"The problem with reflections is, most are true." "God chose me as king, yet I'm undermined all around." "People do not yet see you as they should, Sire." "They will." "What do you want here, Montcourt?" "In a downpour, one shelters under the largest tree." "In the north, there is no one stronger, no one more powerful, no one more resolute than the mighty oak Cassel." "A refugee from this royal deluge, I need protection, my Lord." "I am your servant." "Servant..." "Behold the divine right of kings and its gifts." "Your king's new law strips a true noble of dignity, defiles a reputation that's part of this country's bedrock." "Once, not long ago, we knew where we stood, now we must prove ourselves, sing for our supper." "Now the king says "I am France", but I say it is we who are France." "Our friend Montcourt's condition is a message." "The king shall have his reply." "The king obsesses over his new playground." "He sees only Versailles, he's forgotten who built this country." "If we removed this distraction, he might recover himself," "Versailles returning to weeds, the king to Paris and we, to our lands and our lives." "A noble cause indeed." "Persuasion by force?" "He's lost his mind." "No appeal to reason will do." "France's future is with its noble families." "You wish protection, Montcourt?" "I serve My Lordship with my life." "Indeed you will." "What do you think of me?" "Sire?" " Am I merciful?" " If you desire it." " Vengeful?" " If conditions merit." " All things to all people?" " Equally, without condition." " As a king." "I ask as a man." " You are both." "We cannot separate the two." "As a king, I send my brother to war." "I'd mourn as a man if he died." "As a man I'd gain favour in another's eyes." "As king I can't." "You're always in favour, Sire." "Does Montcourt feel the same?" "A king is resented as much for good deeds as bad." "It fits well, Sire." "I don't like this mirror." " Well, well!" " Majesty!" "My dear Rohan, you're back" "I always do as you say" " I've missed you." " And I you." "More pretty women here than I remember." "You forgot." "You're getting old!" " I can only be myself." " That I already know." "I've learned my lesson, I return atoned, anew and at your service, Sire." "I saw the plans for the stable." "And?" "Either we're hunting an awful lot, or you're building something quite different here." " A palace, perhaps?" " A city." "I wish you luck." "France thanks you." " How is my queen?" " Much better, thank you." "No more black." "Mourning's over." "Resume your official duties." "Yes." "There'll be a guest at court." "You'll host them." "Shower attention on them with your customary warmth and grace." "Who is it?" "I'll plan conversation." "Spanish, perhaps?" "Prince Annaba." "You have my word." "I will depend on it." "Sire, if I may be so bold," "I believe Her Majesty has met our visitor once before." "Yes, in Paris." "Why then would you compel the queen once more into a private audience with him?" "African lands are a locked room and Prince Annaba may hold the key." "Missionaries to the Senegal River say there is immeasurable wealth there." "Its people and trade are the foundations of our future, will fund a thousand wars, a hundred palaces." "We must win Africa." "The only question is how?" "And the queen?" "Is helping us." "How do I look?" "I dressed you." "What do you think I think?" "Who puts a dwarf in a drainpipe?" "What?" "If he was sad, maybe he did." "Or did the queen tire of him?" "Did he try to mend the fountains to regain favour, and put himself in as a cork, only to float up and scare the young people." "You're too idle!" "Come to the front." "You're inviting me to a war?" "Oh, how romantic." " Are you mad?" " Not any war." "My war." "What your brother says, what he does..." "Don't be so sure." "If you do go, I shall stay here, naturally, to keep your place at court." "Is that so?" "How generous of you, to ensure my place!" " You look good." " I told him." "You did not, in fact." "Husband, is there news?" "Not yet." "Bontemps!" "Bontemps!" "I have a sword, amour and a horse." "Why the delay?" "When do I go to war?" "The king has not yet set a date." "What shall I do until then?" "Maybe he'll send you instead." " I'd be happy to serve." " Naturally!" "You think he doesn't see what you are?" "Oh, he sees me." "And he enjoys it." "That's what divides us." "When your husband's gone, I can find you." "If you come to my rooms, I will not answer." "I wouldn't seek you there, nor the king with Her Majesty." "I know how you enjoy swimming." "I might find you at the pool house, for example." "I hear it's very popular for young lovers of nature." "You are warned, sir." "Constantly, my dear." "Nice house." "Honored guest of the king" "Annaba, Prince of Assinie." "Son of the king of Eguafo, inheritor of the Coast of Ivory and Teeth, Lord of the Sky." "My brother, Kobina." "Prince Annaba, accompany me, please, uh, alone." "Your brother will go with Mr Marchal." "And my friends?" "Will bask in the warmth of the king's hospitality." "Are you sure?" "It's beautiful!" "Thank you." "Ah, so handsome!" "How can a black man be handsome?" "How can he not?" "You're so odd!" "His lands have rivers of gold." "How far is it to the trees?" "Majesty, as requested it's done." "Prince Annaba's suitably ill at ease." "Good!" "Make him wait." "I heard that my friends the Parthenays are riding here from the south." " Little Françoise is coming?" " With husband and family." "How time has flown." "They're well-regarded there." "For me, they're coming here to submit their noble credentials as an example." "The Gazette will report it." "Perhaps strike a medal, Colbert?" "Politically, it'll augur great things." "Great southern nobles submit credentials to the king." "That'll do it." "The king receives credentials from southern nobles." "Sounds better, doesn't it?" "That's a lot of shit!" "Only the very finest shit from the king's horses in the Louvre." "I, um..." "Speak." "What's on your mind?" "Coming back through the woods" "I saw an old man cooking a rat by a stream." " At first I thought he was a tramp." " But you knew him?" "From your father's court." "He opposed him." "During the rebellion?" " Had they been successful..." " You'd be dead." "One day I'd like to know more." "Good day, Prince." "Good day to you," "Highness." "A pleasure to see you again." "What's wrong?" "You're shaking." "Many reasons." "You, us, him, the Chevalier." " The Chevalier makes you tremble?" " He scares me, how he looks at me, how he talks about you and my husband." "Remember when you were 16?" "You stepped on a rose." "Your foot bled." "You kissed my toes." "I stopped the pain." "Instantly!" "Nothing's changed." "I'll always make sure of it." "You can't protect me when I am with him." "You've nothing to worry about from the Chevalier or your husband." "I'm your safe harbor." "Protect me from the waves?" "Yes." "Even as the tide takes me." "He's ready now." "This way." "Prince Annaba of Assinie, you're welcome at my court." "Versailles is more beautiful than I can imagine." "May I present my brother Philippe, Duke of Orléans, his wife Henriette of England," "Colbert, my first minister," "Mlle de la Vallière." "You've already met my wife." "When I hosted a party and didn't have room for my friends they took rooms in town, so now I'm building some myself." "400 apartments in all." "Where are the workers?" "In the planning stages of a dangerous part of construction." "Tomorrow we can see them laboring." "I'd like that very much." "Tell me about African countries." "When do we negotiate?" "Prince Annaba, things are different here." "Maybe I'm wrong." "Maybe I should talk to the Dutch, the Spanish, the English." "They're all keen to talk." "Not enjoying the hospitality?" "Hmm!" "There's a great deal of it!" "And more besides, as you'll see tonight." " What then?" " I'll sit down with you." "I've no explanation." "I'm so very sorry, Mr Marchal." "Half the shipments lost and 4 men dead." "The king's missing gold, marble, stone and wine." "It's becoming a pattern." "Appearance is everything." "Everything!" "Don't you understand?" "Has anyone listened?" "He's my guest, and shows more grandeur in clothes than I can in palaces." "A marble shipment went missing, Sire, plainly the men can't work without it." "Did the marble hide itself in the woods?" "Thieves, Sire." "Always thieves on the road." "So was it a pickpocket?" "This is organized." "Sabotage!" "We need goods." "We transport more and more goods to Versailles, and so the more likely it becomes." "Such incidents become movements which will ignite our lands." "Buildings need foundations." " Sire..." " The king's road is sacred!" "Sacrosanct, protected and secured." "If not, the country's damaged and torn, everyone will feel lost." "Someone is declaring war." "I and my men will go and set up patrols." " At once!" " Yes, Sire." "Wait!" "You'd countermand His Majesty?" "Not enough men, we're at war!" "Priority is protecting the king." "I'll handle the roads." "Ensure your men are of quality." "I need them as my eyes and ears." "My name is Mme de Beauvais." "Your mother sent me." "I'm your new tutor." "What will you teach me, Mme de Beauvais?" "Call me Catherine." "Should the workers return to the scaffolding, Sire?" "Yes." "Yes of course." " Even if they pretend to work." " Sire?" "Where's my brother?" "Our visitor's inspired me." "I think I need more color." "How to dress for a war?" " Purple, or red?" " Red, of course." " I like the purple." " Me too." "That's why I said red." "Philippe, when you do leave, make sure to come back." " I can't promise that." " Say the words." "If I died your life would be simple, wouldn't it?" "You know my problems will never be solved." "And I'd rather you didn't die." " You say the sweetest things, poppet." " I mean it." "Since we were small, my dream's been war." "Yours was my brother." "We're so lucky." "One day we may both live our dreams." "We may have war or splendor," "I don't believe we can have both." "Then it's war." "All around you will smile and they will deal, but all would see you destroyed, Sire." "You're king of our future." "The only question: what kind shall it be?" "You dream of paradise, but you must build it for yourself." "Dressed this way since 3 months old, so as not to be the cloud hiding the sun." "Amen." "I thought if I started out, you'd sanction it." "You've blessed me enough now, thank you." "I don't understand." "I await your word." "When I can wait no more, I'll ask God for deliverance." "Which one are you?" "I might be a horse." "At least, that's what I've been told." "Brother..." "Want me to be serious?" "Always stay close to your guard." "You leave today." "I will bring you glory." "I vow it." "God protect and bring you home." "Go, then." "Run to her with my blessing." "No need of a priest for that." " My dear?" " Yes?" "Your help, please." "A moral quandary." "Mmm!" "I'll do my best." "If someone I adore fucks someone else without my express consent, isn't it only fair and just that I fuck someone of my own choosing?" "Mm." "I tried to ask Bishop Bossuet, but he was most unforthcoming." " I..." " Sophie, don't reply." "She has replied, it's written all over her face." "Enough teasing!" "We should thank heaven." " Families have to leave court." " No papers." "I suppose there was no one to vouch for them." "That's the law we must all now comply with." "At least we have our Chevalier." "Why are you being so nice to me?" "My Own folly!" "I know you'll use us up and cast us out like the rest." "Naturally!" "Fear not, I'll watch out for you in this madness." "Especially you, my pretty!" "Sophie!" "Oh!" "Come at once!" "Hand me that trowel!" "Mixture's thick, more water!" "Sophie." " It's her name." " That's a death wish." "Better to die for what you believe in, yes?" "What's your name again?" "Benoît, sir." "Jacques." "Why's a gardener up here?" "The view lets me measure the garden's lines." "And girls out walking." "Be careful with that." " Think of your future, eh?" " I am." "If the Parthenays prove as meaningful as they might, their visit, their loyalty, could encourage compliance in the south." "Leaving who?" "The north and east." "Who defies me there?" "The Duke of Cassel, Sire, I think, his influence there is great, half the nobles owe him." "It's family land historically." "He's our keystone, then." "Take him out of the wall, the structure collapses." "If not, the collapse is ours." "Our letters to him have had no response." "Send him a gift - my portrait - with an order to comply with our laws." "He'll supply proof of nobility or suffer consequences, all France bearing witness." "King's messenger, bearing gifts." "How very kind." "Some champagne?" "Louis the Great summons you to court." "He requires you to present proof of your nobility." "Really?" "I warn you, Kobina, the king is entertaining in our honor, but we're not here to have fun." "As long as we leave alive, I don't care" "To be sure," "Chevalier does possess more influence than I thought, but this is smaller than where we were." " What I love about being here is..." " What?" "Noise." "The court's hustle and bustle." "How do I look?" "You'll not go out in that!" "Huh!" "Mother, please don't fuss." "Fuss!" "This is not a game." "It's my job, to ensure it's you who catches the king's eye." "Look." "What do you see?" "I... see... me." "It's a time not for women, but for men." "But the wisest king can be a fool for great beauty." "With that, even if never a queen, you may live like one." "I do believe you're the fairest of them all." "Good luck everyone." "Hmm, I adore your perfume." "I'm not wearing any." "It must be hard raising a child alone." "I do what I can." "You must find it hard being so far from your husband and children." "It isn't painful unless it's mentioned." "That's a beautiful dress wrapped round a lovely creature." "Why, thank you!" "The king wants us to negotiate." " And you shall." " We negotiate publicly?" " You'd have everyone sent away?" " If that's what it takes." " You have a woman?" " My wife lives in Paris." " With you?" " I live with the king." " I'm confused." " I sleep where the king sleeps." "This is as far as I go." "His bed must be crowded!" "We're not wanted here." "We should retire." "Brother, negotiations have just begun." "Please don't toy with him this way." "I think I understand this game." "Apparently so!" "Alas, fortune at this table doesn't favour us tonight." "So, let's play." "What are you doing?" "Winning!" "There's a spring in your step." "And worried faces in front." "Your Majesty, urgent business needs attention now." "I hope this new success brings you quickly to bed." "Cassel's replied to the message, Sire." ""Here's your proof:" "a contribution to your noble project."" "May I reply in person, Sire?" " I urge restraint." " Facing insolence?" "If I may, Sire?" "Arresting him will end your plan before it starts." "We may as well imprison all the nobles, that's what'd happen." "Let me bruise his face for the insult he's given you." "Cut off one head, and another will replace it." "To touch him is to beg for civil war, as the English found out." "Husband, I'm not ready." "I'm not here in duty, but in gratitude, for keeping your word, and showing hospitality to our guest." "You did it very well, and for that I'm grateful." " I wish to bestow a gift upon you." " I accept!" "The gift is a secret." "So much the better." " Your daughter is alive." " Oh!" "Brother, wake up!" "The king wants to see you." "Tell him to wait." "Tell him for yourself." "Please get dressed." "We don't have much time." " Where are we going?" " You'll see." "Sire, the Parthenays will arrive this morning." " And my goddaughter Charlotte?" " Yes, Sire." "A ray of sunshine." "Are we nearly there, Maman?" "You stay here." "How did you enjoy my wine?" "What's your offer?" "The Dutch don't have your hospitality, but there's money." "Where are we?" "A brief stop." "My gardener found this man, a noble who fought against my family in the uprising." "He thought he was safe out in the woods." "Oh, my God!" "Your valuables, if you so please." "I know that voice!" "Montcourt!" "Don't!" "Please, don't!" " Kill her!" " Oh, I will." "Hey, we have to move!" "Hurry!" " Near dark." " She's gone." "She'll die!" "Let's go!" "Why are we here?" "The Dutch do have money, but no power." "We have both." " Why am I here?" " To finish negotiating." "We haven't started yet." "We've been negotiating since you stepped off your coach." "I've no choice." "I offer security and a fair revenue." "Also a gunboat to secure your port." "You've been away awhile, enemies are moving against you." "Father'll handle it." "Do you see this loud little life?" "I'm told that God himself brought her to me for a reason." "Now I understand." "Her very existence begs a question, because in any other country, England, Spain, the Dutch republics, she'd be long dead, and her mother too." "Yet here she is, and here you are." "One thing is sure." "Maybe you'll make a deal elsewhere." "Rest assured, they'll smile, agree, then they'll bring armies, burn your land, kill your families... and take what's dear to you." "Certain!" " So would you." " Not I." "I suggest you decide quickly." "With no king, a country plunges into war." "King?" "Your father is dead." "You're king." "My condolences, Your Majesty." "Majesty?" "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." "We're going." "The Venetians have worked hard on a new glass, Sire." "They hope it'll be more to your liking." "Better." "Burn him."