‘Reign’ Season 1 Spoilers: King Henry Hatches A Horrifying Plan In Episode 21, ‘Long Live The King’ [RECAP]

Murder plots, identity fraud and a tainted hero … oh my! “Reign” broke out all the stops in episode 21. With only one episode remaining until the Season 1 finale, it was an episode that fans definitely didn’t want to miss.

“Long Live The King” kicked off with Francis reuniting with Mary … a couple months after he left for war! Fortunately he’s alive and well, but the same can’t be said for Mary Tudor. King Henry announces that the Queen of England is dead and that France is going to move forward with putting Mary, the rightful heir, on the throne.

But that’s not something that Mary wants. In an effort to keep the peace between England, France and Scotland, Mary attempts to send a letter to her cousin Elizabeth, and Mary Tudor’s successor. The letter states that Mary wants to relinquish her claim to the English throne. But Mary’s uncle the Duke gets his hands on the letter before it can be sent out.

Mary’s still focused on avoiding any more war, however war is all King Henry can focus on. Even though he told Catherine and Francis that they would wait a few weeks to attack England, the King is secretly plotting to leave within the week.

Realizing that this could destroy France, Catherine tells Francis and Mary that they must kill Henry. But Francis doesn’t want to have to kill his father. Instead, he tells his mother to give him time to break through to his father. And even though Mary agrees with Francis, Catherine moves ahead with an assassination plot -- and pulls Mary into it as well.

Meanwhile, Bash is bent on hunting down the Darkness, and no one -- including Kenna -- can stop him. In the woods with his men, Bash discovers the body of a boy on the ground holding a whistle associated with the Darkness. But when he blows the whistle, the boy opens his eyes.

Taking the boy back to the castle, Bash and Nostradamus try to get him to open up about the Darkness. Yet Kenna steps between them, telling her husband to take it easy on the child and give him time.

Time is something that is not on Lola’s side. As Lola’s due date approaches, she’s becoming increasingly worried about staying in French Court. Why? Because she’s afraid the baby will be fair -- like Francis. Lord Julien doesn’t want Lola to worry, though, telling her that he’ll be the happiest and proudest husband and father that anyone has ever seen. But there is reason to worry: Lord Julien is hiding a dark secret that’s about to be exposed.

When Lord Julien’s uncle Bartos arrives unexpectedly at the castle, Lord Julien’s forced to tell Lola the truth.

“I love you, that is who I am,” he explains to Lola. “But I am not lord Julian. My name is Remy, Lord Julien’s personal secretary … before he died.”

Turns out that Lord Julien died in a terrible fire at an Inn. The building burned to the ground, making the remains unidentifiable. However, Remy had Lord Julien’s personal belongings, and was mistaken for his Lord. Realizing that he could have a better life as Lord Julien, he stole his identity.

Lola’s horrified at Remy’s big reveal, even believing that he killed the real Lord Julien. And while she’s frightened of the man standing before her, Lola agrees to help him get Lord Julien’s uncle Bartos out of the castle.

Remy comes up with a fake story about how Lord Julien had a bad gambling problem and ran into some debt. He tells Uncle Bartos that his gambling debts grew so out of control that he ran off, abandoning his pregnant wife.

Bartos is shocked at the story, but promises to take care of Lola and the baby. All that changes, however, when he catches sight of Lord Julien’s ring on Remy’s finger.

Remy tries to say that Lord Julien gave it to him so that he wouldn’t gamble it away, however Bartos doesn’t believe him. Realizing that Remy took his nephew’s name, Bartos and Remy begin to fight. And when Lola steps in between them, Bartos accidentally gets pushed into a spike in the wall … and dies.

Remy’s initial plan is to come clean about everything, however Lola comes up with an alternative. She suggests that they say that Bartos never arrived, and use his body as Lord Julien’s. But how could that work? The idea is to burn Bartos’ body and for Lord Julien to run away.

Remy’s devastated by the plan but agrees. However before he goes he tells Lola one last thing: “If the real father is a good man let him be a part of your life. Promise me that.”

Death is all around the castle. Kenna uses kindness to finally get the boy, Pascal, to talk about what happened him. He reveals that his family is dead and that the “man with sharp teeth” took him to the bad place in the mountains. With this new knowledge, Bash sets off with Nostradamus to find and kill the Darkness. However Pascal is hiding one important piece of information -- the person who killed his father is Bash.

Meanwhile, Mary and Queen Catherine come up with a plan to poison Henry during his private mass. However Francis is finally breaking through to his dad on a hunting trip.

Henry opens up to Francis and tells him about him and his brother being sacrificed by his father at a young age. He was beaten and starved for three years while being held hostage by one of his father’s enemies, and when he returned he received “no loving embrace.”

After their talk, Francis gets Henry to promise to hold off on attacking England. But it’s too late. Mary and Catherine reveal that they’ve put the assassination plan into action. And needless to say, Francis is very upset.

Catherine puts a stop on the poisoning, however they have a bigger problem on their hands. As Henry begins his private mass, a man comes up behind him and tries to kill him. Beating the mysterious man to a pulp, Henry demands to know who sent him.

And while “Reign” fans will have to wait to find out, Queen Catherine thinks that the Duke was behind the attack.

Episode 21 concluded with Henry seemingly talking to himself about how God spared him to do his work and that he was destined to sit on the English throne. It all sounds like nonsense, until he starts saying something truly disturbing:

“Before I invade England there are things I must do here in France. First I must kill my son. And wed his wife.”

But King Henry wasn’t talking to himself -- he was talking to the ghost that has been haunting him.