"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire." "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness..." "No..." "The enemy is closer than you think." "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "The King's doctor at once!" "His humors are out of balance." "Majesty, drink this to help you sleep." "It's a herbal cordial to allay your pain and procure your rest." "Laudanum, saffron and bruised cloves." "I beg you, heed the counsel of your medical advisers." "What do you say?" "Have you ever had a fever?" "I have, Your Majesty." "What measures did you take?" "To permit my body to cure itself, it was necessary to purge." "There's a herb, sagewort." "Known as sweet wormword." "Fetch your remedy, but quickly and with a calm air." " No one must know of his condition." " Sire." "Love is in your future." "Twice as much as you might think." "I'm off to water the garden." "I think that's a no." "You did not respond to my last message." "Well, to be perfectly honest it didn't seem pressing." "It was a busy week." "Fail me again and your next piss will be sitting down!" "You have my full attention." "Read and follow... to the letter." "Don't breathe." "Were you raised in a cattle shed?" "Why are you here?" "Come at once." "The King's Circle." "Wake my wife." "Do it now." "What will you see just before the end?" "The face of my enemy." "I've always dreamed the same dream." "I'm in a great avenue of evergreens, sitting in wet grass," "gazing through the pine cones at a canopy of sky." "Then if I were you." "I would stay indoors." " Speak." " The King's Circle." "I must speak to you in private." "You're still drunk." "It can wait." "But the gravity of my need..." "All needs of yours weigh the same." "A great tide is stirring." "It pertains to your future, your place at its center." "Go to bed." "Please." "Philippa..." "Philippe!" "In the King's book of names, you'll find a circle of trust, a list of those he believes in his heart are the most loyal, faithful and true." "Your names are on that list." "An unbroken circle of trust." "We all know here what is at stake." "How is my King?" "The fever is consuming him." "Protocol now demands we begin work on the issue of succession." "I will not hear it." "He is stronger than a malady, stronger than a hundred fevers." "Not this one clearly." "Your words are comforting." "My King values expediency over sympathy." "As we hope for the best, we must nevertheless plan for the worst." "Where did this distemper come from?" "Is it poison?" "I'll root out the cause." "I hope you have more success." "More?" "If a sick man gets to the King I don't call it victory." "The Dauphin is direct successor but would require a regent." "I would argue a young King requires a council of elders, with experience of government." "Protocol's clear." "If the King..." "Do not say it." "Dies, or if he is incapable of exercising his duties, a regent shall be appointed." "Who?" "That is the choice before us." "What is the news?" "We did not see the King at mass and you know people gossip." "Hunting accident, broke his leg." "It will take weeks." "Your Majesty, please!" "Rumors are flying around court." "The truth might stop them." "Why such secrecy?" "So that rumors do not start." " What would happen if..." " No "if"." "He will be well." "Yes, of course." "Jezebel!" " Delilah!" " Stop it!" "You may have shaved my seven locks and sold me to the Philistines but I'm not yet on my knees." "If the King's hair hurts perhaps it was the wine." "Eat the beast's fur that bit you." "But who wants fluff for breakfast?" "Was I out of turn?" "Come now!" "How is our King?" "Please speak." "Why all the secrecy?" "Speak!" "You must vow to me." " On my father's life." " He's dead." " My mother's?" " Forget it." "I cannot help my tongue." "Please!" "I see your distress and it pains me." "Allow me to share your burden." "Speak!" "My brother is very sick." "I always said you'd make a marvelous King!" "Stop!" "So you're serious." "Goodness!" "He is gravely ill." "And if he were to die, it might be possible that I will be regent." "God in heaven!" "I had no idea." "Not a word to anyone." "This is a testing time but I know with you by my side," " I can overcome anything." " Hmm, yes, of course." "Now, I must have air." "Come with me, please." "I cannot." "I have to, um, think." "Very well." "He is in my prayers as are YOU." "What did you mean when you said "a great tide is stirring?"" "Did I say that?" "Hmm!" "I must have been drunk." "Father?" "Father!" "Help me!" "Please, he's dying." " What happened?" " I don't know." "You must come." "The King." "He will perish." "As will your King." "Save your father or save France." "The choice is yours." " The King?" " He ordered my eyes to the door but he's not ordered them back." "Stay here." "Move." "Move!" "Shut the doors." "Close all the shutters." "Door!" "Door!" "Ah, there you are." "I can't decide if this will be a courante a sarabande or a passacaille." "You must return to bed." "Your doctor is here." "I've created a new dance, Bontemps, and I wish my court to perform it." "Very well, Sire." "Everyone must learn it now." "Bring me a pen and paper and a gardener." " A gardener?" " Yes, my gardener Jacques." "He lost his hand in Malines." "Bring him here." "I see this dance unfolding in a garden, an orangerie full of blossom." "I didn't see you at our recent ballet." "I dance as commanded by you." "Then do so now." "Dance for me now." "Follow me." "First, a balancé." "Twice going forward and then a pas de bourrée." "Then another balancé going backwards, then another pas de bourée." "If these are your steps, Sire, then your dance is a passacaille." "You're a man of quality Bontemps." "But I do not trust you," "I do not trust you at all." " Sire..." " I do not know him!" "Your Majesty, please!" "Where is my gardener?" "I need him." "Bring me Jacques!" "Guards!" "Please, bring me Jacques!" "Guards, bring me Jacques!" "They mean to kill me!" "They mean to kill me!" "Bring me Jacques!" "Water for the King!" "My gardener will know what to do..." "Shh..." "Shh..." "His fever grows stronger." "Your Majesty, the gardener." "Tell me a story about my father." "Your mother suckled him young before you, which makes you milk brothers, does it not?" "A story, then." "Many years ago, an emissary from Japan visited our shores." "He brought a gift from China for your father, an ancient text that he said that every general in the emperor's army had read." "The text was called the Art of War." "So the story went around the palace of this most vital maxim:" ""Appear weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak."" "Out." "Out!" "Out!" "Yes, Madame de Clermont!" "Forgive me." "I'd always assumed your office was in the east wing." "It is." "As promised Monsieur Colbert, our proof of noble heritage." "Ah!" " Good." "I will review it in due course." " Good day." "We can't put his life in a child's hands." "Hardly a child." "My brother should be in Paris." "I have readied my own carriage." " I'll take him." " He can't travel." " An hour at most." " It may kill him." "It is this palace that is killing him." "I was just in the laundry, I found this in one of the pockets." "The same shapes as you have in your book." "Don't go anywhere." "A meeting is planned for today. ls my horse ready?" " Fed and watered this morning!" " You've done well." " There's no one here!" " Yes, I noticed that myself." "Cassel, we are risking our lives being here." "I had to conceal my horse half a mile away." "You're one to talk." "Why the urgency?" "You didn't write it?" "It appears we are not the only ones bound by our intent." "Which is what, exactly?" "Revolution." "This is a monumental risk." "What if these were intercepted or deciphered?" "They have been deciphered." "Then our location is known?" "Once a codex is broken it offers opportunity." "I wrote a new note, made sure it was found." "It proposes a rendezvous today on the other side of Paris, so we are quite safe here." "Cousin?" "A great moment is upon us:" "the King has a fever and his sickness grows." "We must plan quickly now for our future." "We have powerful and wealthy friends, some already at court." "Others, abroad, are watching very closely, all of them standing, ready to help." "A support message from the Dutch Republic." "A new captain general is rising in power." "William of Orange will be stadtholder commander of armies, sea admiral." "And he vows here to support whoever moves against King Louis, not just with words, but with money, materials, influence and arms." "I've heard enough." "Thank you for the puppet show." "Chevalier de Lorraine!" "Do not confuse the woman you have known with the woman you see now." "A gathering in Paris awaits you." "Canvas your supporters there." "We know there are many." "The fever has broken." "The court mustn't know about my condition." "But surely your brother must be informed." "Close all the doors." "Do it now." "The issue of regent remains." "We know your position, of course." "Will no one vouch for me?" "It is not you who lacks merit, Your Highness." "Our concerns lie instead on those who would be around you." "Ah!" "Why not just say his name?" "We need someone whose behaviour is more suited to a King, someone who is his own man." "I hope I make myself clear." "Perfectly." "Her Majesty and Monsieur Colbert would, to my mind, ensure a resilient transition." "Then it is settled." "What are you doing?" "Rumors make me giddy." "I'm going to Paris for a few days to un-giddy myself." "You said I'd make a great King." "And you would." "This is not idle chat." "What is this?" " You made a vow to me!" " And I kept it." "Then be truthful in return." "Have you been under a rock?" "We are on the verge of change." "There are whispers growing louder every day." "People are tired of how it is." "They wish to see change, one that would not deny the monarchy but share in its burden." "You can see it in your brother now." "One man cannot rule the land." "He's drowning in it," " and you can save him." " You tread a dangerous path." "The only danger is smelling smoke and not acknowledging a fire." " You side with the nobles?" " I side with you just as the soldiers do." "Would you side with me?" " You cannot know what you're asking." " I know what I'm asking." "Until death forces my hand," "I cannot answer." "Very well." "But know this:" "Our future has changed, no matter what happens now." "My trunk!" "Sire, we rejoice at your recovery." "Send tailors I want clothes." "As for my court, this is the message I want to convey." "I am saddened to report the King's health has not improved." "He awakened before breakfast and passed on instructions that government continue under his word." "How can he make decisions in such a condition?" "The King wishes France to be informed immediately of his condition so they might offer their prayers." "Has he said anything?" "He has..." "The court should learn a new dance." "A dance?" "It is one he has composed himself in his moments of peace... to raise our spirits" "in anticipation of his recovery." "Colbert, tell Monsieur Lully to create a melody." "Your sacrifice won't be forgotten." "My deep sympathy for your loss." "I know now my replacement for your father." "What is his name?" "I know that he stands before me now." "Many will oppose you, who would rather I chose one of my physicians." "Be deaf to their judgements." "Will you accept the job?" "If the answer is yes there is no going back." "Your life as you know it will be changed forever." "I accept." "Then it is yours." "Medicine is a fine career." "Get Mlle de la Vallière." "Where's Chevalier?" "I haven't seen him today." "He rides to Paris." "A gathering of nobles." "Does he indeed?" "What are you doing?" "Did you not hear?" "The King has a dance and expects us to know it." " Why are you here?" " Getting Mme Rochefoucauld's letter." " This is her chamber?" " No, this is Mme de Clermont." "Mme de la Rochefoucauld is down the hallway." "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" "Excuse me." "Wait!" "I hoped you might stay here, you might think of this as home." "I cannot." "Not even for your children?" "For their sakes and for mine," "I must show contrition for my life." "You may go." "Thank you," "Majesty." "Thank you with all my heart." "Arrangements will be made." "Mother, I have missed you." "Every time I look for you, I am rushed back to my lady." "Your duty to me is to do well with her." "Do not think of me at all." "I found a chambermaid in your room." " Chambermaid?" " Yes." "Looking for Mme Rochefoucauld's letter but ended up in your room." "I went to the chapel." "Cassel was in conversation with new nobles, Anjou, Poitier..." " Who else?" " Mme de Clermont." "Since the court knew of the King's condition, conversations between these individuals increased markedly." "Anjou and Poitiers... too you say, both to Cassel." "I asked the stables, Potters, Anjou are riding to Paris." "Not the only ones." "Chevalier de Lorraine also reached Paris this morning." " About Clermont..." " Later." "Where are you going?" "Christ Jesus, life eternal in the bosom of the Father... life of souls made of your own likeness," "protect my brother in his time of need." "My God!" "I was told you were dying!" "I was but then I recovered." " You didn't tell me?" " I told no one." "Why?" "So I might see upon who I can depend." " You did not include me." " I did not." " You do not trust your own brother?" " Not the company he keeps." "Chevalier may seem blithe and glib, but he has a backbone." "I wish you saw what I do:" "He's a man of honor." "You are blind to his failings and dumb to his faults." "Do not say such things." "A conspiracy was uncovered, nobles plotting against me as I am ill in bed." "Chevalier is a ring leader." "All of them will be arrested." "Impossible." " He's no conspirator." " Very true." "He's a traitor and will be treated as such." "To Versailles!" "Good idea." "The Duc d'Orléans will have your head for this for sure." "When your neck's on the block you know what he will say?" "No." "In any case," "I hope you're fond of horses." "Burn in hell you Catholic cunt." "I found a little something to aid us." "Aid us with what?" "Endurance." "A love potion." "When I look at you I need nothing else." "Oh, I'm the same." "But I think it might be fun." "Come." "Thank you." "Ha!" "Ha!"