Previously on Reign - Nostradamus had a vision of your death, brought about by me, if we wed.

I will marry you son, but not Francis Bash.

Legitimize him and make him the next King of France.

You are throwing away everything we had for superstition.

We can't.

Mary.

Is no longer a part of my life.

The king plans to behead her within the week.

He's accused you of adultery.

Clarissa, dear, listen to me.

I'm your mother.

Let yourself be loved.

It'll take us hours to dig her a grave.

There's no one around to check us.

Make the blow sure and quick.

Remember I've paid you extra.

I don't want my children to see you hacking at me.

Don't break the clasp.

I've promised this to one of my ladies.

Prawns? My youngest daughter can't eat them.

The flowers.

Full vases, cascading bouquets - where are they? - We were told by the king to save them for the actual day.

I need to see their placement.

What about the wine? The nobles will expect it.

Yes, let them drink and swim in my blood and wonder who among them is next once that bastard Sebastian takes the throne.

Come in, please.

I'm nearly ready.

No rush.

They're bringing the horses around.

No rush? I feel awful we stopped at all.

You swear you didn't do it for me.

Because I'm a terrible rider.

We've gained time on horseback we never would have achieved by carriage.

But we needed rest.

The horses were about to drop as well.

And, in truth, it may not matter.

My mother might already be dead.

Don't say that.

You might think she deserves it after all she's done.

To Mary.

I think even Mary would say that's in the past.

It will be soon if I can convince my father to spare her life.

It's unbelievable, really.

What? If all goes well, Bash begins his life with Mary and I get exile.

And my mother.

Not for long.

I'll set her up somewhere, far away, with my brothers and then I'll be on to the next.

Where will you go? I was thinking Morocco.

You don't think you'd stand out in Morocco? Sweden then.

Perhaps it's a land you'll visit one day, walking along a frozen river, a displaced prince will appear in front of you.

Well, I hope I never see you again.

Because you're safe, settled.

Married with children of your own.

I hope the same for you.

Francis, when you see Mary We ran into each other at a château outside of - Angers.

Angers.

Traveled with each other for a day, and that is all.

I know you live your life in service to her.

Mary is my friend.

Nothing we did will change that.

That was lovely.

I think you should go now.

Don't do this to yourself.

I won't leave you.

I need to know you're all right.

If it comforts you.

Why do you do it? - Sometimes, when one is given a gift and worries they've lost it, they must return to its source the giver itself.

And for me that is death.

Or as near death as I dare to venture.

Stop it, please! The vision I wasn't done.

You saw something? This changes everything.

I will die for this.

The queen will kill me herself.

What a show.

She's going out in style.

Must I do everything? Shall I catch my head in my own hands, too? When can we talk about my tomb? A Florentine sculptor? 20 tons of marble? I can't afford it.

After the 100 musicians, - the dozen ships made of silver and gold - Symbolic of my journey to Heaven.

I'm not asking for a fleet.

You're not headed for Heaven either.

You're dragging this out.

You have to wait for final word on Bash's legitimization anyway.

Why kill me if the line of succession reverts to my sons? You're a treasonous adulterer.

Then I'll continue with the seating chart.

Mary, the feast will be held there.

Choose your place of honor.

You are going to die.

What they write about your execution won't matter.

It will to my children.

I'll reduce the gold inlay on my tomb.

What is that? There's a royal visitor.

French court has gone to hell.

But I'm here now, dear.

Mother.

So I sent you here to wed a king and find you engaged to a bastard.

My darling, your engagement to Francis was a careful negotiation set in place when you were six.

And now you tell me that you threw it all away because of a prophecy.

One I believe, Mother.

I did this and Bash went along with it to save Francis's life.

From a fate a magician predicted.

Mother, it's all very complicated.

And we haven't been together in so long.

I came to the convent for your 11th birthday.

Half the ship's crew died along the way, but I was there.

Gift in hand.

I only meant to say that I've missed you.

And I wanted to talk to you about this, about Francis, about Bash, a about everything.

Please don't make light of Nostradamus's warning or my choice.

I make light of nothing concerning you or our country's future.

Perhaps if you met Bash.

He's he's kind and and selfless and brave.

Do you love him? I'm beginning to.

It all happened so fast.

Good.

Perhaps there's still time for you to see things with a clear mind.

I've wanted to be with you as well, but there is trouble at home.

Scotland is in peril.

The English, I know.

It's worse.

Our country is on the knife's edge of falling into Protestantism.

And we are Catholic rulers.

You need France, a Catholic country, at your side now.

Marry its next king, and the Protestants will scurry into the darkness.

Marry Francis.

Not some bastard who someday might be king.

His name is Sebastian.

Has the same ring to it.

Well, I have no choice but to support you, as I rule Scotland but you are actually its queen.

And my daughter.

So headstrong.

So loving.

So you'll be patient? Yes.

Mary.

Are you all right? Is all well with your mother? Yes.

She's just as I remember her, in ways that I often thought I had imagined.

I used to love the smell of her perfume, the the tenor of her voice even now, when she lied to me.

She doesn't want us getting married.

She will stop it.

We have to elope.

Today.

Now.

There's a church just east of the old village, by the quarry.

I wish that I could come with you.

Let me get it all arranged.

It might take a few hours, and if we're both missing, people will notice.

If I'm not back by midday, we have our priest.

Get on a horse and meet me at the church before sunset.

Don't plan on sleeping this night, wife.

At least you're moving about freely now.

Guarded, but with the mobility required to plan my death.

How was the dungeon? Were there fleas? Were you paraded through the town, mocked? Hmm.

I was in the tower.

I realize you're not happy with the turn events have taken, but must you paint a bleaker picture of my fall? I trusted you with Mary's life.

Not just her survival, though I hear you threatened that, too.

I gave up every moment of being a mother to my own child, based on your word that you would raise her to be Francis's wife.

What did you think, when you traded a child for the protection of France? That we would put her welfare above ours? Lord knows you didn't.

You gave her away to secure your rule.

I had an infant, a girl, not even a week old when my husband died, and she was crowned queen.

I met unexpected horrors and tragedy and I faced them with courage.

You One charlatan scared you by whispering in your ear about your son's death a future no one could know and you changed the course of nations.

Nostradamus's accuracy is an inarguable feat.

Here's a feat: Women like you and me, surviving in this age.

I have sold my soul, and my child, to protect myself and my nation.

Mary may be Scotland's queen but I am its king.

Has Scotland noticed that its king has rather overexposed breasts? It is beginning to.

Ah.

Now that Mary's come of age, they look beyond me, they want her, and I want her protected by France.

France's true king.

Not some bastard they can knock off the throne, whose life only took form because you couldn't keep your husband's interest in bed.

I am defeated.

If you want to fix this, do it yourself.

Ah, here it is.

My mother had it packed deep in one of my trunks.

Well, it's beautiful, but will it be warm enough? This isn't for your journey to the chapel.

It's for you to cover your face as you and Bash stand before God and profess your love.

Is that Lola? Why is she with Francis? Mary.

Kenna, Greer.

Your Grace.

You're back.

Both of you.

Uh, your carriage, why didn't they announce your arrival at the gate? We ran into each other at a château near Angers.

You came back together? We rode.

There were floods.

The carriage I leased was swept away in the night.

Can you imagine? Along the river.

You were at the Château de Martin? - You know it? - Yes.

I'll get settled then.

So happy to be back.

Yes, we're happy to have you back.

You heard about your mother.

I'm so sorry.

I'm back to plead with my father for her life.

I'll be gone from court once I have my answer and the matter is settled, and you and I will never see each other again.

I don't mean that to sound cruel or angry.

I understand.

You don't want to be seen as someone lying in wait to reclaim your throne.

Or anything else that now belongs to my brother.

They brought this back, after Clarissa's death.

I thought you might want to have it, as you were more parent to her than I.

They buried her in an unmarked grave near the lake, where the North Road ends.

I asked them to mark it with a cross, but it's unhallowed ground.

What will become of her soul, I wonder? Did she know any happiness in her miserable life? When she was young.

The villagers who raised her for a time were kind.

How do you know that? - She spoke of them.

Of their games.

A song they'd sing to calm her to sleep.

Sometimes, I'd hear her sing it softly, to herself.

How lonely.

And haunting.

Yes.

I'm going to tell you something that might enrage you.

Since Mary's arrival, I've had visions of Francis's death.

Violent images.

They vary, but they were always tied to Mary.

But they stopped completely when Clarissa died.

I have beckoned them, every way I know how, because I had to be sure.

Sure of what? That Francis might live with Mary.

How can that be possible? I warned you that Francis, your firstborn, would die because of Mary You were very clear.

Before either of us knew Clarissa was your firstborn.

The blood that has been spilled, my blood yet, was because of what you foresaw.

It's not a science, it's a gift.

Sometimes I hear voices, other times it's a feeling, a certainty as solid as stone.

And this new feeling? It came to me today.

I saw their life together, and it is happy.

After dinner, and your usual game of catch with Anne, James is going to want your attention, too, with his reading.

I'll have him work on it.

You promise.

Promise me, I mean it.

They have children, as he is alive.

Children? You see them years beyond their union? Yes.

Use this to save yourself.

Tell Henry you've had a change of heart.

That you won't stand in the way of their union.

This has gone so far beyond me standing in the way of anything.

I am convicted of adultery! Of treason! Mary is with Sebastian.

And my son Francis Has returned to court.

You are brave to come to me with this.

Because if I can't convince Mary to wed Francis, if I can't undo your mistakes, I will lose my head.

But not before I watch you burned to death.

I promise you that.

Francis! Mother.

Ah, it's true! You're back! Oh, thank God.

They tell me Father's out hunting pheasant beyond the South Keep.

I'm going to find him, get him to see reason, - and I'll get you away from here.

No, no, Francis.

There's something else that you must do.

Everything I did, I did for you.

You needn't remind me.

I need you to forget all of it.

What? - Everything I warned you of.

The warnings I gave Mary.

Go to her, tell her that I believe the two of you can be wed.

I don't understand.

Your fate has changed.

Oh, what does it matter? You never believed that Nostradamus had the power to see the future anyway.

What matters is that you love Mary.

I did love Mary.

You destroyed that.

Nonsense.

She's with Bash now, but she loves you.

You don't know that.

I don't know that.

What matters is what you want.

Is it Mary? Is it to save my life? Is it the throne of France? Is it the safety of your brothers? Say it, say it! - I know it's true! - Yes.

Yes, of course, I want all those things.

Then tell Mary I will cause her no harm ever.

And that she will cause you no harm by loving you.

By marrying you.

Go to her.

But do it quickly.

I see your son's return has restored your will to live.

It's because he will live.

Your magic has changed.

How silly and marvelous.

You don't believe in prophecies, do you? No, I never did.

You're Marie de Guise.

Your future mother-in-law, if you so desire.

If you get on your horse, and stop Mary from making the biggest mistake of her life.

Where is she? Heading for a church near a quarry.

The servants talked about a village nearly destroyed by the plague.

Yes, I bribed them.

He may as well know who I am, if we're to be kin.

I know the place.

Then hurry.

Before your brother gets his hands on everything you want.

Your Majesty, a messenger has arrived.

He said there's news regarding the line of succession.

About Sebastian? He awaits you in your throne room.

Brother? Francis.

I'm going to tell you something.

And it will hurt.

I know you're here to elope with Mary.

You don't need to.

All that nonsense about the prophecy, it's gone now.

My mother's let it go for reasons she can explain.

I'm going to tell Mary.

She'll talk to my mother, to Nostradamus.

She'll be convinced.

She won't trust Catherine.

I don't trust Catherine.

You don't want things to change, to revert.

You're going to play on Mary's fear.

She came to me willingly.

And she will stay with me.

She turned to you because she had to.

It was only a marriage of convenience.

And what was yours? - It went beyond that.

You know it.

And now you know ours did, too.

You're lying.

You entitled son of a bitch.

You.

You're nothing.

Stop! Francis! Bash! Stop! Stop! Please, stop! You don't have to marry him! It's all over! My mother, Nostradamus, they say we can be wed.

What do you mean? There is no prophecy keeping us apart.

Please, listen Does it matter? Mary, nothing needs to change.

We can still be wed.

What do you mean, no prophecy? Even Nostradamus will tell you.

Your fate is your own when it comes to who will you marry.

Him or me.

I knew he would get to you in time.

Did your seer tell you that, too? Is this a game to you? Nostradamus told me the prophecy was fulfilled.

With Clarissa's death.

How can I believe you when you have so much to lose? Oh, God, what are you doing? Do nothing, and I will die.

Watch me, if that's what it takes to convince you I'm not putting my life ahead of my son's.

I never have.

Stop this.

I'll be beheaded if you don't choose Francis anyway.

I'd rather die today to show you that I mean every word that I say.

Is this some kind of trick? Test me.

Ask Nostradamus to explain how the future he sees for you and Francis has altered since Clarissa's death.

Oh, yes.

Be sure.

Be very sure.

I would want every certainty, too.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure about anything.

I believe you, but you don't know what you want.

I love them.

I love them both.

Begging your pardon, Your Majesties, but the king demands your presence.

A messenger has arrived with news about the line of succession of England.

Their queen is dead.

And she has named me her successor? After all her deliberations, they say she died suddenly in the night.

But England is yours by bloodline, by right.

You must claim it immediately, or your cousin Elizabeth will seize it from your grasp.

You risk everything if you don't act now.

If you want the Vatican's righteous support for anything you do, for the rest of your life, you will claim England now.

If you want France as an ally, you will claim England now.

If you want to take England, you will need the next king of France by your side.

And you will wed one of my sons tonight.

I will take my life in my own hands.

And I will not be bullied by you.

Lady Kenna requests a visit, Your Majesty.

No.

She requests that I inform you that she's naked under her robe.

Send her in.

It's nice to see you're still on your feet.

What does that mean? I watched you take it lying down for weeks now, from all the women in your life.

You don't like being bossed around by a girl, do you? Is this meant to arouse? I was wrong to blame and demand things of you.

I should have blamed you, absolutely.

I also should have offered you more of what you'd like for what I'd like.

You're offering me sex for a husband? I could get sex anywhere.

Not from me.

How little it would take for you to write me an introduction or two.

You're not exactly inspiring me to send you away.

What if I offered to stay here at the castle, even if I were married, at your beck and call? You'd have Diane.

I'd have my station, my position.

Find me a rich noble who treats me right, and I'll treat you right, as well.

You've learned many skills at court.

Teach me more.

One suitor a week until I choose.

Agreed? Agreed.

No.

No more.

I'm in charge now.

Have you found my mother? I need her now, more than ever.

They said she's with the king.

Trying to wring more out of Henry before I'm married to anyone, no doubt.

But who will you marry? Have you spoken with Bash? - No.

Francis? Could we have a moment? What an eventful day.

Francis's return, news of the queen's death and this.

News from the Vatican.

If this letter confirms Sebastian's legitimization, it should take away any reservations you have about a bastard at your side instead of a king, as Bash will be king one day.

If it denies his legitimization, how could Bash blame you for returning to Francis? I know you think you love them both.

While that may be true, I argue that you love one more.

I am afraid.

Open it.

Now you're free to go to the man you love.

I can't marry you.

Yes, you can.

Don't let your mother put ideas in your head about my ability to protect you, because I will be king.

We can force the Pope's hand.

I know that.

With me, you are free and wild.

You can be who you are, and I will always put you first.

Please, don't.

Say that you love me.

Say it to me once, because I know that you do.

I love you, I do.

Say it.

Say the rest.

I need to hear it.

I love Francis more.

What's this? Open it.

It's blank.

It's nothing.

She let me decide.

It's odd, isn't it? That your mother was the one to show me what was truly in my heart.

You.

It's you.

It's always been you.

Does this mean you'll marry me? Yes.

We must protect Sebastian.

There are those who will punish him for reaching for the throne.

Of course.

I'll make sure of it.

I am sorry for the way things have gone.

But the outcome is this.

You need to leave here and never come back.

You've reached for the crown, and you failed to get it.

You'll be seen by many as a threat.

The crown was never in my grasp, but I had Mary, and it galls you.

I was going to disappear in exile.

That's your goal now, if you want to survive.

My guards will take you south of here to a ship set for the southern coast of Spain, and from there, you should keep going.

You needed to vanish because you would have been a displaced king.

But I'm just a bastard.

In time, a very short time, if you'd accepted my presence, the nobles would, too, and I'd be safe.

If you were so inclined.

I'm not so inclined.

Well, there it is the truth between us at last.

Make sure what's between us, brother, is distance.

If you want to survive.

So, we'll do another ceremony for you at Notre Dame, so that all of France can celebrate your marriage.

And what of Queen Catherine? She's been pardoned for her adultery? Yes.

It was all to legitimize Bash.

Now Henry looks benevolent, forgiving.

Your father gave me these.

Make some heirs quick as you can.

It's a queen's sons that give her power after all, though we've handled the misfortune of your sex, haven't we? Brave girls are we.

Greer said you were upset.

I came to your room last night to cheer you with hot cocoa, but your servant said you were meeting with the king.

So? - It was very late.

If you're back with him, I think it's a mistake.

I know the château you claim to stay at in Angers where you ran into Francis.

It burned down last year.

I don't know what happened between the two of you, but I can guess, so please don't counsel me on mistakes.

Come along, girls, be of service to your queen.

Who are you? Why are you singing that song? I was told to sing it near you.

By who? I was paid by another who was paid by a girl I don't know who.

She's dead.

That girl is dead.

It's impossible.

The messenger who delivered the news of the English queen's death isn't here.

I suppose he knew he'd served his purpose and that your invitation was a mere courtesy, a thanks for giving us both what we want.

You bribed him to bear false news.

To get the job done, as you failed in that task completely.

You can thank me later.

Clarissa.

She's alive.

You missed the wedding.

I thought it best.

I've been thinking about what's best for all of us as well.

I'm leaving.

You needn't worry.

And yet I do.

So you won't be leaving us just yet.

I have some news to share.

Turns out the English queen isn't dead after all.

The English queen is alive? Catherine's aware.

But I would keep the news to yourself.

You did this.

To see me married.

The messenger's news was flawed.

No one could blame that on me.

Or you.

Everyone needs a little push on occasion.

Even queens.

Even France.

All happiness comes with a price.

And you paid yours with another's broken heart.

Sebastian will survive.

It's time for the consummation.

A moment, please.

Get out.

Get out of my life.

Get out of France.

I know you're angry.

But you have everything you ever wanted.

And more power than you.

I'm your mother.

I am ruling Scotland for you Do that.

And mind me, do it well.

When I return to Scotland, to our home, it will either be because you have failed, or because you are dead.

After dinner, your usual game of catch with Anne, James is going to want your attention, too, with his reading.

I'll have him work on it.

You promise? Promise me, I mean it.

Promise me you'll try.

One year of marriage, it isn't enough.

Fight, Francis, please.

I will give you children.

Don't give up on our dreams.

On the life we could have.

Such a beautiful dream.

No.

No, Francis, don't leave me.

So many years before them.

I know I threatened you.

In truth, I'm so glad you had the courage to tell me how their fate had changed.

Yes.

They will be together.

For many years.

I do this not out of any malice, as you are my son, but to ensure peace.

So that should you return, you have seared into your memory what is yours and what is not.

You're not a very trusting fellow, are you? I was a lot more trusting before you took my weapons.

You'll get those back as soon as you leave us.

They say you're a threat to the realm.

But your family wants you safe.

Alive.

Yes.

You're not thirsty? I have my own, thanks.

Who paid you to kill me? The queen or my brother?