"The Parthenays came at my behest, my personal invitation." "They drove their carriage on that road secure in the knowledge they were guests of the king with the unshakeable guarantee of the king's protection!" "If a child of France is not safe on royal lands, what chance is there for anyone else?" "An attack on my roads is an attack on me." "Until their killers are brought before me, I shall not sleep again." "I will pay my respects." "Where are they now?" "Sire, you are bleeding." "You are injured." "More than you can know." "Where are you going?" "The siege is broken." "We have won this battle." "The price is paid." "Our camp lies this way." "I promised our mother I would bring him home." "A cold lotion, Sire, made up of egg yolk, oil of roses and turpentine to permit drainage." "Why not simply close the skin?" "Permissible for battlefield injuries, Sire, but I'm not a tailor." "May I inquire as to the cause of the injury, Sire?" "A hunting accident." "We report with joy the success of the king's infantry against the troops of the Spanish." "Siege is now laid to the town of Cambrai." "At last, some good news." "Most remarkable of all heroes present in the king's name is His Majesty's own brother, Prince Philippe, the Duke of Orléans, who has shown bravery on the battlefield." "That's enough news for now." "...a true and everlasting hero..." "I said enough!" "Let me see Françoise." "He bled, yet she did not." "I believe he was shot with a pistol, Sire, and she was shot with a musket, and those shot with muskets do not bleed so much." "Why?" "Well, that is the way the wounds behave, Sire." "The wounds themselves are large." "Which should surely produce more blood, not less." "Indeed, Sire, but, um, the, um..." "What I believe my father is saying is that the musket shot tends to fragment." "It makes channels twice as large, but also crushes the flesh around the entry wound, so it seals the blood where it sits, and it cannot flow." "I see." "Thank you, Masson." "And Charlotte?" "Charlotte?" "The Parthenays had two children and Charlotte is my goddaughter." "Find Fabien!" "At once, Sire." "Can you help me?" "No." "I'm sorry." "But you will not be alone." "I saw angels." "You came in so drunk last night, you emptied the contents of your bladder all over my kitchen, so consider this merely the repayment of that loan." "Where is my share?" "I have it right here." "Is that enough, or would you like some more?" "You murder a noble family on the road and then come to my house?" "She recognized my voice." "Now, how is that even possible?" "Unlikely, but I could not take the risk." "In any case, you wanted chaos." "Now you have it." "You butchered them where they stood, every single one." "Not quite." "A young girl escaped." "She ran to the woods." "Wounded." "You didn't think to follow her?" "I didn't think it safe to linger." "Well, return and finish what you started." "My Lord, think a moment." "Noble blood is spilled on the road to Versailles." "Who would follow the Parthenays now?" "Soon the king will tire of the project and move back to Paris, and then we shall own our country again." "He only sketches when he is upset." "Who else delays?" "Fourteen families in all." "All wait for assurance of their safety before venturing on the road." "So the nobles of the south stay quiet, the east remain cowards and the north..." "Without Cassel, there will be no more cooperation from the north." "He's a man of great influence in the region." "Perception of influence, nothing more." "Which is just as dangerous." "Why is it that we are laying siege to Cambrai, and yet it is we who feel surrounded?" "Monsieur Marchal is here, Sire." "You have failed me, Monsieur Marchal, just as you have failed my friends, the Parthenays." "Had your patrols been on the road, they would have arrived safely." "Instead, their deaths will send a message to the world that travelling to Versailles is not safe." "Your continued presence in this court demands nothing less than absolution." "You will bring me the men responsible." "May I speak, Sire?" "I believe a noble may be accountable for this act." "How would you know such a thing?" "The musket shot that killed her was fired from horseback." "The angle of the wound tells me that the horse was many hands high, almost impossible for the untrained rider." "Only a nobleman, an equerry, perhaps, a cavalry man, could be capable of such a feat." "But most of our men are at the front, which leaves suspicion firmly where I say it does:" "with a noble." "Whoever it is, bring them to me." "I want to see their face." "Sophie!" "Listen to me!" "What I have done?" "You do not make eyes at boys like that." "You only have eyes for the king." "Even if I succeed in marrying you off to a noble, men in court are to be regarded as a stepping stone, nothing more and nothing less." "Men like that are the pond scum over which you're walking." "Do you comprehend at all?" "I do not think you are telling me everything." "Oh, you are still young." "You can be sure of it." "Say it." "Your plan was ill-conceived and badly executed." "A force of 200 would have secured the road." "Drawn from where?" "Our soldiers are at the front." "Well, there is your problem." "My problem?" "It is a problem we all face and a threat to the king." "Or, indeed, it may be a solution." "A solution?" "I do not yet know, but one thing we can be sure of:" "These men will strike again." "But if the court knows she is dead, then they can mourn." "They already think she died with them." "The Parthenay family were murdered on the road." "Everyone's talking about it." "Her body was not found there." "Only three people know this information:" "me, you and the man who meant to kill her." "He will know his shot missed its mark, and he might yet use that knowledge to make a mistake." "Forgive me, Sire." "It's no matter." "You are ill, perhaps?" "No, if I feel anything, I feel nervous about this war." "The glory will soon be ours." "Well, you are already glorious, Sire, if I may be so bold." "You may, Madame." "Be well." "Majesty!" "Lissette told me she begged her husband not to come." "I mean, after what happened to the Parthenays, how can you blame her?" "But she said with the king's new edict, he told her they had to, that they must find a sponsor or be doomed." "Well, I heard the real reason is they can't find their papers." "They had a flood a few years back, if you recall." "What if they washed away?" "Poor lambs!" "There will be a remedy, I am sure." "That is yet to be seen, is it not?" "Not everyone can have such credit with the Chevalier." "As much credit as he is inclined to give is as much as I have." "Well, should your coffers empty, I'm sure your daughter can offer you some security." "Beauty unlocks many doors." "You, of all people, should know that firsthand, Madame." "And beauty without wit is merely vanity." "Hmm!" "Mother, that was unkind." "Have you been paying any attention at all?" "When you pass through the doors in this court, you're not walking into a room, you're entering a marketplace, and transactions mean contacts, contacts mean credit, credit means power and power means everything." "Look at Madame de Montespan." "Do you think that attention happens by chance?" "I thought you didn't like her." "Will you keep your voice down?" "I saw the king look at her today, a deep and lingering gaze." "Now just think what that might be worth." "And what does all this matter to us?" "We have our papers and our lineage." "Not yet!" "What could happen to a piece of paper coming from Pau?" "Ask the Parthenays." "That was when she had the bows in her hair." "Do I remember correctly?" "Yes!" "The picnic, midsummer." "I was angry at you." "Ah, Françoise chose me,... yet she only had eyes for you." "To make me jealous." "And she was successful!" "Thank you, friend." "I needed this." "We should celebrate her tonight." "And every night after that, I shall tie a bow on the next beautiful woman I see, and I shall call her Françoise." "What about her?" "Her, you do not touch." "Shame!" "I had a position in mind for you." "I was rather hoping you might take it." "The answer is yes." "What is it?" "As you know, the stables are finished." "The hunt needs a new master." "I know just the man." "I was hoping you did." "It would be my pleasure." "Then, please, send me his name, because I need to put him in place while you go to war." "War?" "And as our war continues, I find that my brother is foremost in my mind." "Of course." "I wish you to go to the front, be my brother's shadow, see that no harm comes to him." "I think I understand you." "Well, we've known each other long enough." "I..." "I will do as you ask." "That's the Rohan I remember." "You know, misery suits you." "You wear it so very well." "What do you want?" "Did you read The Gazette?" "Your husband is glorious." "It is the king's glory." "Not from what I read." "Here, I will leave you my copy to peruse at your leisure as you pine for your absent husband." "How delighted you will be when he returns to claim his prize." "Angélique, could you put in another ribbon?" "Angélique, I've been meaning to return this to you." "A chambermaid found it in your drawer and removed it by accident." "I'll make sure she's disciplined." "My necklace!" "Did you say your necklace?" "Yes, it is very dear to me." "I thought it lost." "Angélique?" "Come now, Blueberry, the maid thought this was yours." "So, what was your mistress's necklace doing in your room?" "It was not in my room." "Of course it was." "I just told you." "What was it doing in your room?" "Madame, I did not take your necklace." "Absolutely, I did not." "Be quiet!" "Madame, please!" "Your lady's a thief, Madame." "That much is clear." "And I doubt you are in the habit of employing pickpockets in your household." "You may be sure you have not heard the last of it." "I wish to make peace with God." "A convent near Marly will take me." "They've already given their consent." "I beg you, Sire, please release me to God's care." "Have I not given you everything?" "I used to think I was a person of quality living under God's grace." "The gifts he bestowed upon me, upon both of us..." "Now I do not know myself or my place." "I wish only to serve my God." "I love your piety." "I love your spirit in the service of purity." "And I wish to go before you tire of me." "My Lady." "I already see it." "I will soon be gone in your eyes, and I see who is to come after me." "I do not wish to bear witness for myself." "God wishes us to be together." "Sire, please!" "Not as my king, but as the father of my children and the one yet to be born." "Let me atone for my life." "Enough!" "What if I am to burn for eternity?" "What if it is too late for me?" "Hmm!" "Cousin, you seem in a very good mood." "How can I not be joyful with such gifts around me..." "Mm-hmm!" "...and such beauty?" "Talking of which, Henriette's entourage was looking rather tired, so I have made an opportunity for my darling girl." "With Henriette?" "I do not care for your tone." "Well, should Sophie consign herself to her when Madame de Montespan grows in stature day by day?" "I confess I saw a gaze from the king that..." "My decision is made." "And I'm the head of this household, unless you've somehow forgotten, Cousin?" "When will this position become available?" "Soon." "I hear one of her ladies is rather fond of pilfering." "Come, child!" "To me!" "It is time you learned what to do with those appalling flippers you appear to call feet." "A dance is a formalized conversation, my dear Sophie, full of rules and restrictions, much like that dress you're wearing." "Hm, do you like it?" "Can't you tell?" "Oh!" "I never asked you, but I'd wager it's rather important for your time at court:" "Are you still intact?" "Intact?" "Have your fingers ever been curious?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "You will." "When we skimmed stones at the water in Saint-Germain, do you remember?" "I declared to everyone that you would make yours bounce five times." "You all laughed that I might declare it so confidently." "And yet, when you launched the stone..." "There it was." "Five times." "My lucky number." "I want to do this every night, so I know you will keep me safe." "Do I not already protect you?" "Sadly, where the Chevalier is concerned, I cannot see how anyone can." "He has caused my lady Angélique great pain." "Is it not enough that I protect you, that I must now also protect your ladies?" "He made up a terrible story and put a problem in my lap." "And now you are sad." "You are perceptive, Madame." "Françoise Parthenay was very dear to you, I know." "I was even jealous of her for a silly minute." "I'm going to war where it is safe." "I do not understand." "And you are coming with me." "Why?" "You wish to be somewhere else?" "A new day is coming." "Good night, then!" "Goodbye." "I'm a little early for my lesson." "Don't say a word." "Oh my God!" "Please, please, please!" "Quiet!" "Quiet!" "I'm rich!" "I'm rich!" "You're an easy man to find, since your infidelity is so constant." "From this moment on, I will tell you what to do." "Deny us, and you will die." "Apply yourself and your lover will be king, and you will have the power." "The future is yours as long as you do exactly what we tell you." "We will talk again." "Mama?" "Go back to sleep." "What are you doing?" "Writing letters." "Rest, child." "The monk from Pérignon has brought more wine." "And I am still hungry." "Would you join me?" "Always room for one more." "I commend you, Madame, on your excellent appetite." "Sire, you hardly know me... or the scope of my needs." "I know this:" "You are still hungry." "Well, how many have you had?" "I do not recall." "In which case, why would one more make any difference?" "Hard to say without partaking." "Why is that?" "Surely, after a certain time, it's just a number, is it not?" "That depends on the number." "You received my message." "I've been praying for your lost child every day, Majesty." "You are constantly in my thoughts." "You are kind to say such a thing." "Bring a chair." "For the child inside you." "It is warm." "Take off your shawl." "Take it off." "My words to you were not kind." "I said them in a moment clouded by my own failings." "I would like us to be friends,... not because I do not still resent every stolen moment you have taken away from my husband and me, but because I sense something in your soul." "I can feel the pain you hold." "Yes." "My concern is not as such for you, you understand, but the innocent life inside you can feel this pain." "I will join a community of prayer, Majesty, when the time permits." "Do you love the king?" "I love God." "That is not an answer." "I also love the king,... but the price is too much." "What have you done to yourself?" "Do you think God will forgive me?" "Good news for France." "Did you solve the problem?" "There are plenty of men on the road with questions." "I would rather not provide them with answers." "Hmm!" "Meanwhile, the king gains territory, claims the lands of Spain in kind for his unpaid dowry." "It's a pretext, naturally, but victory for him is more than land." "It's confidence and power." "He must be stopped." "A few days from now, and the roads will be ours again." "So you're ready to work?" "I'm at your service." "Protocol does not permit us to own or run a business." "I administer my affairs by proxy." "Thirty companies run under my control." "My most trusted man has a brother in a royal depot in Paris." "He told me about a shipment that will soon make its way to Versailles." "It will be heavily guarded, and from what I know, they will fight to the end to defend it." "You raised me from the dead, My Lord." "I would lay down my life for you." "Good!" "Because from what I hear, this is a cargo worth dying for." "I would speak with the king." "Perhaps, your hearing is suspect." "The king is not to be disturbed." "He is in private conference." "With whom?" "The House of Habsburg has tried to remain indifferent to your war in the Spanish Netherlands, but the Spanish grow impatient with our silence." "They wish us to intervene." "You have claim by inheritance." "We have claim by law." "We need not fight each other for the prize, though many in your council might benefit from war, I am sure." "The circles are divided, but if our present discussions were to establish a policy between us..." "Your Prince Auersperg might yet find his cardinal's hat." "Indeed, Majesty." "Let us move, then, in secret to a treaty between the kingdoms of France and the House of Hapsburg to divide the territory on the death of the Spanish king." "The health of the ruler is paramount to the security of state." "Your Majesty, your face..." "Get a doctor!" "Quickly!" "Did you not hear me, man?" "I will fetch Masson, Sire." "Not that doctor!" "The other one." "So, we are agreed?" "I believe so." "No one must enter." "Come quickly!" "Not you." "Her." "Your father's mess." "Fix it!" "Please." "It will have to be stitched... with a hot needle and thread." "It will hurt." "Good." "You may go." "I will bring you glory." "I vow it." "We are far inside the line." "We are in great danger here." "I promised your brother..." "Promised him what?" "That I would ensure your safety." "What a surprise to find you here!" "I wanted to talk to you away from the usual ears." "Very well." "What the Chevalier did to poor Angélique." "He is beyond reproach." "He is being himself, unfortunately." "Now I have a new lady." "Ah, the new girl, Mademoiselle Clermont." "Sophie." "She's pleasant enough." "Well, I have a scheme that would bring delicious revenge on the Chevalier." "Might you consider it?" "No." "Thank you, Athenaïs." "Well, might I ask why?" "I already know what it is you want, and I cannot help you get it." "Well, I am sure I do not know what you mean." "Think awhile." "You'll get there in the end." "I suppose I will." "Take her to her family." "Where did you find her?" "In the woods near Chaville." "Where is she now?" "Buried with her family." "Without a sermon?" "Beneath dignity!" "A full sermon might attract attention." "And what would be wrong with that?" "You let me live in hope, and then you break my heart again." "Why did you hide this from me, hide her from me?" "Because you have armed me, Sire, not just with weapons, but with choices." "My choice was to protect the truth, which is that Charlotte Parthenay did not die with her family on the road." "This knowledge gives us something her killers do not possess:" "certainty, which means they will make a mistake." "Did she suffer?" "A great deal." "I hope it did not last too long." "She was in considerable pain for an extended period." "You do not seek my approval in any way, do you?" "I seek only to protect your life." "Your honesty is also a weapon, Monsieur Marchal." "If you say so, Sire." "No!" "Please!" "It's your turn, Montcourt." "No!" "Please, no!" "I know you." "You used to know me." "Nobles don't dig." "I have a better idea." "We are surrounded by conspirators, by criticism, by wilderness and danger." "Defence is no longer our option." "We must break the siege." "We must attack." "Arrange a force for the roads." "They're assembled, Sire." "Make their clothing uniform;" "make their presence felt, to deter and reassure, as we now do in Paris." "Purge the road and police it." "Sire." "And contact every noble who defies me." "I wish to understand their concerns, and they in turn shall be informed of our intent." "Their king is going to war." "Father!" "I'm making potage for supper:" "celery, carrots, potatoes, salt." "Very simple." "Father, please, let me." "Sit!" "Rest!" "You've had a full day of it at work after all." "You're not saying what you mean and I don't like it." "Would you make a mockery of your father?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "Where have you been?" "I am not at liberty to say." "Your silence speaks for you, then." "My work is rushed, simplistic, too, perhaps, but my own daughter?" "Of course, he would seek to ruin my reputation." "Your reputation..." "In tatters now!" "...remains intact." "Father, you are jealous." "I am scared, child." "I'm scared for you." "This is not a place of warmth and trust." "This is a cold, venal, brutal circle of lies." "Oh, they may use me and cast me aside, but while there is still breath in my lungs, I would not permit them to do the same to you." "The king has his favourites, and then one day, he tires of them, and we don't see them anymore." "Oh, Monsieur Fabien!" "Madame, what are you doing here?" "I'm so scared!" "The war, the night..." "Would you walk with me to my apartment?" "The news must have come as a shock." "The news?" "Your friends." "What about my friends?" "The Parthenays." "They lived close to your family, did they not?" "In Pau?" "Known to me, yes." "A tragedy." "I can't bear to think of it." "Perhaps, we can walk a while again in the garden during the day and talk of happier things." "I'd like that very much." "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." "What is your reconciliation?" "The mortal sins of envy and wroth." "Remember, Sire, some transgressions by the state are necessary, whereas, if committed by man..." "Do not address me so!" "In this moment, I am man alone... burdened by sin doing my penance under God." "I sent my own brother to war." "Now, how shall I repent?" "Acts of contrition may take many forms." "One may atone in kind by practicing the sin's corresponding virtues in their stead." "The sin of envy, for example, having the mirrored virtue of humanitas or kindness." "The sin of wroth is mirrored by the virtue of patience." "We are at war where wroth has its station and war is no place for kindness." "Your Majesty!" "Bravo!" "The look is yours." "I believe you are mistaken, Madame." "You are upset." "I cannot reach him." "I feel like a sack of flour to him." "Can you help me?" "With what?" "I am boring and you are funny." "Perhaps when he returns, you might put him in a good mood for me." "Talk to him, make him laugh." "If he's in a good humour, I might just have a chance." "Would you do that?" "I suppose I could try." "Farewell, Sire!" "Do you miss England?" "I miss you." "The summer of our lives has been full of blossom, but the nights are drawing in, and in the growing darkness, we must remind ourselves that life is more than love and marriage more than duty." "My plan is very simple." "Here!" "If we were simply to pull our line into this valley..." "Then they would follow our retreat." "Allowing our cavalry to ride in from the east, closing the circle." "They would have nowhere to run." "The king!" "Brother!" "Wonderful news." "Indeed!" "The war is over." "Negotiations for a ceasefire will begin this day at Tournoi." "But we have battled hard for this moment." "Many men have died to attain it." "We will maintain our line, but no more." "In a day, perhaps two, hostilities will cease." "For what?" "We can win, Brother." "Here, today." "The odds are not with us." "We have lost too much to stop now!" "I would speak with my brother." "Alone." "I'm here to bring you home." "And I came here to fight." "This ceasefire, I was wondering, will it just so happen to be announced upon your return, by any chance?" "All hail King Louis, who went to war and won the peace." "Our spies report there is a price on your head." "The Spanish have engaged a battalion of mercenaries to seek you out on the field." "They wish to make an example of you, to use you against me." "I will not countenance the risk." "This is about the porridge." "You remember, don't you?" "I can't recall where we were." "Saint-Germain, I expect." "You flicked some porridge at me over breakfast." "I threw some back at you." "Soon, we were at each other." "You tipped the bowl over my head, so I pissed on you." "You pissed right back." "There we are, rolling on the floor pissing on one another." "Well, you started it." "You flicked the porridge, but guess who got the blame?" "You pissed on your brother, but I pissed on the king." "You will come with me." "Without me, those men may die!" "This will be the last battle." "I will not have it be your last act." "On the field, there are no kings, no nobles, no peasants." "Every man is equal, fighting to survive another day." "Tomorrow, I will have more in common with the enemy than with my own brother!" "Henriette!" "Where is my wife?" "I envy your brotherhood." "For me, there is only solitude, the likes of which you have never known." "Tomorrow, I will be with my brothers." "They mean to seek you out and kill you." "Well then..." "I'd better wear something fun, or they might not know who I am." "I missed you, my darling."