Red, White & Royal Blue

Zahra shows up wearing a diamond ring to brief June and Alex on their next couple days. She pointedly refuses to say who her fiancé is and begins going over the schedule. Then, her phone pings: CNN has posted surveillance footage of Henry with Alex at the hotel during the DNC. The pictures show them getting in an elevator together, Henry’s arm around Alex’s waist. Zahra is incensed, but June interrupts her ranting and brandishes her phone. She shows Zahra and Alex the picture of her, Nora, and Henry on the dock—Nora cropped out. It looks like they’re any straight couple, and June notes that she was staying on the same floor as Alex at the DNC hotel. They can let people make the connection. Alex grudgingly agrees to speak to Henry.

Henry, Philip waiting right beside him, ultimately agrees to the ruse. June posts the photo, and Buzzfeed immediately puts up an article on June and Henry’s “relationship.” June is relieved that people seem to lap it up, but Alex is angry. So is Philip—but the Queen is apparently happy Henry found a girlfriend. To finish selling the lie, Nora and Alex go on a fake date where they know they’ll be photographed. Then, Henry flies to D.C. to go on a fake date with June—and when June and Henry are finished, they arrange for Alex and Henry to have a few minutes alone in one of the security vehicles. Henry is shaking, clearly about to have a panic attack. He’s angry that June and Nora have to put themselves out there for this, and he’s angry that Gran wanted him to bring his own photographers.

Alex tries to comfort Henry, but Henry groans that he doesn’t want this. And why, Henry asks, did his ancestors get to do even worse things and get away with it? Alex assures Henry that they can and will get through this. They kiss, even though Alex knows it’s a bad idea to kiss in the car. After this meeting, Alex’s anxiety doesn’t improve. It seems like the nightmare won’t ever end, and pretending they’re not in love feels like it’s pulling them apart. As a teen, Alex would’ve turned to self-destructive behavior and climbed through Liam’s window to cope. But now, with Ellen running for president, Alex can’t “set himself on fire”—it would be bad for Ellen if people saw.

One evening, as Alex is dropping files at Oscar’s office, he hears music playing in Luna’s office and knows where he can take out his anger. He finds Luna smoking out the window, looking awful and angry, and Alex demands that Luna tell him why he sold out to Richards. Is Richards blackmailing him? All Luna will say is that there’s more than Alex understands, and he won’t share everything with Alex. Alex loses his cool. He explains how he looked up to Luna and wanted to be like him. In many ways, Alex already is like Luna. When Luna tells Alex to marry a girl, Alex says he can’t, letting on that he and Henry are involved. Luna is incensed—Alex cannot tell him things like this, they’re political enemies right now. Alex wants nothing to do with politics if it means lying like this.

Alex leaves Luna’s office and drinks alone in his room. When he’s drunk, he emails Henry a long email in which he likens Henry’s body to a land he’s mapping—and which he loves. Henry responds with just a quote about Alex saving him from drowning. In the middle of the night, Alex jerks awake to Zahra’s phone call. She’s shouting; Alex and Henry were photographed. Alex promptly googles himself and discovers headlines about his and Henry’s relationship. Zahra enters Alex’s room a moment later, confiscates his phone, and tosses copies of the Daily Mail on his bed. The cover features Henry and Alex kissing in the car, as well as a few photos of them at previous events. Zahra refuses to let Alex call Henry because they don’t know where the leak is. All of Ellen’s team they could get out of bed are currently working on it.

As Zahra rummages through Alex’s closet for clothes for him, he flips through the Daily Mail—and discovers excerpts from some of his and Henry’s emails. He’s grateful for Zahra as she steadies him while he dresses, and then they race to meet Ellen. Alex can’t stop thinking about Ellen losing, him never getting elected, and Henry being disowned. They reach the conference room. Ellen is inside with a bunch of people, and she tells everyone else to leave—she needs to speak to Alex.