When Blaine woke up the next morning, he was lying on his stomach with a face full of pillow, and he wondered idly in the deep recesses of his still-sleepy mind how he didn’t manage to suffocate while he was sleeping. Then the events of the night before came rushing back into his memory and he buried his face deeper into the pillow, wanting to scream like a child out of giddiness.

“Uh, Blaine?”

Blaine nearly fell out of bed as he rolled over fast as lightning onto his back and sat up quickly, successfully tangling his legs in a knot of bedsheets. When he became a little less disoriented, he saw Rachel closing the door quietly behind her.

“Rachel, can’t you knock?”

“I did.”

“Oh.”

“You looked like you were having a good dream, so I didn’t want to wake you up, and I figured I would just wait,” Rachel said, coming over to sit on the edge of Blaine’s messy bed. She was still dressed in her silky nightgown.

“Do you realize how disturbing that is?” Blaine asked groggily, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Yeah, a bit.”

“Why are you even in here?”

Rachel frowned. “Am I not allowed to be?”

“Well, I mean, I guess it’s okay, since we’re going to be married...”

Rachel sat back farther on the bed and crossed her legs in front of her. “Did you leave the ball with Kurt last night?”

Blaine furrowed his brow. Rachel looked like she was hiding something.

“Uh, yeah,” Blaine answered sheepishly, and his eyes seemed to say it all. Rachel tried to keep the smile off of her face.

“The whole secret love affair thing is totally sexy, admit it, Blaine Anderson.”

Blaine sighed and then giggled as he fell back onto the mountain of pillows.

“I have to tell you something,” Rachel said, scooting closer and wringing a corner of the sheets in her hands.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, last night... I... I mean, I wasn’t planning on it... and I’m not that kind of...”

“Rachel, for God’s sake, spit it out.”

“Finn and I...”

“Oh, my God.”

“We sort of...”

“Oh, my God.”

“I mean, it wasn’t like...”

“Rachel, oh my God!”

“Blaine, keep it down, the whole castle is going to hear you!”

Blaine rolled onto his side and raised his eyebrows at his best friend. “Tell me everything. Start at the very beginning.”

“Actually the beginning starts last time I was here, at the Summer Solstice ball,” Rachel began, and Blaine’s own personal memories of that night floated back to him, mingled with what had transpired on the South Tower roof hours ago.

“Well, I always sort of had a little crush on Duke Finn ever since we were little and he showed me how to feed a horse. But, at the Summer Solstice, it suddenly felt like there was so much more than there had once been between us, you know?”
Blaine nodded, because he did know.

“So, that night we... disappeared for a couple of hours.”

“And last night...?”

Rachel bit her lip, but nothing could stop the slow smile that spread across her face.

“We reconnected.”

Blaine snorted and pressed his face into the pillow to quiet his laughter.

“We are the least faithful to-be-married couple ever, and it’s wonderful,” said Rachel, which only made Blaine laugh harder.

Rachel giggled and grabbed one of the pillows, bringing it down on the back of Blaine’s head.

“Hey!” he shouted, and grabbed a pillow of his own.

Before they could beat each other to a pulp with Blaine’s feather pillows, two of Blaine’s cousins, Lords Nicholas and Jeffrey, knocked and burst into the room.

“Blaine, breakfast is ready!”

“Time for food!”

“Nutrition!”

“It’s good for-”

“Oh, wow,” both of the cousins said at the same time, freezing at the sight of Blaine and Rachel with messy hair tangled in a mess of sheets on Blaine’s bed. Blaine felt his face grow hot with a blush.

“Sorry, Blaine!”

“Have fun, you two!”

And with that, the blond and the brunette ducked out of the room. Blaine and Rachel could hear them laughing all the way down the corridor.

“Oh, God,” she muttered, her face falling into her hands and her shoulders shaking with laughter. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Well, thankfully, Nick and Jeff talk a lot, so at least when people hear about this, they’ll never expect what really goes on.”

Rachel lifted her head and grinned deviously. “Very true, my friend, very true.”

“It’s like they’re doing all the hard work for us,” Blaine said.

“Yeah, and I’m going to get a pretty fancy reputation when people start thinking that giant bruise on your neck is because of me.”

“Rachel!” Blaine shouted, chucking a pillow at her, but she dodged it expertly.

“No, but seriously, tell me what happened between you and my brother,” said Rachel, fluttering her eyelids and folding her hands in her lap, as if waiting for a particularly interesting story.

Soon after, Rachel and Blaine arrived in the dining hall fully dressed. They sat down next to each other at the table that the young royals often crowded around. There were hardly any adults left eating breakfast, due to the late hour and their busy, adult schedules.

The dozen or so people seated at the table quieted drastically when Rachel and Blaine took their seats, which made it obvious that they had just been discussing the two of them. Now they began to grin openly at the couple, but Blaine and Rachel went about eating their food as if nothing had happened. With a quick glance across the table, Blaine could see that Kurt and Finn, both sitting next to each other, had their own secret smiles on their faces.

“So,” Lord Nicholas began with a mouth full of sliced ham. “I hope you two lovebirds had a great time at the ball last night. Or had a great time in general, last night.”

The pretty, young Lady Sophia that Nick was courting elbowed him in the side. “Nick, don’t be rude!”

Lord Jeffrey snorted into his porridge. “Yes, darling Nick, don’t be so rude! Let the bunnies tell us the dirty details themselves.”
Across the table from Blaine, Kurt snickered and Finn blushed. Blaine felt a rush of heat spread across his own face.

“What kind of lady would I be if I spoke of what transpired?” Rachel said in a light, composed voice, always the one to keep her cool in awkward situations. She really was a talented actress, Blaine thought.

“Then Blaine can tell us!” said Jeff, tossing a roll of brown bread at Blaine, who caught it and glared at his friend.

“Poor Blaine,” Kurt said. “You never did like the spotlight.”

Several people sniggered into their sleeves, while others who were less acquainted with Kurt, shot him strange looks, as if surprised he could make jokes. He was an oddity to them, for they had never known a man who loved men rather than women. Blaine felt a pang of guilt for his own closeted personality.

“Let’s leave it at this, boys,” Blaine said pointedly to Lords Nick and Jeff, but smirking at Kurt as he did so. “What happens in the South Tower, stays in the South Tower.”

Even the most subdued young royals laughed at that. After all, they were still children and entertained by the crude humor of innuendo.

“Prince Anderson?” said a servant, leaning forward next to Blaine’s chair. “Your mother has sent me to remind you that you will be sitting in at the Royal Council this morning, and that your military training begins this afternoon.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Blaine replied, addressing the servant in an arrogant manner and trying to regain every shred of regality he could as he pushed back his chair and hurried off to the Council chamber. Before he left, he planted a soft kiss on Rachel’s cheek for show, and then, when he was sure nobody was watching, he shot a wink in Kurt’s direction.