"I thought I might find you up here," Austin says as he walks over to where Ally is sitting against the wall of the observatory on the roof of the palace.

"Congratulations," she mutters, not looking up from her sketchbook, where she's violently scribbling with a pencil.

"Wanna talk about what happened?" he asks.

"No."

"Okay." He walks over and sits next to her against the wall.

"You should go back to your party. I'm fine."

"I know you are," he says, staring out at the twinkling lights of the capital city stretching out below them.

"Then why are you out here?"

"I thought I could keep you company."

"I don't need company."

"I know you don't need it," he chuckles. "I just wanted to be here, in case you wanted to talk. Plus, it was getting a little stuffy in there."

"Well, I don't want to talk," she says. "Brooke just hates me because she's jealous. I know that." He doesn't say anything, and for a minute the only sound between them is Ally's pencil scratching against the paper. "But I also know that she's right. I can play princess all I want, but at the end of the day, I'm still just your stupid American girlfriend who will never be good enough."

"You are more than good enough," Austin sighs. "You said it yourself, Brooke's just jealous."

Her pencil stops scribbling, and he looks over at her. Her jaw is clenched, and she's staring intently at one spot on the paper. "I hate that I let her get to me. I hate how much time I waste thinking about the things she says. I hate how much I hate her, because I know it isn't worth it."

"The noble families have more complicated politics than even the royal family. Brooke has been practicing psychological warfare since she learned to speak."

"And I'm supposed to be better than that," Ally says. "But one look at her makes my blood boil."

"You're just a little possessive," Austin says, though he quickly continues at the glare she shoots him, "which is to be expected considering we all know what she's trying to do. I know I'd probably be much worse if it was the other way around."

"Well, you don't have anything to prove. I'm the one who constantly has to show everyone I deserve to be with you!"

"You don't, though," he says.

She scoffs. "Tell that to your mother. I'm sure she'll be happy to just forget about that little outburst."

"She didn't look angry when you left," he tries weakly.

"She never looks angry." Ally closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before resuming her sketching. "I know you mean well, Austin, but I don't want you to get in trouble and I really just wanna be alone right now. Please go back inside."

He hesitates, but he knows he can't win this, so he just sighs and stands up. "I suppose you know where to find me if you change your mind," he says, brushing off his pants.

He waits another minute, hoping she'll stop him, but of course she doesn't. He purses his lips and goes back to the party.

He tries his best to focus on Monday, knowing he won't be able to see Ally until the afternoon. Since he's only in Ocheria during the summer, he has Royal lessons five days a week (which Ally likes to call cruel and unusual punishment, but he just refers to it as summer school). His classes start pretty early, and usually Ally sleeps in so late that he's usually finished by the time she's ready for the day. But still, obeying his mother's wishes feels like a betrayal when he knows that Ally is still beating herself up over her outburst the other night because of the impossible ideal of perfection she feels she has to meet for his mother.

They spent all day yesterday together, but she didn't mention the party and he didn't want to bring it up. She was off, though, and if that wasn't enough, she went to bed way earlier than she usually does.

So after his lessons, he goes straight to her room.

Even though she tells him it's okay to come in, she's sitting on the edge of her bed with her back to him when he enters. Her head is down, and she's still in her pajamas.

He frowns. "You okay?" he asks, walking around to sit next to her.

She shrugs. "Your mom just left."

Uh-oh. "You know you can't take anything she says too seriously—"

"She wasn't mad," Ally interrupts. "She said you told her what happened and that Brooke was out of line and it was good that I had the confidence to remind her of her place. She even said you're usually too nice in situations like that. She just asked me to use less cursing if it happens again." She sniffles and laughs a little.

Austin swallows his surprise. "That doesn't sound so bad."

She does that hiccup-y little laugh again. "I thought she was coming in here to lecture me or tell me we had to break up or something. Instead, she…I think she was trying to comfort me."

He smiles a little. "Then why are you crying?"

"I wish I knew," she replies, making a frustrated noise and wiping her face. Then she takes a deep breath. "Anyway, I kinda wanna get out of here for the day."

"We could go to the beach," he offers.

She smiles at him, as if she wasn't just crying. "Perfect. I'll get ready and come to your room?"

He nods and kisses her cheek, where one last stray tear catches on his lips. "Don't forget to bring sunscreen."

"Why, so you can rub it on my back?"

"Because you burn even faster than Dez."

She laughs as he leaves, and he walks back to his room smiling. But a part of him is still worried about her. After being with her for so long, he can tell when she's putting walls up again.

He tries his best to forget his concerns when she arrives at his door twenty minutes later wearing a pretty blue sundress and carrying a huge beach bag that's probably holding more art supplies than beach necessities. He grins at her and swings his towel over his shoulder just as the guards accompanying them to the beach approach and stand at attention a small distance down the hall.

"Did you pack anything for the beach?" he asks teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

She rolls her eyes. "Of course I did. Now are we gonna go, or are you just gonna stand there and look pretty?"

He grins. "Lead the way, my lady."

Austin loves three things more than anything else: (1) pancakes, (2) Ally, and (3) Ocheria's Summer Solstice Festival.

No, wait. (1) Ally, (2) pancakes, and (3) the Summer Solstice Festival.

Yeah, that's what he'll go with.

During the weeks of the summer and winter solstice, the entire country celebrates the arrival of the season. In winter, it's essentially their week-long celebration of Christmas, and typically the festivities last until New Years. It's a time to spend with family and loved ones, full of gifts and food and warmth despite the cold weather.

The Summer Solstice Festival, on the other hand, is almost the complete opposite. He never cared much about its origins, but over time it has evolved into a week of nationwide partying. The entire country flips its schedule that week: everyone sleeps during the day so they can party all night. Everybody dresses up in elaborate masks and costumes, and the streets are lit up with lanterns strung between buildings and the lights of vendors selling food and clothes and trinkets. There's music playing and people drinking and dancing in the streets wherever you go, and there's always a big celebration concentrated in the square outside the palace.

The Summer Solstice Festival is also the only time Austin's guards actually give him some distance. They still have to follow him everywhere, but since everyone is dressed up and masked, it's safer to not draw attention to himself. Plus, the crowds make it difficult for any guards to stay close to him. So instead, there are guards placed on rooftops throughout the city, where he knows they keep tabs on him. But it still feels like he has more freedom, and the festival always comes around right when he starts feeling claustrophobic in his royal position and homesick for his life back in America.

"I can't sleep," Ally complains as they rest before the first night of the festival.

As far as his mother knows, they're in his room watching television on his couch, definitely not snuggled up together in his bed.

"Make sure your eyes are closed," he murmurs, turning on his side and draping an arm over her.

"I'm just not tired."

"You'll regret it tonight if you don't rest up."

"I know, but you know I'm not good at napping."

"Just think sleepy thoughts. Counting sheep. Bedtime stories." He yawns. "Complex math equations."

She chuckles. "I don't think that's gonna help."

"Well, don't come crying to me when you wanna go to bed at two a.m. and I bully you for being a party pooper."

"Are you kidding? Even if I fall asleep standing up, I'm not leaving early. You know this is my favorite holiday ever."

"Mmm, is it?" he asks, half asleep now.

"A whole week of nationwide partying every night from sunset to sunrise, where debauchery is not only encouraged, but expected? What's not to love?"

"You hate people."

"That's what alcohol is for."

"Fair enough. Just keep trying to sleep. You'll be glad you did."

"I know," she sighs. Then she snuggles closer to him until they're both sharing his pillow. "I miss sleeping with you." He smiles a little. "Not like that," she adds. "Like, sharing a bed. You know what I mean."

He tightens his arms around her. "I do know what you mean," he confirms. "I miss it, too."

"Although I also miss having sex with you." That wakes him up again. "It's been way too long."

He doesn't speak for a moment, debating whether to play Good Little Prince or not, but then he sighs and says what he's sure she knows he's thinking. "Yeah, it has. But you know we can't risk it, and we'll have plenty of time to make up for it when we get back home."

"I hate it, and I know you do, too."

He dips his head to kiss her hair. "Try to go to sleep, Ally."

"I can't. I'm horny and angry."

He snorts. "That's not new. You should still try to sleep, though."

"Fine," she mutters. "But I'm gonna violate you in my dreams."

"Even more reason to go to sleep." He kisses her forehead, and he feels her furrowed brows relax beneath his lips.

A few hours later, he finds himself once again standing in Ally's room while she gets ready, although this time she allowed the handmaidens to help her. He can hear them all talking and laughing with her behind the closed bathroom door, and it makes him smile a little. She says she hates people, but she seems to get along with Ocherians just fine. Either she's great at faking it, or Ocheria is like the fresh start she deserves, away from the expectations of Americans who know her famous, genius parents.

He looks at himself in the big mirror in the corner of her room. He and Ally decided on all their costumes for the festival back when they were still in America, and Ally gave the designs to the tailors right when they got here to make sure they had plenty of time.

Tonight, they're both dressing as vampires (which Ally swore would help them channel some sort of nocturnal energy). For him, that just means a suit with a black jacket that has shimmering bloodred accents and a bloodred tie to match, as well as a hoodless cloak with the same pattern as his jacket on the outside and the solid red of his tie on the inside. His mask is plain white to replicate a vampire's pale skin.

He runs a hand through his hair to mess it up a little. He doesn't have to be Prince Austin tonight, which means no crown. His hair is already styled to hold a little more volume than it usually does, but he always tries to milk the whole 'no crown' thing for all it's worth.

Suddenly, there's a loud curse and a clash from the bathroom and some surprised gasps, and then the door swings open to reveal Ally, gripping the doorframe. He's distracted for a second by her costume. Her dress is the same bloodred as his tie, but it's covered in sparkles, and she has a black cloak that pools on the floor behind her feet and sticks up in a collar behind her neck. Her hair is straightened, and she's wearing glittering black jewelry. Her eye makeup is dark and dramatic, and her lips are bloodred. But he's mostly distracted by how tightly the dress hugs her body and the very low neckline and the slit in the side that reaches her upper thigh.

"Austin!" she says as the handmaidens clean up their things from where they must have fallen on the floor. She walks over to him, and he gulps and tries to clear his head.

"Yes. Sorry. You look…"

"I know," she says, "but I need to talk to you."

He frowns, searching her face and finally noticing the frantic urgency in her eyes. "Is everything okay?" he asks.

She glances behind her at the open bathroom door, then drags him to the far end of the room before looking at him again. "I'm late."

He knits his eyebrows. "We still have time. The sun only just started setting."

She rolls her eyes. "Not late to the festival, you idiot!" she hisses. "I remembered just now. I guess I don't keep track of time very well here, besides holidays and stuff, so I only realized it when I was thinking about tonight. I was supposed to get my period, like, two weeks ago," she whispers, so quiet even he has to lean down to hear her.

His eyes widen, and he meets her gaze. "That can happen sometimes though, right? I mean, we're careful."

"Except when we aren't." She winces, glancing at the handmaidens scurrying out of the room and shutting the door behind them. "The night before we left." She still whispers, even though they're alone, and he doesn't blame her. He isn't sure he could manage a normal volume if he wanted to, with the panic that seizes his chest. "Plus, I'm on birth control, so my periods should be predictable."

"But—"

"I had just switched birth controls, remember?" Her breaths are getting shorter and shorter. "There was, like, a week where it would've been a risk. I don't remember the exact days it would've been, but it was definitely around that time. Oh, God, this can't be happening," she says, her eyes far away. He can practically see her brain falling into a spiral as she grabs his arm with one hand and holds her stomach with the other. "Your mom's gonna kill me. I'm not ready to be a mother! I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Okay," he says, sitting her down on her bed before she can continue talking herself down the rabbit hole, "we can't panic yet." He kneels in front of her and rubs her arms, holding her gaze and repeating Don't freak out in his head over and over again. "I'm sure we can find a pregnancy test at a store near here, right?"

"Except how are we gonna get it without anyone knowing?!"

He grabs his mask off the bed and holds it up. "No one will know it's us. The guards will see us go in the store, but they won't see what we buy. And we can pay with cash, then find a bathroom so it doesn't even enter the palace. Then we'll know the result, and we can either panic accordingly or get so drunk we forget all about this."

She swallows. "I can't believe this is happening. The one time—"

"Try not to freak out," he says. "Just…plan out some paintings or drawings of the festival this year, or think of new creative names to call Brooke behind her back. Or think of what you're gonna get me for my birthday." He smiles and winks, hoping he looks calmer than he feels.

"I already have your birthday present," she says, and her addressing the new subject feels like a good sign.

He stands up, pulling her with him. "Can I try to guess what it is?"

She nods as he leads her out of the room. "You'll never get it." Her voice is still strained, and he reaches down to take her hand.

"I don't know. I know you pretty well. Is it pancakes?"

She giggles a little, and he smiles. "No."

"Is it a fruit basket?"

"No."

"Is it chocolate covered strawberries?"

"It's not food."

He keeps guessing all the way to the store, getting more ridiculous with his guesses.

"Is it Mars?" he asks when they exit the store.

"Like the planet or the candy bar?"

"Either."

"No."

Fortunately, crowds are just barely starting to gather for the festival, so it doesn't take long to find a pub with a bathroom, and there's no line. Ally ducks inside, and Austin downs a shot before pacing outside the bathroom door.

A few minutes later, Ally stumbles out of the bathroom and grabs Austin's arms. Behind her lacy black mask, her face is pale and her eyes are wide. He's pretty sure his heart stops beating.

"Negative," she breathes. "False alarm."

He exhales and pulls her in for a hug, his head spinning with relief. "Then why do you think you're late?"

"I think it has to do with when I started the new pill, and I just forgot about it with everything going on here."

He pulls away and looks at her. "But it's all good now?" he asks. "You said it was only a risk for seven days right when you switched."

She nods. "All good. I just need alcohol now." She tilts her head up and closes her eyes. "So much alcohol."

it's 3am and if my parents saw my search history they'd probably be worried but alas my sheltered ass doesn't know enough about birth control for my age! but we don't need to talk about that i tried my best kay thanks love you bye