A servant happens upon the “first bloom,” which means Spring is near and the court has yet another excuse to throw a rip-roaring party called Winter Ease.

Conde’s brother, Antoine, has ostensibly arrived to seek a peace treaty between France and Navarre. Francis hopes this could mean new property for him, a chateau that could give him and Mary a fresh start. He’s been encouraged by her progress as she’s now able to hold hands.

In a nearby town a woman finds a grave that someone has crawled out of. Someone that comes after her! 

Antoine wants money for his part in the treaty. He says that Navarre has been overrun by French Protestants and they’re draining his country of resources because Francis drove them away. The wily King also has an eye for Kenna. Catherine tells Francis to decline Antoine’s suggestion and send him on his way, because the Bourbons have always wanted their crown. Francis would rather figure out exactly what’s going on in Navarre before he makes any moves.

Antoine recognizes Bash as the man who killed their brother, Marcus. Henry wanted to take out the biggest threat during the Italian war and sent an assassin. King Bourbon won't leave Court until he learns whether or not Bash is the man who stabbed Marcus in the back and left him to die a long, drawn out, excruciating death. He intends to flirt the information out of Kenna.

Francis asks his mom about Clarissa being alive and then begins bleeding from his eyes. Catherine thinks she’s having a vision, but it turns out she’s gone mad from syphilis! And no one is more thrilled by this hilarious turn of events than Claude. Caged birds are brought in to peck the bile out of Catherine’s feet, thereby eating the syphilis. This is merely phase one of “the cures” and Claude is taking devilish delight in her mother’s torment.

Bash is still being slow to forgive Kenna, but he promises that they're married for life and will work through it. 

Francis wants Narcisse to figure out what Antoine truly desires, but that viper suggests taking the easy road and just killing off Conde, which would also keep him from buzzing around Mary. 

Mary asks Francis to sleep in bed with her, but the sound of his breathing triggers the memory of her rape and she panics. He’s able to soothe her with an embrace.

Claude invites Narcisse to be her lover and to teach her Court intrigue so she can better defend herself against her mother’s machinations.  In the end, her pushy demands turn him off and he says no thanks.

Bash confirms that a Greek guy rose from the dead, but he can’t explain why. All the man knows is that a woman in white pulled him from his grave.

Antoine pressures Conde to quit standing up for his friends in Court and remember his loyalty lies with his blood. That’s something he takes to heart when Mary asks him to spy on his brother. She and Francis found out that England has offered Navarre help, which means they are dangerously close to France. Despite his refusal to turn on his brother, Conde offers a bit of friendly advice--pay him off.   

Lola catches Narcisse making out with Claude. She hates feeling jealous and decides to take her courtship with Conde more seriously. He has the same idea after Mary’s constant rebuffs.

Francis and Mary get Antoine to spill the beans on Elizabeth. Turns out she’s taken their attack on Protestants as a move on her crown, as she too is Protestant. Unnerved, she offers aide to Navarre as a preemptive strike.

Phase two of Catherine’s treatment involves sweating it out in a mercury oven. (Think inescapable, barrel-enclosed sauna.) Navarre offers her help and in doing so realizes that she doesn’t have syphilis, but has actually been poisoned from handling Henry’s bible. 

Despite Bash’s best efforts, he’s unable to stop the townspeople from shooting the graveyard boogieman. Bearing witness to this inhumanity drives Bash to look beyond the darkness that’s come between him and Kenna and to seek out all of her heart.

 Antoine believes he's got the proof he needs against Bash and plans to give him a long and torturous death to avenge his brother.

All the hopes Mary and Francis originally held with the treaty were crushed. Mary once again believes that things will never get better, never change for them. She wants to free her husband, They may have to live together for appearances, but she’s allowing him to seek love with another. With a caress of his hair and a kiss on his cheek, she tells him she loves him and at least one of them deserves to be happy.