-Protector Sephan who had come to the Helian Realm was nowhere to be seen.

"You do not have permission to speak!" Erica squeaked with anger. "You are here as a prisoner, not a committee member!"

I rolled my eyes at her. Control freak much?

"Nolan isn't running for a second term as President. He retired from public life after his return from the Helian Realm. He said he'd had enough of politics," Tristan told me. He smiled at Erica as he spoke and I wondered if he was only answering my question to goad her.

"None of this is important!" Erica snapped at him. "We are here to find out what she is up to!"

"Well, you're going to be sorely disappointed then, since I'm not up to anything. I didn't even mean to be here!"

It was Erica's turn to roll her eyes. She was clearly unconvinced.

"Don't insult our intelligence, Helian! We should kill you now, before you have a chance to report back to your Realm."

"Maybe we should send her back," one of the non-Protectors suggested, earning herself a glare from Erica. "We would be sending a message that they can't trick us, but it shouldn't trigger a violent response. We don't want to give them an excuse to attack us."

"Perhaps that's exactly what we need to do!" Erica replied, her eyes bright.

"Hang on!" Tristan interrupted. "Let's hear what the Helian has to say."

"I have a name you know!" I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Roxanne LeMarc," Erica supplied. "She's the heir to the Helian throne. Think of the message we would be sending if we killed her."

"Wait, Erica! Let her speak. Roxanne, why are you here?"

Why was he even bothering? Was he simply trying to disagree with everything Erica said to get on her nerves?

"I was trying to get to the Arcan Realm." If they were going to kill me, I might as well be truthful.

The look of disgust on Erica's face was clear; she thought that the Helians had decided we were better off attacking the Arcans than the Sephans. An idea which was completely true, of course, but that was beside the point.

"I didn't betray you," I said, looking at Erica. "Cinaer placed me under Control on the night of the escape. He made me tell them what I had planned with Brae. He's kept me under Control ever since. I was trying to get to the Arcan Realm for help."

"Why would they take you in?" Erica snapped, her nose turned up.

"Because Brae and I were... friends." Okay, so I wasn't going to tell her the whole truth.

It didn't look like it was going to matter. Erica made a noise of disgust. "Are we really going to sit here and let her spin her lies?"

"I'm not lying!"

"I saw you that night. You didn't look like you were being Controlled to me."

"Did you see me attack anyone? Did you see me use my powers? Why do you think I haven't used them now, to toast the lot of you?" I was standing up now, shouting at her. "I can't use my powers! Cinaer... Cin..." I lost my nerve as I said his name, remembered the delight on his face as he ran his flames over my body.

I sat back down, my anger deflated.

"What a pretty story. Convenient too, since we have no way of testing whether you really can use your powers or not." Erica smirked. I saw two of the ordinaries exchange a look; they were more convinced by her than me. Or maybe she was just scarier. What had Cinaer reduced me to? Was I really less intimidating than a Sephan? I could always show her the burns that littered my collar bone and shoulders; she wouldn't have seen a Helian Protector with those before. But that would be too great a sign of weakness. I wasn't that hopeless yet.

"We have no way of proving that she's lying either," Tristan said, coming to my defence. What was this guy's agenda? "We've always prided ourselves as being a Realm of justice and diplomacy. We are no better than the others if we kill a Helian purely because of where she comes from."

"What do you suggest, Tristan?" one of the ordinaries asked him.

"I think we should take her on to the Arcan Realm, like she asked, and let them deal with her."

"And let them think that we can't make our own decisions? That we have to come to them with our problems?" Erica seethed.

"Let's vote," Tristan said with a shrug. "All those in favour of killing the Helian?" Erica's hand shot into the air with impatience. After a moment of hesitation, two of the ordinaries followed suit. "And of taking her to the Arcan Realm?" Tristan and the remaining two raised their hands. "It would appear that we're at a stale mate."

"As the previous President—" Erica began, before Tristan cut her off.

"You have no more power than the rest of us, Erica. Not until the results of the election are in."

"How will we decide then?"

"We don't," he answered simply. "We're going to have to wait until the end of the election. The new rulers of the Sephan Realm will decide what to do with her."

"What happens to me until then?" I butted in.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Erica said, her eyes menacing.

Tristan shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea, Erica. You've got a personal vendetta against Roxy, it wouldn't be right. She can stay with me. I'm completely neutral in the matter and I have the powers to control her if she gets out of hand," he added, before Erica could jump in to suggest one of the ordinaries.

"And what about these?" I asked, shaking my wrists to draw attention to the manacles. "Can I have them off while I await final verdict?"

Even Tristan shook his head.

"Absolutely not!" Erica said, appalled.

"A minute ago you didn't believe that they even did anything!"

"Better safe than sorry," she scoffed, before standing, signalling that the meeting was over.

"I'm sorry, Roxy, but it's not a good idea," Tristan said, a little more kindly. "Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying."

{Thanks for reading! Please vote/comment if you enjoyed it. And let me know what you think of Tristan so far. He's one of my favourite character in the series}