"Hey," Tristan said, smiling up at me as I entered his room.

"Hey yourself," I smiled back. I suddenly felt a bit silly, just appearing in his room without really thinking what I was going to say to him, or what I was going to do.

"I stopped by your room earlier to check up on you, but you weren't there. Are you coping okay?"

I nodded. I didn't want the evening to be taken up with sadness and second guessing, like the day had been. I was here to escape all that, with some help from Tristan's lips...

"I just had some errands to run. I'm fine."

"So..." he said, putting aside the book he had been reading and getting slowly off of his bed. "Is this purely a social visit then?"

"Well, that's what I was hoping."

He was close now, really close, and I could feel my heart racing in my chest. My skin tingled with anticipation-I felt as though I was about to burst into flames.

"I'm glad you came," he whispered, his lips millimetres from mine.

I closed the gap between us, winding my hands around his neck and drawing him towards me, drinking him in.

This was exactly what I needed: distraction; release; escape.

Then there had to be a knock at the door.

Tristan's lips broke away from mine and I frowned in disappointment.

"Go away," he growled at whoever was on the other side of the door. "I'm busy."

"Terra, you are never too busy for me," Roxy remarked as she pushed the door open anyway. She froze in the doorway when she took in how close we were pressed together, Tris' arms wrapped possessively around my waist. "Oh," she said. "I guess maybe this time you were."

"What the Air?" It was only now that I noticed Brae standing beside her, his face thunderous.

"Seriously. What part of 'go away' do you people not understand?" Tristan sounded pretty mad too. He loosened his grip on me slightly, twisting away so that he could face Brae and Roxy.

Brae glared past him to me. "What's going on, Jasmine?"

"What do you mean? Tristan and I are hanging out, there isn't a rule against that now is there?"

"It doesn't look like all you're doing is talking!" he huffed, gesturing to Tristan's arm on my waist.

I drew closer to Tristan instinctively. "And what does that matter to you? How is it any of your business?"

"Jazz-" Brae sounded like a parent talking to a child who was acting up in public. His tone was full of warning; don't start an argument now.

"No Brae. You can't have it both ways." I was mad now. Who did he think he was? He had moved on, so why couldn't I? It wasn't like I was serious about Tristan; he was just a very attractive distraction. "You made your choice, Brae. Now let me make mine."

"Roxy, can't you talk some sense into her!" Brae looked at her imploringly.

But Tristan rolled his eyes. He took his arms away from my waist and crossed them across his chest. "Oh, so the Helian doesn't deem me suitable either now, does she?"

"Hey! I didn't say anything, Tris!"

"Well you're not exactly backing me up, are you?"

"Come on! We both know you're not perfect, Sephan."

"That's rich, coming from a Helian! Whose ex is currently massacring hundreds of innocents in a bid to bring her back to the Realm of evil?"

"Cinaer's actions are not Roxy's fault!" Brae stepped in, taking hold of Roxy's hands. The room had grown increasingly cold, as it always did when Brae was mad. The curtains flapped in the window and I drew my soft grey cardigan around my body more tightly.

"Of course not-but Tristan hasn't done anything wrong either!" I said, defending him.

"That you know of!" Brae interrupted. "Come on, Jasmine, how well do you really even know him?"

"What has that got to do with anything? We're just having fun, it's not a big deal-we could all do with a bit of a distraction at the moment. And I can do whatever I want, Brae. You don't get a say." I could feel a crackling in my fingertips, the building up of a static surge. I breathed deeply, trying to calm myself down. Tristan noticed my discomfort and rubbed the top of my hand soothingly.

"Roxy," Brae said, turning to her and changing tactics. "Tell her that this is a bad idea."

Roxy looked apprehensive-she was clearly reluctant to take sides. "Tristan's not perfect, and I'm sure he's willing to admit that, but then none of us are. I do think though, that due to our current situation, all of us should be careful about our relationship choices. Now is not the right time." She looked as though she wanted to say more, but couldn't. I could see the unease on her face. What did she know that I didn't?

"I can't believe you're both being so racist!" Tristan said angrily. "Just because I'm a Sephan automatically means I'm not good enough? To be honest, I think your relationship is far more contentious. How do you think that the Arcan Realm will react when they realise that their King is dating 'the enemy'? Or your Realm, Roxy, when they find out that Cinaer has been lying to them and that the next in line to the throne is in love with the Arcan King and abandoned her own Realm to be with him? Jasmine and I don't have those kinds of responsibilities-the Sephans don't care who I date and Jasmine is a free agent."

Brae laughed, dark and cruel. "That just shows how little you know about her, doesn't it. You know nothing about Jasmine and you are completely undervaluing her importance." I knew that he must be talking about my mother and how I was technically next in line to the Brizan Realm. It wasn't a fact I had shared with Tristan-or anyone other than Brae, Roxy and Caleb. It didn't exactly fit with my idea of keeping mine and Tristan's relationship light...

"Of course I realise how important she is!" Tristan responded angrily. "She has powers and capabilities our world has never seen before. Her potential is limitless."

"So you think you can use her then? Is that it? You want to get her on side in your misguided attempt to get the Sephan Realm on the map?" The winds had really picked up now. Roxy put her hand on Brae's arm, a restraining gesture. An attempt to calm him down.

"How dare you think that, Arcan? Just because you're so keen to have both of them," Tristan gestured from me to Roxy. "You're just being selfish and self-obsessed. You're with Roxy but you want control over who Jasmine can and can't see too? You Arcans-with your sense of self-entitlement and superiority-you make me sick."

"Don't act so righteous, Terra," Roxy butted in. "You're the only one of us in this room who's ever killed someone. I don't think that puts you at the top of the 'good guys' list."

"Well I think that depends on who I've killed and why. I think I've saved both yours and Jasmine's lives now. What has your Prince done?" he added, gesturing to Brae. "Blown a bit of wind in Cinaer's direction? Abandoned you in the Helian Realm?" He turned away from Roxy to me. "And he dropped you for her as soon as she showed up. Why am I being treated like the bad guy in this situation? I think I've proven more heroic than the Air Head on several occasions."

"Don't call him that!" I said, at the same time as Roxy said, "Don't use those words!" Flames were now blazing at Roxy's fingertips. The situation was quickly escalating out of control. I just hoped that Tristan kept his cool and didn't bring the whole castle down with a quake.

Perhaps he was thinking the same thing; he laughed before saying: "Oh come on. This is getting pathetic now." Tristan turned to me, squeezing my hands gently. "You and I could have a lot of fun together-I think we both know that. But it's up to you to decide if you want to or not. If you do, all you have to do is say." He smiled before dropping them. "I think I'm going to go for a walk. Perhaps most of you will have left my room by the time I return."

"Wait!" I called as he pushed past Brae and headed towards the door. I avoided Brae's furious glare as I said, "I'm coming with you!"

Tristan smiled and held his hand out for me.

"No, both of you wait-this is ridiculous!" Roxy blocked my path to the door. "We didn't come here to fight. We have important news-really bad news-about the Helian attack. We need to all act like grown-ups for a bit and discuss it."

"What news?" Tristan and I asked at exactly the same time.

Roxy sighed and headed over to the bed, sitting down on the edge and looking back up at us.

"Can we call a temporary truce?"

"Sure," I said, looking at the boys. "So long as everyone promises to behave."

We were standing in a circle around Roxy. Representatives of the four World Realms. Given the arguments that had kicked off from having the four of us in the same room, I could see why inter-Realm diplomacy had always been so frosty.

"We've just had a visit-from Cinaer."

"What?" Tristan and I said, in unison again.

"Roxy are you-" I began, but she cut across me.

"I'm fine-this time-he was delivering a message, a warning. If you don't surrender me to him in ten days, he's going to attack all of the Arcan settlements, slaughtering thousands."

"Ten days is ages away. Why such a long time scale?"

"I think he wants to make me suffer-to watch Brae agonise over the decision. He's trying to draw out the tension." Roxy ran her hands through her hair, tugging on it slightly.

"He may not be ready yet, he might need more time to put his attack in place," I suggested. Brae nodded.

"I wondered that too," he said.

"So where do we go from here?" Tristan asked. "Do you believe he really could attack all of those places? How could he have the manpower, without us finding a trace of him?"

"Well that's what I was going to ask you," Brae said, looking at Tristan for the first time. "Haven't you been using your... assets to look for him?"

"I've been into the forests a few times, looking for signs, communicating with some of the animals, but there's been nothing. My powers are quite localised-it's not like I could get a bird to fly over the whole island, sending signals back to me-I lose my connection once it's out of sight."

"What about if you were following the bird on the ground?" Brae asked. "We could send you out with a team, to do a trip around the whole Realm. If they're on land you'd have to find something."

"It could work." Tristan sounded apprehensive. "But are you sure you're not just trying to get me out of the castle for a bit?"

Brae smiled drily. "There wouldn't be any point, since I'm about to ask Jasmine if she wouldn't mind helping Roxy tackle another mission for me." He turned to Roxy and me. "We can't do this alone-if we're going to attack Cinaer and an unknown number of Helians, we need to call in some extra help. From what Cinaer has said, it sounds as though your father is still alive. I want the two of you to go over to the Helian Realm-I'm sending Cameron with you to make the journey quicker. If you can rescue your father, Vincent and anyone else you can get onside, you can bring them back here to help us bring Cin down.

"I'm also going to send an envoy over to the Brizans, to see if they can send people to help us-I think we could do with having Imogen back too. We can't beat him by ourselves and we're certainly not giving up Roxy. These ten days are going to be a gift rather than a trial. With them, we can plan our final stand.

"So are you up for it?"

I nodded. "I am if Roxy is."

{Tensions are rising! Can the four realms work together to defeat Cin, or is getting along going to prove impossible? Please vote and comment to let me know what you think of the new plan.}