Plot

Mary and Conde set off to find who attacked Mary. Narcisse becomes Francis' puppet. Someone poisons Claude, and has Catherine gone mad? Could Mary and Francis return to normal after what happened? Mary finds Conde's letter, and is surprised by what she reads. Conde's brother pays him a visit.

Feeling guilty he couldn't prevent his queen being raped by Severin's band, Francis promises her revenge 'to the ends of the earth', ordering Bash to round up all protestant suspects and spare effort nor cruelty, even ordering the excess above dungeon capacity to be executed 'as an example'. Beaten and chained, Narcisse promises doggish submission to save his life as long as he may be useful. Only Leith calling a royal marker saves lord Castleroy from dungeon torture, Greer insists he must flee but she will stay at court to work on the royal couple. Prince Louis Condé accepts to help Mary track down the intruders, confiding they raped her, but instead of bringing them in for trial, she insists on slaughtering them and setting the shack on fire, and finds no comfort in that either. She afterward tells Francis feeling unable to resume marital life, insisting on a throne couple formula only, while he is called to order by his brother Antoine de Bourbon, petty king of Navarre, who warns his sympathies at French court may not compromise their own agenda. Catherine enjoys, first startled, late Henry's ghost in bed, who counsels she should appease the ghost twist by killing Claude softly before they do cruelly, so she poisons the maverick daughter.—KGF Vissers