" Previously on Reign..." " Mary of Scots' closest friend, her lady Lola, has agreed to be your hostage, in exchange for her family's release." "I'm pregnant." "With your child." " We must marry." " I am married, Elizabeth." " Then get a divorce." " We talked about this option." "Amy Dudley is dead." "Rumors are already spreading that Dudley murdered his wife." " We cannot be seen together." " You must help me to evade the gallows." "What of our child?" "Are you sure?" "Our future..." "Nothing is certain but my feelings for you." "I'm marrying you off to Duke Boinel, a wealthy noble who will supply France with the gold she so desperately needs in return for your hand." "I was married once to a girl I loved." "She died in childbirth." "And now Elizabeth has your little girl, doesn't she?" "She's using your daughter to ensure that you sabotage my alliances." "Good morning, Your Majesty." " May I come fetch your linens?" " As you will." "Will you require anything for your monthly pains, Your Grace?" "No." "I'll be all right." "But tensions on the Scottish border have been high for years, Your Majesty." "If your intention is to wait until that changes to deem whether it's safe to free my father and brothers, they may never be released, and I may never get to leave." "Or is that, in fact, the plan?" "The plan is for us to get to know one another, my dear Lady Lola." "A kind of personal diplomacy, if you will." "So that, in time, you may report to my cousin" "I am not the monster she may think I am." "I would like to report that, Your Majesty, and that you are a woman of your word." "But you suspect I am not." "You've been treated as an honored guest since your arrival." "I have enough" "Englishmen judging me without adding a high-minded foreigner to the list." "You will return to your chambers until I'm ready to discuss the matter again." "You may go." "King Charles." "I've been looking for you." "Do you have a moment?" "I'm waiting to talk to my regent, Narcisse." "How can I help you?" "It would mean a great deal if I could keep hosting suitors here." "I would make every effort to ensure France benefits from any new alliance Scotland makes." "Beware of needy queens asking for favors, Majesty." "I'm not asking for myself." "Scotland is an ally of France." "Alliances generally benefit both countries." "If you are talking about" " the costs of the war..." " Exorbitant costs, in blood and treasure, borne by France." "Which is what King Charles invited me here to discuss..." "French business." "Majesty, shall we?" "Yes." "Yes." "There's something you need to see." "It's from Lola." "Your brother's Scottish war left us with crushing debts." "And if we raise taxes?" "Oh, that would make us both very unpopular just as we are starting our time in power." "No, our options are few." "Especially as you have only so many sisters to marry off to suitors willing to pay so richly." "About that." "My sister and mother are dead set against the marriage." "I know your mother has made promises, Majesty, but take my word..." "Claude will be lucky to have Duke Boinel as her husband." "Well... even if he is a bit her senior." "But is he a good man?" "Our wives were once friends, and they spoke very candidly with each other." "She said he always treated her with the greatest of kindness and respect." "And when she died, along with my wife, in one of the summer plagues, she left him one of the largest estates in France." "He is as good as his gold, which we happen to need very much." "I understand why you're angry, Mary, but now may not be the best time to confront the English ambassador." "You read Lola's letter." "I'm not leaving her stranded in England indefinitely." "And I don't think there is a good time to accuse the English queen of imprisoning one of my best friends." " Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you." " Shh." "Juliet, what is it?" " They're arguing." " A plan." "A plan for what?" "To have me live here?" "To see your daughter." "Stay here in France... for how much longer?" "I see why you say it's not the best time to confront him, but what choice do I have?" "I will not stand by and do nothing to defend my few remaining friends." "Mary, there was something else in those letters of Gideon's we intercepted." "Have you managed to break the code?" "It took time, but this morning, we finally managed to rebuild their cipher." "What we found in those letters may upset you, but if used properly, it could change the whole game." " What is it?" " Your Grace." "Lord Narcisse has requested you join him in the great hall." "Of course." "Now he suddenly wants to see me?" "Stop saying you have no choice, Charles." "You're the king." "That's right, I'm the king." "I'm a royal, and none of us marry for love." "It's a miracle Francis loved his wife, but that doesn't mean any of us will." "So, that's it?" "I'm to be sold off like a mule, forced to live far away with some fossil I don't even know?" "Narcisse swears the duke is a good man." "As good as his gold, which I'm sorry to say we need very much." "Those are Narcisse's words all right." "I've heard them myself." "Claude, I'm sorry." "I've made my decision." "Mary, what are you doing here?" "I was wondering that myself." "Narcisse sent word, but..." "I wanted you all here to answer a simple question." "Where is the gold that Duke Boinel paid to marry Claude?" "What?" "Someone's stolen it?" "Are you accusing my mother of this?" "Well, we all know that she opposed the marriage, and she would love nothing more than to see my regency fail." "And what better way to do that than starve the kingdom of funds when we need them the most?" "Mother, is there any truth to this?" "I oppose Claude's marriage to Narcisse's friend, the duke, absolutely, and the rest is amateur fiction." "Amateur is whoever you paid to commit the crime." "They took the gold right after Boinel signed it over to me." "That means the deal is done." "The marriage will go ahead as scheduled." "And when I find the gold... which I will... your plan will have utterly failed." "Is it so unthinkable a crime might take place in this castle that I had no hand in?" "Hear me, Mother, if there is one shred of evidence that you stole that gold, you'll be punished severely." " The same goes for you, as well." " Me?" "You two have been as thick as thieves lately." "Do you still hold it against me that I defended her against a false accusation of murder?" "You have both been warned." "Look at my son." "The king is following his regent like an acolyte follows his master." "I'm losing him, Mary, to a man who cannot be trusted with Charles's welfare or this family's." "Ambassador Gideon." "You look like a man working out his frustrations." "Perhaps I should take a swing, as we are both frustrated with the same queen." "Don't know what you mean." "Well, first Elizabeth holds your daughter hostage, and then she keeps changing the price on the little girl's freedom." "Do you remember how we found your daughter Agatha's letters to you?" "We found other letters as well." "Of course you did." "That's why we change ciphers routinely." "My cryptographers finally deciphered the letters." "Including several from Elizabeth to you." "Ordering you to seduce me." "Your cryptographers are breathing too much of their own ink." "They're imagining things." "And letters from her to your aide, Jeffrey, ordering him to watch her every move." "I can show you, if you need proof, but I don't think you do." "If Elizabeth had to ransom your daughter to guarantee that you would obey her, why would she trust you without supervision?" "Let it go, Mary." "You are angry now because you know that your mission is doomed to fail." "Why would I let you seduce me when I know the truth?" "Elizabeth will keep withholding your daughter." "That's enough." "If you're finished." "Unless I decide to let you seduce me." "Because it gets us both what we want." "What are you talking about?" "Jeffrey's letters say that he is returning to England soon." "Let him bring news to Elizabeth that I am the lonely, brokenhearted queen she thinks I am and that you have seduced me." "Convince her that you control me, and you'll have something to bargain with, to force her to let you see Agatha." "You said this would give us both what we want." "What does it give you?" "You're not the only one" "Elizabeth has broken promises to." "I have few enough weapons at my disposal." "I plan to use this one to ensure Elizabeth keeps her promise to me." "Tomorrow?" "Already?" "Why is it happening so fast?" "They know I don't want to marry." "That's why they've chosen to have a small, private ceremony... so I don't embarrass the family with my objections." "I'm so sorry." "This shouldn't be happening." "You should be marrying someone who knows you, someone who loves you." "Someone like me." "To hear you say that, to hear it now..." "I brought you more pigs' blood." "Don't worry, nobody saw me come in." "I don't know how much longer I can keep up this charade." "My pregnancy isn't showing yet, but it will." "I've sent letters to suitors around the continent, but it may take weeks for them to consider and respond, and by then, it might be too late." "I'll be forced to admit to my future husband" "I'm already carrying someone else's child." "I keep asking myself if there's any chance for you to be cleared, exonerated beyond any doubt of a role in your wife's death." "It will never happen, Elizabeth." "I'm being brought before a tribunal... a tribunal stacked with nobles who whisper the same thing that the people do, that our rumored love for each other killed my wife." "If I hang, which I probably will, then maybe I deserve it." "Because the truth is that I did wish my wife dead." "And I would have killed for you." "For our child." "I have to go." "There are guards waiting for me." "Steady, Percy." "Look at you!" "Ooh!" "Whoa!" "You see, now people will think we've been drinking." "Well, now." "Does the owner always pour drinks like a barmaid?" " It's good to see you." " Martin." "I had no idea you'd come ashore." "Come here, Greer." "Give us a kiss." "Whoa." "Wait a minute." " You're pregnant." " Shh." "No one knows." "The child is mine?" " Were you planning to tell me this?" " How?" "By writing you a letter?" "What address would I use? "The middle of the Mediterranean"?" "I could help you with this." "Martin, that's very kind, but I've already arranged to give the child" " to a loving family." " You don't want it?" "Of course I want it." "But I also want..." "I want what's best for the child." "And you think that's best?" "Better than growing up the bastard child of a pirate and a peddler of whores." "You think we would be such terrible parents?" "How can you be a parent?" "You don't even live here." "You don't live anywhere." "I can send gold." "And I can visit." "Really?" "How often?" "Twice a year, perhaps?" "Maybe more?" "It's an honest offer." "You do what you want, but make me one promise." "Choose because of what you think, not what others might." "For richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." "Princess Claude," "I need you to repeat after me." "I'm sorry." " I wasn't listening." " Oh, dear Lord." "Cardinal Lauren, perhaps you could abbreviate the proceedings?" " This is a holy covenant between..." " I do." "I, Claude de Valois, take Duke Boinel as my husband." "That will do, Cardinal." "You have declared your consent before the Church." "What God has joined, let no man divide." "We should arrive at my estate before nightfall." "It's quite beautiful in the twilight hours." "I think you'll be very happy there." "I'm sure it's lovely." "You're kind to keep feeding me beer, although alcohol can't fix this." "But it might help you forget." "Now that she's married." "It's not Claude I need to forget." "I need to forget an idea." "A ridiculous, childish idea that I could love someone, they could love me, and nothing else mattered." "Don't let go of that idea." "Sons of goatherds don't get to be with princesses." "But look how far you've come." "You got out of the kitchens." "You rose up to the kingsguard, and you'll go higher still." "You used to be such a realist." "What happened to you?" "I suppose I've come to believe that..." "I need to believe that who we are matters more than our station." "Well, I've come around to your old way of thinking, because it was right, Greer." "You are who you're born to." "You'll never be more than what people say that you are." "You can pretend otherwise, but the world won't pretend with you." "Mm, we have to hurry." "Juliet is signaling." "Jeffrey is in position to watch our secret rendezvous." "Has he already seen your love letters to me?" "He has read them." "But this is only going to work if he sees us together." "Now hurry." "Where's Jeffrey?" "Well, don't look." "We don't want him to realize that you know he's there." "Now sit." "We're enjoying a meal together." "Shouldn't you, perhaps, be smiling?" "You're supposed to be enchanted by my company." "I think I'm doing pretty well for a queen who used to rule two realms and is now barely holding onto one." " Huh." " A queen who is reduced to playacting for someone else's servant to convince him that she's lost her foolish heart to a spy and a fraud." "If only for Jeffrey but also for you," "Mary, sit down and breathe." "It's going to be all right." "I'll get my daughter, and Lola will be released." "If not this way, we'll find another." "I do want to believe you." "But so many things have been going wrong lately." "For me, for my country..." "I just don't know if I trust my own fate anymore." "I don't know..." "You have to admit, your fate has a sense of humor." " We have to get inside." " Right." "Ugh." "Bring the wine!" "Ah..." "Uh-huh." "We have to get to a window." "He'll be able to see us from there." "We should get to the kiss quickly before the building collapses" " under the weight of my misfortune." " Shall we sit at this window seat?" "Yes, but you've got to be in the right position..." "Mary!" "Is this yours?" "No, you wouldn't have told me to sit here if so." "Do you know who...?" "Do you think that was enough to convince him?" "Um..." " No." " No." " Maybe... more." " More." "Um..." " Less impulsive..." " Mmm." "more deliberate." "I will instigate to show that I've fallen for you." "Um..." "Uh... well done." "All right." "Elizabeth will hear of this, and she will know it was a success." "You've seduced me, you've won my heart." "And, uh... well, then." "Oh, as if I don't have enough problems, Catherine, you give me the duke's stolen gold." "My wife's personal affects can be unpacked at a later time." "Do you still have nothing to say to your husband?" "Sorry." " It's been a long day for me." " For you?" "You forced me to stand at the altar while you grieved." "It was appalling." "Your family was right to hide you." "You're an embarrassment." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "I..." "I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable." "You humiliated me." "And to think I paid dearly for this." "A wife who cost as much as you should be better behaved." "You will apologize." "Are you serious?" "How dare you?" "!" "It's bad enough you're old and dull, but you're a wife-beater, too?" "Have you any idea how lucky you are to be married to me?" "This is not how you treat the royal blood of France!" "I'm a princess!" "Set that down anywhere, Timothy." "Thank you, Timothy." "You may go." "Clearly, you're not surprised to see this gold." "Do you have any idea what this could have done to me?" "Catherine, you know that I am in a weak position politically, already unwelcome at Narcisse's court..." "I know and I'm sorry." "It's not just my comfort that's at stake here!" "As long as I am at French court," "I am seen as an ally of France." "That and the Pope's support are all I have left to fend off Elizabeth and to fight the rebels who are trying to snatch my crown!" "The rebels that I am fighting have not only stolen my crown, they're starting to pick off my children." "Charles has been seduced by Narcisse and Claude has been married off." "Is it not possible that Narcisse is just trying to do his job?" "Do you honestly think that, having held power, that Narcisse and his friends will surrender it willingly when my son comes of age?" "Make no mistake, a movement will rise to make Narcisse king, and their first task will be to cut off the heads of every last Valois child." "So to safeguard your children's lives, you gambled mine." "I tried and I failed to stop Claude's marriage the only way I could." "I knew that Narcisse would look to me first for the gold." "When I needed a place to hide it, your chambers were the closest I could visit without arousing suspicion." "Well, thank you, for the truth at last." "You now have your gold," " and whatever you plan to do with it..." " I... which I don't want to know..." "I hope your reasons are good." "Ellen." "Sister." "So good to see you." "My husband, Lord Thomas Campbell." "Good to finally meet you." "I thought you were further along." "I've made mine too big, and-and the silly rags keep falling out." "No, no, it's perfect." "Let's sit down." "You'll live in a nearby estate that I've rented under Thomas' name." "If you make a few appearances at French court, show off your pregnancy, no one should suspect the child is mine and not yours." "But where will you be while your belly grows?" "Here, where I can hide if I need to." "This estate you've rented." "Is it befitting a family of our good name?" "It belonged to a wealthy earl." "You'll be quite comfortable." "Why don't you sample some of Greer's ale, Thomas?" "Sorry about Thomas." "After we lost the money for our dowries that your husband had promised," "Father was happy to marry us off to anyone with titles." "Titled men have such ridiculous pride, even when they haven't got a penny to their names." "Thomas doesn't understand why we can't raise the child in Scotland." "I want the child growing up close to me." "He or she will believe that you are its mother, but..." "Won't that be painful for you?" "Not as painful as never seeing it." "Mmm." "What is it?" "What's wrong?" "I suppose we feel..." "Here you are, about to lie to your friends at court to hide your pregnancy and hide your motherhood." "It feels as if we're all paying for your mistakes." "My mistakes?" "I lost everything." "And, yes, I got pregnant in a moment of loneliness and thoughtlessness, for which I am paying." "I'm paying your expenses." "I'm giving you the child you weren't able to have on your own whilst you live in a house your husband can't afford." "And here's what I and this child's father expect to get, our child raised the way you and I should have been raised." "The world may continue to care who one's parents are, but our child will not." "They will grow up knowing there are more important things in this life." "And if this child doesn't learn that from you," "I will be there to make damn sure they learn it from me." "Shopping for toys for your daughter, are you?" "Have you heard something from England?" "Well, the queen is happy, yes." "Seems Jeffrey reported our... evening together." " Oh." " Now Elizabeth's considering dates when I might be allowed to travel home." "Gideon, that's wonderful news, isn't it?" "You'll be able to see your daughter again." "And you can help my friend, Lady Lola." ""Considering," Elizabeth says." "I "might be" allowed to come home?" "These are the same vague promises I've heard for years." "So she acts as though she's keeping her promise" " just by admitting she made one." " Mmm." "How many lies and deceits does she expect people to accept?" "In my case, not many more." "I'm at my limit, Mary." "If I don't see my daughter soon," "I feel I may lose my mind." "Majesty." "Have you any news?" "Have we heard from Sweden?" "From Austria?" "It's not what you hoped." "Suddenly no one wants to marry me." "People are suspicious, Majesty, after so many spurned proposals." "Perhaps if you told me why marriage was suddenly so important." "The queen changed her mind." "How about that?" "But if I am to explain your policy shift to prospective suitors..." "Perhaps I realized you were right all along." "And for the future, please tell Dudley he cannot come and go undetected, as he seems to think." "If I thought I'd see him again, I would tell him." "Now leave me." " Narcisse." "What are you doing here?" " I hope you don't mind, but we took the liberty of searching your chambers, which are our chambers after all, loaned to you as our guest." "Did you find what you were looking for?" "You don't know the hand, perhaps, but you do know the man it belonged to." "Timothy, castle servant who tended to you from time to time." "Timothy tried to spend a gold coin in the village." "My men had told the merchants to look out for such coins, ones bearing Duke Boinel's markings." "So this servant stole the duke's gold?" ""This servant" that you pretend not to know was on his way to me for questioning." "Is that when you cut off his hand?" "No, his hand was cut off by the village magistrates for stealing Crown property." "But that was nothing compared to the punishment he feared if he told me the truth." "On his way to me for questioning, he broke free, threw himself off the castle walls, killing himself, because he knew that if he said one word under torture," "Catherine de Medici would kill not only him but she would kill his entire family." "He knew it." "And you know it, too." "Lord Narcisse, you claim that the way he died proves that Catherine had a part in the crime." "And somehow I'm involved as well." "Don't play coy with me, Mary, I'm warning you." "I can't help you because I don't know where the gold is." "I had no part in stealing it." "Now please leave my chambers." "No, I think it will be you who leaves." "What?" "I don't trust you, Mary, Queen of Scots, and I never will, and I will not have you lurking around French court any longer." "You are hereby banished from this castle, to be gone by the end of the week." "No." "My nation has turned against me." "I have nowhere to go." "You can't." "Charles won't allow it." "Oh, once he hears the case I have to make," "I'm quite sure he will." "We got word that Claude ran away from Boinel." "My men picked her up on the road to Paris." "You're not going to like what you see, Charles." "Our sister has not been treated well." "Why didn't you come to me?" "Why did you run to Paris?" "I didn't know what you would say." "Because you couldn't trust me to help?" "I'm so sorry, Claude." "This is all my fault." "I blamed you for forcing the marriage." "This... you couldn't have known." "It's Narcisse." "This is all Narcisse." "Either he didn't know who the duke really was, or he did and lied." "Mother warned me Narcisse would put his own interests ahead of this family's." "She was right." "Please don't make me go back to that man." "Did you consummate the marriage?" "Good God, no." "I'll fix this." "I promise." "King Charles has annulled his sister's marriage at the urging of the queen mother." "Catherine's act of defiance cannot be tolerated." "I'm told a council meeting was called, but no one informed or invited me." "Why?" "It's a meeting to discuss your family, Majesty." "I felt it best that we formulate recommendations" " before involving you." " Good." "I want to discuss my family as well and what you have done to it." "Majesty, with all due respect..." "Why don't you show my son the respect of allowing him to finish whatever it is he has to say?" "I may not be old enough to rule, but I am old enough to know who I can trust." "Lord Narcisse put my sister at risk, and I cannot forgive this." "Majesty, please, you can't judge Lord Narcisse on a single failed union." "Bad marriages happen every day." "Not to my sister." "Not while I'm king." "I've known Narcisse long enough to see I can't trust him to safeguard my family." "That is why I'm here today, to ask you to put in his place a regent who will." "Because she is part of my family." "My mother, Catherine de Medici." "But, Majesty, it's not your place to decide who is regent." "No, it's yours." "Which is why I remind you that, while you hold your power today, in a few short years, I will have come into all my power." "And I will remember what happened today, who showed me their friendship," "who didn't." "My son has caught me off guard with this, truly." "And I can see that there is a deep fondness for Lord Narcisse." "Know that I will honor this." "I will allow him to stay on the privy council." "I still don't like it." "It's a coup by another name." "Charles." "A coup by the king, do you mean?" "So shall we vote or have more discussion?" "Personally, I'm in the mood for a vote." "No countries have offered so far, but I've found various French nobles who might take you in." "They'll have to have large enough courts that I can entertain any potential suitors with appropriate ceremony." "I have to make a powerful marriage alliance." "Mary!" "You won't believe it." " Charles... he did it." " Oh." "I should leave you alone." "Uh, Catherine, what's going on?" "I am regent." "How?" "Charles, he was incensed by what happened to Claude." "He lost all faith in Narcisse." "This was his decision." "I just..." "I stood there." "I let the crown settle on my head." "That's wonderful, Catherine." "Oh, no, it's much better than that." "We're safe again, all of us." "My children, my family's rule, and you, my dear friend." "You have been there for me time and again, and I will be there for you." "It's a bit late for that, I think." "Oh, don't be ridiculous." "No, unpack these trunks." "You think I'm gonna let Narcisse banish you?" "Don't you have something to drink in here?" "Where is it?" "We have to celebrate." "Now that we're all safe, can you tell me what happened to all that gold?" "You know what, my dear, you were right the first time." "It's better you don't know." "I should start by apologizing for my... abruptness the day we met." "These are complicated times." "But if this kind of personal diplomacy can bring an understanding between our two countries, is it not worth trying?" "I would like to see it succeed as much as you, Majesty." "Possibly more so." "Because of your captured family, of course." "Royals have such a strange sense of family, don't you think?" "My father cut off my mother's head." "My sister jailed me as a threat to her rule." "And you, you have a king's bastard for a son." "If you mean to impugn my character, do not bring my son into it." "He is the joy of my life." "Even with all the upheaval he brought?" "You never regretted your pregnancy?" "Not from the moment he was born." "Are you all right?" "I-I could send for help." "No." "I'm fine." "Wait." "We're in the wrong place." "A thousand apologies." "No, you're in the right place." "I know how you feel about loose ends, Your Grace." "Don't be absurd." "I've come to pay you, as promised." "And why do you need all the archers behind those trees?" "For my own security." "A regent can face many threats, from soldiers to assassins as well as loose ends." "You should advise them not to loose." "We don't want a bloodbath." "All I want is my gold." "Well, your gold, in truth." "You did earn it." "You played your part well." "Though you might not have hit my daughter so hard." "I've never struck a woman before." "But you said it needed to be done to enrage your son and turn him firmly against Narcisse." "I suppose I don't need to reproach you." "Claude did that well enough on her own." "Oh, don't forget the rest of our deal." "I want those vineyards as part of my duchy." "You shall have them." "Hear this, Catherine..." "I swear on my life that I shall stay far away and stay silent." "You'll have no reason to send your assassins." "Very well." "On your life." "What are you doing here?" "We can't be seen together." "I had to come, as soon as I heard you'd been poisoned." "Are you all right?" "I don't know." "It was awful." "The pain." "When I realized I was having a miscarriage," "I had to find someplace private to let it come out." "Where no one would find me or see the blood." "And then afterwards, I had to clean it..." "I'm so sorry." "Someone did this to me." "Out of hate." "Someone emboldened, knowing the entire country felt the same way." "But William tells me that the tribunal ended in a deadlock." "And that you're free." "There was enough doubt that they didn't put me to trial." "It's not quite the same as being innocent." "What kind of doubt?" "Doubt about Amy." "Her odd behavior." "Others saw it." "There were no witnesses." "Then you are free." "But I'm not free to be with you." "They still hate us, Elizabeth." "Not just the nobles, but the people, your people." "They blame me for tarnishing your reputation." "Linking you to Amy's death." "You have to move past this." "You have to make them forget it." "And you can't do that with me by your side." "Amy is dead." "Our baby is gone." "And to what end?" "We are lost to each other." "It is a fact I will grieve for the rest of my life." "As will I." "I'll always love you, Elizabeth." "Always." "Claude." "My Lord, oh, you look awful." "Where have you been?" "I'm sorry." "I-I should've been here sooner." "I should've been there." "I should've protected you." "Leith, you idiot." "You did protect me." "You think I look awful, you should see Boinel." "I gave as good as I got." "Three quick jabs to the stomach, one to the throat." "Just like you showed me." "Did he drop?" "Like a drunk uncle." "So..." "I'm free, unwed, and home again." "Until when?" "Charles swore he would never force me to marry after this." "It can be like this for as long as we want." "No." "There's only one true way to protect you from having to marry someone you don't want." "Marry me." "But, Leith, how?" "I will rise in station until I am a candidate fit to marry a princess." "I don't know how I'll do it, but I will." "I believe you, my love." "I believe you will." "Is that all right?" "Yes." "Yes, better still." "Your physician says you can travel soon." "You'll get the rest you need at your country estate." "I'll rest much easier when you find out who tried to kill me." "The investigation is well under way." "At the top of my list is Mary and her lady Lola." "Consider the timing." "I have considered it." "Why would Mary risk her friend's life that way?" "Especially when our experiment with personal diplomacy is just beginning." "Mary needs peace more than I do." "Then who would you have me focus on?" "The English did this to me." "To punish me for daring to love who I want." "Perhaps they were right." "Perhaps I forgot what it means to be a queen." "But if I can't be with who I love," "maybe I can give that gift to someone else." "Oh, I thought I might find you here." "Thanking your lucky stars?" "Thanking them for what?" "You haven't heard?" "I got the news in a letter from Lola today." "Elizabeth is keeping her word." "Your daughter is coming here." "Agatha's coming to France." "Oh." "Gideon, no, we can't." "I'm sorry." "I just, um..." "We might be friends, but our countries are still enemies." "Mm-hmm." "It's one thing to pretend, but to let this be real..." "Mary." "No."