The Lion in Winter Page #3

other purpose could I have?

You will tell me

when you're ready to.

I scheme a lot, I know.

I plot and plan.

That's how a queen

in prison spends her time.

But there is more to me

than that.

Can't I say I love a son

and be believed?

If I were you,

I'd try another tack.

I've no dammed up floods of passion for

you. There's no chance I'll overflow.

You're a dull boy, dull as plainsong.

La-la-la, forever on one note.

I gave the church up out of

boredom. I can do as much for you.

You'll never give me up,

not while I hold the Aquitaine.

You think I'm motivated by love of hills

and dales? I think you want it back.

You're so deceitful, you can't

ask for water when you're thirsty.

We could tangle spiders

in the webs you weave.

If I'm so devious,

why don't you go?

Don't stand there

qulvering in limbo.

Love me, little lamb,

or leave me.

Leave you, madam?

With pure joy.

Departure's a simple act. You put the

left foot down, and then the right.

Mother! Hush, dear. Mother's fighting.

Father's finished working out

the treaty terms.

How nice.

Where is your father?

Ah, there you are.

Well, have you

put the terms to Philip?

Not yet, but we're shortly granting him

an audience. I hope you'll all attend.

Are we to know the terms,

or would you rather tease us?

Not at all. The terms are... what are

you giving to Philip, what of mine?

Whatever you've got goes to me. And

what's the nothing Geoffrey gets?

My God, boys,

you can't all three be king.

All three of us can try.

That's pointless now.

I want you to succeed me,

Richard.

Alais and the crown...

I give you both.

I've no sense of humor.

If I did, I'd laugh.

- I mean to do it.

- What about me?

I'm your favorite.

I'm the one you love.

I'm sorry, John.

I can't help myself.

Could you keep anything I gave you?

Could you beat him in the field?

You could.

John, I won't be there.

I'm losing too.

All my dreams for you are lost.

You've led me on.

I never meant to.

You're a failure as a father.

You know that? I'm sorry, Johnny.

Not yet, but I'll do something

terrible, and you'll be sorry then.

Did you rehearse all this,

or are you improvising?

Good God, woman,

face the facts.

Which ones?

We have so many.

Power is the only fact.

How could I keep him

from the throne?

He'd only take it

if I didn't give it to him.

No, you'd make me

fight for it.

I know you. You'd never give me

anything. True, and I haven't.

You get Alais and the kingdom,

but I get the thing I want most:

If you're king, England

stays intact. I get that.

It's all yours now... the crown,

the girl, the whole black business.

Isn't that enough?

I don't know

who's to be congratulated.

Kings, Queens, knights everywhere

you look, and I'm the only pawn.

I haven't got a thing to lose.

That makes me dangerous.

- Poor child.

- Poor John.

Who says, "poor John"?

Don't everybody sob at once.

My God, if I went up in flames,

there's not a living soul...

who'd pee on me

to put the fire out.

Let's strike a flint and see.

You're everything a little

brother dreams of, you know that?

- I used to dream about you all the time.

- Ah, Johnny.

I'll show you, Eleanor.

I've not lost yet.

Well, mummy,

if you want me, here I am.

John's lost his chancellor,

has he? And you've gained one.

It's a bitter thing

your mummy has to say.

She doesn't trust me. You must

know Henry isn't through with John.

He'll keep the vexin till

the moon goes blue from cold.

And as for Richard's wedding day...

we'll see the second coming first.

The needlework alone can

last for years.

I know.

You know I know.

I know you know I know.

We know Henry knows,

and Henry knows we know it.

We're a knowledgeable family.

Will Richard take me

for his chancellor or won't he?

Why are you dropping John?

Because you're going to win. You will,

with me to help you. I haven't yet.

I can handle John. He'll

swallow anything I tell him.

I'll take him by the hand and

walk him into the trap you set.

You're good.

You're first class, Geoff.

You'd sell John out to me,

or me to John, or...

you can tell me... have you found some

way of selling everyone to everybody?

Not yet, mummy,

but I'm working on it.

I don't care who's king,

but you and Henry do.

I want to watch the two of you

go picnicking on one another.

You have a gift for hating.

You're the expert.

You should know.

Dear lord.

You've loved me

all these years.

Oh, God forgive me. I've upset

the queen. We need you. Help us.

What... and miss the fun

of selling you?

Be Richard's chancellor.

Rot.

Well, that's how

deals are made.

We've got him

if we want him.

He'll sell us all,

you know,

but only if he thinks

we think he won't.

Why did I have to have

such clever children?

What's the matter, Richard? Nothing.

It's a heavy thing,

your nothing.

When I write or send for you

or speak or reach,

your nothings come,

like stones.

Don't play a scene with me.

I wouldn't if I could.

I'm simpler than I used to be.

I had, at one time,

many appetites.

I wanted poetry and power and the

young men who create them both.

I even wanted Henry, too,

in those days.

Now I've only one desire left...

to see you king.

The only thing you want to see is

father's vitals on a bed of lettuce.

You don't care who wins, as long

as Henry loses. You'd do anything.

You are Medea to the teeth,

only this is one son you won't use

for vengeance against your husband.

How my captivity has

changed you.

Henry meant to hurt me.

He's hacked you up instead.

Men coveted this talon once.

Henry was 18 when we met,

and I was queen of France.

He came down from the north to

Paris with a mind like Aristotle's...

and a form like mortal sin.

We shattered the commandments

on the spot.

I spent three months annulling

Louis, then in may, in spring,

not far from here,

we married...

young count Henry

and his countess.

But in three years' time I was his

queen, and he was king of England.

Done at 21... five years

your junior, general.

I can count. There was no Thomas

Beckett then, or Rosamund...

no rivals, only me.

And then young Henry came,

and you...

and all the other blossoms

in my garden.

Yes. Had I been sterile,

darling, I'd be happier today.

Is that designed to hurt me?

What a waste.

I've fought with Henry over who

comes next, whose dawn it is...

and which son gets the sunset,

and we'll never live to see it.

Look at you.

I loved you more than Henry,

and it's cost me everything.

What do you want?

I want us back the way we

were. No, that's not it.

All right, then.

I want the Aquitaine.

That's the mother I remember.

We can win. I can get you Alais.

I can make the marriage happen, but

I've got to have the Aquitaine to do it.

I must have it back. It's

mine, and I'll never give it up.

Shall I write my will,

"to Richard... everything"?

Would you believe me then?

Where's paper? Paper burns.

I love you.

You love nothing.

You're incomplete. The human

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