" Previously on Reign..." " The Duke of Guise, your uncle, is" " a dangerously ambitious man." " I read your letter." "I wrote that letter thinking I'd never see you again." "I know." "None of us are responsible for our hearts... only our actions." "I do read Henry's bible." "It belonged to Henry, and Henry went mad, and now it belongs to you." "You've been poisoned." "I think this Sebastian is the man responsible for our brother's death." "The ledger we found in your accounting house is enough to prove your guilt." "You may keep your life, but that is all you may keep." "You didn't say the race was starting from the bottom of the hill." "It isn't very sporting to just sit down, is it?" "Hurry up, missus." "Isn't this what husbands are for?" "Or servants?" "Kenna, come, the chocolate." "Coming." "Lovely." "Thank you." "Condé." "It's a magnificent day, isn't it?" "Where has Lola gone off to?" "I suggested I speak to you on both our behalf." "That sounds promising." "I invited her to my estate in Condé, and she's accepted." "It would only be a few days, a holiday, where we might get to know each other better." "With your permission, as she is your lady." "Well, that-that does sound promising." "Of course I give you my permission." "So strange, isn't it?" "Both of us married and yet more alone than ever." "Lady Kenna." "Come on." "You said you needed a partner." "Not you!" "It's not appropriate." "I've got more weight than any of those ladies you're trying to recruit, and it helps with the speed." "No!" "Bash, you're here!" "How wonderful!" "I'm sorry I can't stay." "I have some business with the kingsguard... someone needs replacing." "You're the king's brother." "I thought the whole point of being a royal was to get other people to do things for you." "I'm not a royal, and I doubt our king would agree with you." "I'd appreciate it if you'd keep" " your hands off my wife." " Bash, stop it!" " You're embarrassing me." " Excuse me, brother." "A word?" "It's about your wife." "You know, if you did anything other than work, things like this wouldn't happen." "Whatever your grudge is against Bash..." "He maimed our brother and caused his death." "You won't settle it by ruining his marriage." "True." "It's just a start, but it might bring me pleasure." "Great pleasure, I would guess." "I'm leaving court for a few days to go to my estate." "Leave with me and go home to your wife." " What?" " It's made more complicated by the fact that she's ill." "Ill?" "With what affliction is she ill?" "There's a growth." "Pain." "The physician said it won't be long." "Jeanne is dying?" "Why aren't you with her?" "She's a private woman and wanted only those closest to her near." "What can I say?" "I didn't make the short list, given our unhappiness." "I am sorry, Antoine." "So you'll forgive me if I seek distraction elsewhere." "Find a hobby or a whore or something other than revenge to occupy you." "You risk both our lives going after the king's brother." "If I have to, I will stop you myself." "No, you won't." "The House of Valois against the House of Bourbon, brothers against brothers..." "for that is what it would be." "There would be no choice." "I would die for you, Louis, willingly." "And I believe you would do the same for me." "Enjoy your holiday." "I'll be here when you return." "Your Majesty, the Duke of Guise." "Uncle?" "You want your old position back?" "Are you mad?" "I was appointed the king's magistrate by Francis, and I took the job seriously, tamping down uprisings across the land." "You ran the minute you heard the word "plague."" "And kept the king's order in the east, at great risk to myself." "You fled to save yourself." "And left me, your niece, unguarded." "Can one man conquer a disease?" "No." "But I can protect you from those who would harm you." "Like the Bourbons, who have managed to install themselves in your court." "I don't know Antoine well, but Louis is a friend to the realm and a friend to me." "Not politically." "Their line has been angling for the throne for gener..." "For generations, yes." "You sound like Catherine." "Why she hasn't assassinated them while they're here at court is a mystery to me." "Catherine has called for a family luncheon." "My family, not yours." "You may stay, but I don't believe you're here to protect me, or for a post you know Francis has rescinded." "Ma'am." "If this is a family dinner, what's Narcisse doing here?" "We made a discovery, Stephan and I, about my recent hallucinations." "I know the thinking was that I was ill..." "Syphilitic, you mean." "Diseased." "But in fact I was poisoned." "By our family Bible, the one that your father used to read for comfort, as did I, after his death." "Now, the poison had affected our personalities, each differently." "It also altered my palate." "I crave sweets." "Everything else tastes like metal." "A poisoned Bible, are you sure?" "We tested it ourselves." "The question is: who poisoned it?" "Yes, that would be the question." "Thank you, Narcisse, for pointing out the obvious." "And would you stop doting on my mother." "Now, now." "He was there for me in my hour of need." "He already has a lead on the poisoner." "So much for your investigative skills." "I helped you and Claude." "You're just angry with him because Diane was here." "How is she, Bash?" " Back in Paris?" " I assume so, yes." "Can we focus on who is responsible for this, please?" "One stands out:" "Frederic Mazur." "He was one of Henry's most trusted first-valets... whom, according to the other servants, encouraged Henry to seek solace and absolution within Scripture, and who fled the moment Henry died." "While the other servants waited to receive gifts the king had bequeathed." "I'll look into it." "Whoever did this destroyed the mind of a king, but the damage didn't stop there." "It was Henry's madness that led to his hunger for England, and to the death of so many, to his own untimely demise, and to you becoming king at such a tender age, amidst so much religious hatred and unrest." "We have all been hurt by this assassin's poison." "And no one hurts my family and lives to tell the tale." "Whoever they are, they will pay the price." "And their family will weep tears stained with blood." "Look what survived the plague." "I heard you were back to claim your old post." " Good luck with that." " I have a confession to make." "That's not really why I'm here." "I see you're no longer wearing black." "I gave up with that weeks after Henry passed." "I do as I please in my own home." "What I meant is your official mourning period is over." "And I'm here to court you." "You say that like I just won a prize." "You can't be serious." " We had an affection once." " A flirtation, years ago." "Enough of a connection to get me banished from court." "You blame that on your magnetic charm, not your double-dealing?" "Catherine, please." "Few live past 40." "Must you remind me?" "And what years I have left," "I want to spend with an equal." "Someone I can build something with." "Build what, exactly?" "An empire, a comfortable life, a power base rooted in trade routes your Medici ties could open up." "How romantic." "It is, because I'm talking about developing a region I've claimed." "We can call home and build something to support your son's rule, where your younger ones could grow up with a father, their mother once again center stage in her own home." "I thought Greer would be living in a proper manor house." "Well, the servant who delivered her belongings directed me to an inn along this road." "I think you were being overly cautious about leaving our carriage at a distance." "My shoes are ruined." "Greer is a traitor in the eyes of the Crown." "If we're seen with her, it puts Mary in a terrible position of punishing us or defending her." " Greer." " I don't believe it!" "We missed you and wanted to see how you are." "Look around." "It's awful, isn't it?" "Well, it's not terrible, but we thought that..." "Why are you living like this?" "What about Castleroy's money?" "Our assets were immediately seized when Aloysius was ruled as a traitor." "It's not Mary's fault, it's the law." "What will you do?" "Let's see." "I wake up in the morning, think about what I should do, what I need to do, what I can do, and then I go back to sleep." "Then I read a bit, think a bit, feel bad a bit, determine to cheer myself up a bit." "Greer, are you drunk?" "It's the stout I've been eating." "Eating stout?" "Trick I picked up downstairs in the tavern." "Quite a bit cheaper than traditional food, and really quite filling." "I'm learning so much." "Francis." "You wanted to see me?" "When are Condé and Lola leaving for his home?" "This evening." "Why?" "Bash has found some damning evidence against him." "Frederic, the valet we were looking into, the one who had access to Henry." "And the Bible." "I posted a substantial reward for information leading to him, and pieces have been trickling in." "Frederic Mazur had ties to Condé." "Ties the man concealed when he first came here and was vetted for a position so close to the king." "He served the Bourbons." "Fighting in Condé's private army in Spain." "Is that all?" "It's the combination of factors." "The missing servant's allegiance to Condé." "The Bourbons' hatred of the Valois." "Condé's appearance at court just after our father's death." "His sudden determination to ingratiate himself here." "He offered you protection when you had run off after Lola unguarded during the plague." "Mary," "I know better than anyone how loyal you are to those who are loyal to you." "And it's true that none of these things is damning enough to detain Louis." "Which is why you want me to get him to stay." "I have a lead on the valet." "I just need time to follow it." "If Condé leaves and we have to go after him, even more blood could be shed." "We might have to extract him from behind his armies." "So now we're at war?" "With a man who has done nothing but prove his loyalty to the crown and to me?" "I believe that Louis' devotion to you is genuine." "But the events in question, the poisoning of my father, happened before he ever met you." "If he is behind this, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the rivalry between our families." "He may even have regretted his actions, particularly as events unfolded." "But unfold they did in a way that hurt you more than anyone can ever know and ruined us." "If he is innocent, let us prove it." "You're the only one he trusts." "Find a way to keep him here." "It is a betrayal." "Deception." "Yes, it is." "The Duke of Guise?" "You can't be seriously considering his proposal." "The fact that you've heard about this proposal from your still active network of spies does not mean it's open for discussion." "I knew that you'd finished mourning, but I just thought..." "Well, I assumed that you were done with... all that." "Men, you mean?" "More accurately, did you think that just because you don't entertain women my age that no other men do?" "You judge me unfairly." "No, I've seen the women you pursue." "My daughter, for example." "That's was purely political." "I amend that; it was to save her" " from a Protestant marriage." " Stop." "I'm very grateful for all the help that you've given, but a poison Bible, revisiting my husband's madness and death at my son's hands, they all remind me of your blackmail, the choices that you forced" "Francis to make and all that it cost him." "Lives were lost, I grant you." "Don't argue with me." "Make it up to me and to my son." "The poison is still in you, isn't it?" "You said you had a lead of your own?" " For the valet?" " Payments he may have received for completing the task." "Follow that lead, and perhaps then we can speak of my future and yours." "You want me to stay for a party?" "A royal dinner to thank you for all you've done for us." ""For us"?" "The last time Francis and I spoke, we came to blows." "I believe he regrets the outburst and thinks a proper sendoff would help ease tensions." "So this is a joint effort?" "Yes." "Why?" "I'll tell you in the hopes that you're frank with me about why it is you want me to stay." "Mary, your private life is lived in a very public way." "In a home filled with hundreds of nobles and servants." "There's always talk of the king and queen." "More so because they're mesmerized by you." "And what is the current talk?" "That Francis no longer visits your chambers." "That even his belongings have been removed." "That you barely speak." "It pains me to hear that, because I know how hard you fought to get back to each other." "And I have to ask." "What?" "If some small part of this request comes from the realization that there's nothing to return to." "That is very presumptuous." "Said the woman who presumes her friend and I will naturally fall in love simply because it suits her." "I mean, is that what you want?" "For me and Lola to find happiness with each other or are we merely chess pieces that no longer need" " to be moved?" " You make me sound so cold." "I understand why you did it." "Why you asked us to give it a chance, and I'm telling you our best chance is if we leave now." "Well, you can leave in a day or so." "If you want me to court your friend, don't ask me to spend another moment in your presence." "Not now." "If you don't want us together, if it no longer services you, then say it." "Be honest about the power you hold over all of us." "Be honest about what you want." "So we can all get on with our lives." "I don't want you to court Lola." "There." "It's not so hard to live a more honest life, now is it?" "It isn't much, but any more would be dangerous." "Thank you." "I'm nearing eviction." "You say this isn't much, but it's everything to me." "Greer, have you thought of returning to Scotland?" "No." "But what choice do you have?" "I will never go home in disgrace." "And what would be the point?" "I doubt my father would take me in." "But I do have a plan." "I'll find work as a ladies' companion." "Traitor or not, I'm of noble birth and a skilled navigator of society." "All I have to is find a noble woman in need who's not familiar with my reputation." "Someone foreign would be best." "Well, let us help you with that." "Thank you." "Not again." "Would you excuse me?" "I have to speak to the whore next door." "Sharlene?" "My Lady." "Please stop with that." "Greer will more than suffice." "I understand your profession is demanding, but I'm trying to have a conversation next door." "A proper conversation, and, well..." "Surely your customer has been satisfied by now?" "You mean the banging." "Come in." "I'll show you something." "A trick you could use." "Good place to keep your things so they don't get swiped." "Helps that they nail the headboard to the wall." "You just have to nail it back." "That should fetch a good price." "Rent's due, isn't it?" "And after those runty bitches on the corner told everyone I serviced a leper, my regular customers fled." "Can you believe it?" "I, um..." "I didn't, of course." "Once people start thinking the worst of you, there's no turning it around, is there?" "In some cases, I'm afraid not." "You want me to end a courtship that you and Mary mandated?" "Why?" "I can't get into specifics, but Lord Condé is under investigation." "I am trusting you by even telling you that much, and if you have feelings for him, it puts you in an especially bad situation." "No, it's fine." "Really, I..." "I don't mind." "I mean, I enjoyed his company, but we were only just getting to know each other, and-and if he's a traitor, then I want nothing to do with him." "Thank you." "I know you were doing this for Mary." "For you and Mary." "I hope you know that I consider you a close friend as well." "More, as we share a son." "Or... we used to share a son." "When I enter the nursery, you leave." "When I leave, I've caught the nannies sending word to you that I've gone." "Is there something I've done to offend you?" "No." "No, Mary... saw us lying close with the baby." "You were asleep." "He was finally asleep." "I didn't want to risk moving him." "I nodded off." "Mary wasn't angry." "She understood, but..." "I pulled back, thinking that if I could just protect her from feeling one more ounce of pain, then we might..." "The damage was done long before." "I'm so sorry." "I..." "I didn't realize." "All I meant was..." "Well, you're the closest thing I have to family, to be honest, and losing that connection hurt, that's all." "But I understand completely." "I do." "Lady Kenna." "I'm glad to see you again." "Will you and your husband be coming to the meal tonight?" "You mean the dinner for your brother?" "I'm afraid not." "It's royals only, and Bash is working this evening anyway." "Enjoy, though." "I hear they're serving strawberries and snow." "Strawberries." "In the dead of winter." "I know, isn't it decadent?" "It's good to be a royal this time of year." "Well, seasons change, along with everything else." "And who knows what kind of royal delicacies may soon be touching your lips." "King Antoine, I'm flattered, but you must stop, please." "You're beginning to make me feel uncomfortable." "Well, that was never my intention." "I apologize, truly." "Accepted." "Lord Narcisse." "I was looking forward to seeing you, ever since I heard you lost everything due to your financial misadventures." "How is it you managed to remain at court?" "My expertise in many areas is valued by the king." "Not just the king, but thequeen mother, too, I hear." "I'm afraid that friendship won't continue." " Catherine, aren't you looking..." " Lovely." "Where are you off to?" "Dinner for Lord Condé." "Your favorite." "And we shall meet after, correct?" "The lavender house." "North end of the grounds." "The greenhouse is magical this time of year." "I had sex in that greenhouse once." "It's a lovely venue." "The walls sweat in the heat as the snow falls outside." "I assume that's what you will be doing with that untrustworthy lox?" "A woman of my age?" "I find your suggestion shocking." "My lord." "Shocking indeed." "You are beautiful." "Thank you." "There's no need for such things." "The servants are aware of the status of our union." "I think it would be inviting gossip to act too much the couple." "Well, compliment was genuine." "You seem angry." "I tricked Condé into staying like you asked." "I manipulated him, his life, and he's not the only one." "You should know, I called off his courtship of Lola." "I had a similar conversation with her." "What was your excuse?" "Does he know that we're suspicious of him?" "No." "You let him think that you don't want him to be with her." "I understand." "All for the cause, I suppose." "And what cause is that, exactly?" "What are we becoming, Francis?" "Did you find the valet?" "He's dead." "He was killed shortly after he returned to Condé's region." "You think that's Condé trying to tie up loose ends?" "It's what I would do if I paid someone to poison a monarch." "This is all speculation." "Not all." "Frederic Mazur had debts." "Staggering ones, apparently." "Accumulated at a gentleman's establishment." "On one occasion, the proprietor saw Condé and Frederic engaged intensely on some matter." "Days later, the owner anonymously received funds, absolving Frederic's debts." "Just weeks before our father started showing signs of his illness." "He paid him to do the job." "I know we don't have hard proof, not with Frederic dead." "We have little choice but to confront the Bourbons directly." "You don't have to be a part of this." "I want to see his face, his reaction, I know him." "At least I think I still do." "You are prepared for the outcome?" "If he is guilty, there can be no hesitation, no build up of support or unrest." "I will have him beheaded immediately." "The Valois really throw a dismal party, don't they?" "For once I must agree." "Open it up." "Read us a passage." "A Bible." "My father kept it close and read it often." "As did my mother after he died." "Frederic Mazur, my father's valet, poisoned it." "What is this?" "Are you making an accusation?" "Frederic served under your command in Spain." "He returned to your region after my father died, where he was murdered." "Was he on your orders to poison the king?" "So this is why you wanted to keep me in the castle, so you can put me on trial." "We are asking you directly." "Please tell the truth, Louis." " This is outrageous." " We know you paid off Frederic, his debts, the whorehouse." "We have witnesses who will testify." "Do you deny it?" "Did you pay Frederic to poison my father?" "I swear, my hand to God," "I had nothing to do with this." "Yes," "Frederic served under me, and he traded on that connection to beg me to relieve his debts, and I refused him." "He may have been a good man once, but he fell into whoring and gambling." "His debts were a bottomless pit." "I don't believe you." "Is this some kind of revenge for my talks with the English queen?" "Are you trying to rid yourselves of us?" "It wasn't him, Francis." "We uncovered a trail from the bankers." "It was the Duke of Guise." "He paid the debts." "But that was only to bait the poisoner." "After your father died, the poisoner fled to claim a parcel of land that he had been granted from the Duke of Guise's holdings." "The deed, no doubt, is a carrot." "The duke." "My uncle poisoned the king?" "The duke despised him." "None of this would have come to light." "Who would look at a Bible and think it was a murder weapon?" "If I hadn't taken to reading it, by chance." "I have done nothing but be a friend to you and Francis, doing your bidding, no matter the peril or price." "You must understand." "That there is bad blood between our lines?" "You think I don't know that?" "You call us murderers?" "After all you've done to our family?" " You destroyed our brother..." " Louis!" "Maimed him, left him for dead!" "Is this true?" "In the Italian Wars." "Wars we fought for the House of Valois." "You stabbed him in the back, you coward." "You are the murderers." "Our talk about the villa in Italy..." "My brother wasn't sure it was you." "The man I attacked, I didn't know he was a Bourbon." "All Henry told me was he was a traitor to France." "I did what I was told out of loyalty to my father and king." "I'm sorry." "It was a king's order." "My young brother is emotional." "He has always suffered from a choleric temperament." "And he was so very young when our brother died." "As were you, I'm sure." "Well, it was another generation who forced your hand." "We must not be stained by the crimes of the dead." "Not when life and peace are so fragile." "I forgive you." "For the sake of your soul and peace between our two nations." "And my brother... will do the same." "Let it be so." "Let our feuds die with our fathers." "Arrest the duke." "There's no need." "Your uncle will never betray anyone or cause you harm again." "Driver, why are we stopping?" "Another stout for you?" "I can't drink my dinner again tonight." "I don't suppose you could spare a tiny piece of that game hen I'm smelling?" "No cash, no bird." "A heartrending sight." "To see a lady of your beauty and obvious charm seated here alone." "Thank you." "You have such beautiful hair." "It's like spun silk." "How much to run my fingers through it?" "How m..." "I am a highborn lady." "Swigging from a tankard of cheap ale." "Please, there's no need for games." "I can pay." "Dear, I was wrong." "I'm terribly sorry." "It's just... there seemed a gentleness to you." "And I..." "I'm not from here." "And, to be honest, I..." "I'm lonely." "Forgive me." "All right." "I suppose I can understand your confusion." "And I can well understand feeling alone, but this is no way to behave." "You are so right." "You're just going to look for another prostitute, aren't you?" "Um... maybe." "Are you a married man?" "Because seeking the services of a prostitute, that counts as cheating, you do know that." "No, I'm not married at all." "Widowed four years ago." "I'm sorry." "Would you consider yourself a kind man?" "Kind and generous." "It-it shames me to seek such comfort, to crave human touch, but I do." "I think I can help you." "Or rather I know someone who can help." "She's just upstairs." "Louis, I am so sorry." "For what?" "Manipulating me or believing me capable of such deception?" "Poisoning your family, then working beside you, fighting beside you." "I needed to keep you here to clear your name, if it could be cleared." "Louis, there was such evidence against you." "You lied to me." "Humiliated me, letting me believe that..." "You push me away, time and again, then pull me towards you." "Don't... don't you understand?" "I love you." "What I wrote in that letter... do you think it was an impulse?" "A... a passing infatuation?" "It was the truth." "Still is the truth." "Do you know what you've just done?" "Revealing our grudge against Bash in front of the king?" "Couldn't just stand there, accused by him and say nothing." "You should've chosen your words more carefully." "Or perhaps you chose just the right ones?" "Did you bring our brother's death to light to protect that half-blood bastard?" "I was trying to protect you... and me." "To stop you enacting on a vendetta that'll get us both killed." "You do not make my decisions for me." "If anything happens to Bash now, you and I are first in line for the executioner." "I can gut that bastard without killing him." "I'll make him suffer." "Another way." "It's rare to find a girl for hire with such highly placed friends at French court." "I have been lucky." "I get along with people." "Still, the position will be challenging." "The count and I travel a great deal." "And even when we are home..." "Well, Hungary is far from France." "I'm eager to learn." "I've heard it to be an exotic place." "You are a find." "Now, you'd be socializing with foreigners..." "No, I will see her now!" "Greer." "I was surprised when the inn keep said you were here." "Sharlene, what happened to your... ?" "My hair?" "You!" "You did this to me!" "That john you sent up?" "He's a gentleman, you said." "Kind..." "Do you know this woman?" "Well, he was kind right up until I nodded off." "I think he slipped something in my drink." "And when I woke up," " he chopped off my hair!" " Sharlene, no." "He's probably off somewhere, petting it now," "The pervert!" "Is your friend a prostitute?" "Well, I was!" "Till this one took my last chance at making a living!" "I can't afford a wig!" "And I'm pretty sure the market for a shorn whore is quite miniscule!" "You're worse than my last pimp!" "You have ruined me!" "I think you are both ruined." "But apparently you already have a profession." "No, I swear!" "Please, leave." "I am informing my mother of the duke's fate." "I wonder if she'll be surprised." "It was power, not family that ever moved my uncle." "I keep thinking that if we discovered the poison..." "You wouldn't have had to have kill your father." "You would've been spared." "Perhaps we can salvage the match between Condé and Lola." "No." "I think we should step back." "Instead of trying to force things." "Thinking that they'll protect us or save us from anything." "We can't force our own hearts." "Why would we try to force others?" "There's no point in it anymore." "It's time to let our hearts to go where they will." "It's the first time I've heard you talk about your heart and the future." "What's changed?" "Time, I suppose." "Time that has brought your heart no closer to mine." "You say that I can be free." "Open to another." "But without you, my heart is closed as tight as a fist." "You've heard, I assume?" "About the duke of Guise?" "Yes." "Brutal way to die." "Especially as he was innocent." "A ransom befitting a prince." "A bargain." "Considering I warned you that Catherine was circling." "And provided you with a scapegoat to shoulder the blame." "And to die for you." "The poisoner Frederic was dead." "What led you to me?" "The proprietor of the establishment Frederic fell into such debt with is a close acquaintance of mine." "Willing to open up his books to me for a price." "But I never paid your friend." "No." "You were clever." "I had to rely on my bankers to unearth the trail that led back to you." "Or rather, the duke of Guise, once the bankers had finished with him." "And the final payment?" "The deed you had manufactured from the Duke?" "It will bear up under scrutiny?" "Yes." "I have an excess of expertise in that area." "After all, how does one acquire so much land to lose?" "So, you're clever and grasping." "What's to stop you from blackmailing me?" "You poisoned a king and a queen." "And now I've helped you get away with it." "We each hold a noose for the other." "And my gold?" "What will you do with that?" "Buy back the lands you've lost?" "What gold?" "I am but a penniless, disgraced lord." "No concern to anyone." "Well, they won't see you coming, will they?" "Not this time." "Here it is then." "What's this?" "Your cut." "And I don't want you sending anyone after me for it later." "Sharlene, you have it all wrong!" "Wait, no!" "No... no, I..." "So, you're working hens then?" "You got your coin." "You got your bird." "You're still here?" "I thought you were going home." "You framed the duke, didn't you?" "Somehow." "You're cleared, Louis." "I admit, it took me a moment to piece it together." "And then I remembered." "I confided in you about Frederic." "How torn I was refusing to help him." "And in doing so, I had no idea" "I gave you the perfect weapon against Henry." " Louis, let it go." " I stood before my king and queen and told them we were innocent." "You made me a liar, an accomplice in your treason." "Do you forget how much Marcus suffered?" "How much you loved him as a boy?" "He carried you on his shoulders." "Taught you how to hunt, how to shoot." "Protected you from our father." "Took blows for you, died betrayed." "And you judge me for avenging him?" "What has this place done to you?" "You did this to me." "You are my brother." "And I will never trust you again." "Did you know the poison would make Henry go mad?" "Well, I knew it was slow acting." "Nearly impossible to trace." "I chose it because I wanted" "Henry to suffer." "And then die." "I admit." "I enjoyed the reports of his madness." "Knowing I was the cause." "And what's his legacy?" "How is he remembered?" "As a monster and a butcher, which is exactly what he was." "I righted the scales." "Restored the balance between our families." "So we can look them in the eye, the Valois, and deal with them as equals." "Strawberries in snow." "Francis." "The baby's sleeping, but..." "I was looking for you." "You said that you missed our friendship, our closeness." "It was a loss for me, too." "I'd like us to be close again." "Friends." "Family, as it were." "I'd like that." "That feeling." "Your heart opening alongside his hand." "Isn't it extraordinary?" "Yes, it is." "Mary." "Please, let me speak." "I knew I was taking advantage of you, your regard for me, and you deserve better than that." "It's done now." "No need to apologize again." "I am sorry, but I'm not here to apologize." "I'm here to tell you the truth." "Which I suppose I already did." "Even before I even realized it." "When I told you to call things off with Lola." "I didn't want to lose you." "Not to another or to..." "To the charges of treason." "I imagined you dead." "That loss and your betrayal pained me more than they should pain a married woman." "But you're not really a married woman anymore, are you?" "I am, Louis." "In the eyes of the Church and the world," "I am Francis's wife." "And I will never do anything to compromise my duty as queen." "I don't have the same freedom as a man or a king to stray beyond my marriage." "And given what I've been through, I have nothing to offer you, Louis." "I hear you." "I do." "But of all the reasons you expound of why we can't be together, none are of the heart." "I have to fight every instinct" "I have pulling me toward you." "When I'm near you," "I am aware of every breath you take." "And when I'm away, even the wind in the trees reminds me of you." "You will be the death of me." "And I of you."