- Queen Rose Benjamin: I'm trying to bury this story with that boy.
- Jack Benjamin: Joseph.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: What?
- Jack Benjamin: His name was Joseph.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: What do I care what his name was? He was trying to ruin you.
- Jack Benjamin: No, he wasn't; he was trying to save me.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: Save you - from what?
- Jack Benjamin: From me... and I destroyed him for it; I'm the reason he's dead.
- [Rose orders Thomasina from the room, then sits quietly next to Jack]
- Queen Rose Benjamin: You said he was nothing to you.
- Jack Benjamin: ...He loved me... and I loved him.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: No, you didn't. You can't.
- Jack Benjamin: I loved him... I *loved* him.
- [Rose gets up, irritated]
- Jack Benjamin: I cut him out of my heart, because that's what Dad wanted; that's what you wanted... and now the only person who saw me - who really saw me, and still loved me - he's dead.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: [she slaps him] Good!
- Queen Rose Benjamin: [shocked by her own reaction, she tentatively embraces him] This... this mistake of character... this will be our secret.
- Jack Benjamin: Mistake of character?... This is who I am.
- David Shepherd: What if we were honest about us? We wouldn't need to sneak around.
- Michelle Benjamin: It's not that easy - I made my vow. I already live with God's disappointment; I can't live with my father's.
- King Silas Benjamin: Today I make pilgrimage; meaningful action requires meaningful thought - ideas born in solitude, brought to life in Shiloh. Last time I did the same, I came back with a vision for peace; before that, with a vision for a capital in Shiloh. Who knows what I'll come up with this time?
- Joseph: [recording a video message for Jack] I needed to say goodbye, but you never gave me the chance. I needed you to know that, behind the lie, I see you... for who you really are - and I love you. And I know you love me, and I think everyone should know. No more hiding, Jack; you're too brave to be such a coward. You deserve to be who you really are... I hope this will help.
- King Silas Benjamin: I need someone close to me that I can trust, and there are those who say that I should not trust you... that you want what you cannot have... I was there, that day - I *saw*.
- [David is cautiously uncertain about what Silas is referring to]
- King Silas Benjamin: The butterflies - the crown of butterflies; what does that mean to you, David?
- David Shepherd: It's hard to put in words.
- King Silas Benjamin: Try.
- David Shepherd: I grew up hearing your story - how the butterflies crowned your head... and you knew you were meant to be king. So when they came to me... I knew.
- King Silas Benjamin: You knew *what*?
- David Shepherd: It was God - speaking to me, a nothing farm boy... telling me to serve my king.
- King Silas Benjamin: And nothing else?
- David Shepherd: What else could it mean?
- William Cross: 3:30? In the afternoon? You're just now waking up?
- Andrew Cross: I awoke before the sun; I had my reading to do.
- William Cross: What are you reading?
- Andrew Cross: Newspapers.
- William Cross: [slightly distracted by another conversation on his cell phone] Which ones?
- Andrew Cross: All of them; if I spend fourteen hours a day reading, I should be done in two months.
- William Cross: [trying to carry on both conversations at once] I... wait.
- William Cross: [William ends his cell phone call, then focuses on his son] I don't understand.
- Andrew Cross: I'm reading every newspaper printed while I was in exile - cover to cover. Soon be as if I never left.
- William Cross: Andrew - you're home, after a long time away; you have to *do* something, not just read about it.
- Andrew Cross: Like what?
- William Cross: I don't care... Think of all the things you wish you could have done when you were away - now you can do them. Anything you want - so long as you want *something*.
- Andrew Cross: I just want you to be proud of me.
- William Cross: I'll be proud of you when you make your mark, son... or you might as well never have come back.
- Katrina Ghent: I have no interest in Silas; I've had my fill of old men.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: And without their money, you'd still be dancing on poles, or stilts or - whatever it was you did.
- Katrina Ghent: I may have bought my title, but your brother bought your crown; are we so different?
- Queen Rose Benjamin: As long as I walk these halls, you'll get no respect in this court. You accept it, and you move on. People have been made disappear for less.
- Katrina Ghent: [as the queen exits the room] Good day, ma'am; may God bless you, and may God bless your kingdom.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: I hate nothing more than lies - wasted words, clouds that darken the blue sky yet bring no relief of rain.
- King Silas Benjamin: My family... always in my heart when not in my eye; may the time apart enrich the time spent together. May there be enough love left over 'til the next time we join hands. Amen.
- Michelle Benjamin: What happened? Come on; we used to tell each other everything.
- Jack Benjamin: I used to take all your stuff.
- Michelle Benjamin: Maybe I can help.
- Jack Benjamin: I doubt it.
- Michelle Benjamin: ...Maybe you can help me.
- Jack Benjamin: You want me to help hide this thing with David.
- Michelle Benjamin: Were we that obvious?
- Jack Benjamin: No; you hid in the shadows like the best of us. You have a talent for deceit - I was impressed.
- Michelle Benjamin: What, you want to see David suffer? This hurts *me*, not him.
- Jack Benjamin: Whatever it is you don't want 'em to see or hear or know, you can bury it. You can bury it so deep, you won't find it yourself anymore... but you'll wish you hadn't.
- Rev. Ephram Samuels: Joseph Michael Lasile - a man, like us, beloved in the eyes of God... challenged, by the traits that God bestowed. Such a split can divide a man in two, but not Joseph - he lived as one man his whole life, despite the inequality, despite the hate. He took his own life not for loving wrong, but for loving too much. Some will say he died a cowardly death - but he lived a courageous life. Let's remember *that*.
- David Shepherd: [looking around the farm] I wish I could have this - what you have here.
- King Silas Benjamin: You can, every day.
- David Shepherd: How?
- King Silas Benjamin: Don't ever be a king.
- David Shepherd: Then why not stay here? Leave Shiloh behind; you don't have to be king.
- King Silas Benjamin: Oh, but I do. If it's in you to be of service to your fellow man, then you have an obligation to God to do it, be it a policeman, a fireman, a soldier, a king. If it's in your DNA, if the job fits, you must do it.
- David Shepherd: I don't know if there's one thing I have to do... *can* do.
- King Silas Benjamin: ...Lucky you.
- Katrina Ghent: I want to see you powerless, so you know how it feels - what you do to those around you.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: You have your way; whatever you want, I'll do.
- Katrina Ghent: Choose - I'll let you save one of them, son or daughter. I'll destroy video or pictures; the other I'm going to air. The fall of prince or princess... your choice.
- Jack Benjamin: If I become king, my first order of business is to reinstate the guillotine - just for you, Thomasina.
- Thomasina: I give my life to protect this family; I espect to lose it doing the same.
- Jack Benjamin: Why? We're all a bunch of conniving cowards, hoarding over a carcass.
- Thomasina: At your worst, yes. At your best, you bring heaven closer to earth.
- William Cross: Andrew - why would you do that? That camera had sensitive pictures.
- Andrew Cross: I know.
- William Cross: [stunned] You looked? You let them go public - why would you deliberately hurt your cousin?
- Andrew Cross: You told me to.
- William Cross: What?
- Andrew Cross: You told me to do something - to make my mark. You hate Silas - and Silas loves Michelle. I hurt Michelle to hurt Silas... I broke his favorite thing.
- William Cross: You did that... for me?
- Andrew Cross: I love you; I want you to be proud of me.
- Michelle Benjamin: I'm in trouble... I can't get out of it on my own, and no one else can help me.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: You should have thought of that during your photo shoot... With David Shepherd, I presume?... You've always been my little girl, even when we both pretended you weren't. Tomorrow, that's over. Your pictures will be broadcast; they'll be everywhere you turn, and places you do not. And there's nothing to be done.
- Michelle Benjamin: But you're the queen; can't you do something?
- Queen Rose Benjamin: It is the queen that is allowing it to happen. The story will dominate the news; you'll be ridiculed by women, made fantasy by men. And while David is congratulated, you'll be dragged through the mud... But when the dust settles, and memory fades, you'll be thought of as a woman - which is what you are - sexual, desirable... formidable. And you'll wield that power in ways young girls cannot.
- King Silas Benjamin: Bad back, I can deal with; embarrassment...
- David Shepherd: You have no reason to be embarrassed.
- King Silas Benjamin: Oh, yes I have; I'm not as young or as strong as I was - not like you. Oh, your youth, my experience - we'd be one *perfect* king.
- David Shepherd: You're the most powerful man I know.
- King Silas Benjamin: Not anymore... you are. I've opened up my entire life to you.
- David Shepherd: Why would you do that?
- King Silas Benjamin: [perplexed by David] ... Sit down.
- [David cautiously sits beside the king on his bed]
- King Silas Benjamin: We only really know each other when we know each other's deepest secrets - when we know what's in each other's hearts. I trust you with mine; I want you to trust me with yours.
- David Shepherd: ...I do.
- King Silas Benjamin: What's in your heart, David? What is your deepest secret? I want to know you just as you know me; I want to forgive you, just as you've forgiven me, so that nothing can come between us.
- David Shepherd: [torn by his promise to Michelle not to reveal their relationship to her father] ... I could keep *nothing* from my king.
- King Silas Benjamin: I believe you, my son... Go home.
- David Shepherd: [looking out the window] The frost... your amaryllis... they'll die.
- King Silas Benjamin: Maybe next year... we'll come back.
- King Silas Benjamin: This was a pilgrimage like no other; rather than envision what the country needs, I came to see what we already have. And I want to acknowledge those who might fill these seats when our hearts fail the rest of us: My son... my daughter... my nephew... my friend. We have so much to learn from youth. Well, you've all heard it - "I wish I knew then what I know now." Well, from this day on, I say, "I wish I know now what I knew then." Imagine...
- [the court applauds]
- King Silas Benjamin: [he moves to the chair beside his own] But I have thought long and hard about who might fill up this empty chair, and serve as my advisor - when all the time it was quietly filled... by someone who is earnest, when it is not the fashion, who loves this country almost as much as I do. But above all, whose honesty is something I learned I cannot do without. I want the owner to come down now, and claim his place at my table... and for all to know: David Shepherd.
- Katrina Ghent: Nobility doesn't suit you, Jack.
- Jack Benjamin: I'm the better story, and you know it.
- Katrina Ghent: From what I heard today, David Shepherd is the better story - an even better story when these pictures come out.
- Jack Benjamin: Ruin *me*, and you'll crush my mother far worse.
- Katrina Ghent: What if I offered you a way to save your sister *and* yourself?
- Jack Benjamin: And how many lives would I have to destroy to make that happen?
- Katrina Ghent: Just one - the queen.
- Jack Benjamin: And how would I do that?
- Katrina Ghent: By marrying me; I always wanted to be royalty.
- Michelle Benjamin: You saved my life!
- Jack Benjamin: No; no, I didn't... it just feels that way. The truth doesn't get any easier to tell - it only gets harder, until it's gone forever.