Between Two Kings Ending Explained: Restoration, Death, and a King's First Command
Spoiler Warning: This article reveals the complete ending of Between Two Kings, the fourth book in Lawrence Ellsworth's Musketeers Cycle. Every major plot resolution, character death, and thematic payoff is discussed in detail. Read only after finishing the novel.
What Happens at the End of Between Two Kings?
The novel concludes with two parallel regime changes that reshape both England and France. Charles II is restored to the English throne through a combination of d'Artagnan's audacious kidnapping of General Monck and Athos's quiet diplomacy. Meanwhile, Cardinal Mazarin dies in agony, and Louis XIV seizes absolute power in a single, meticulously orchestrated day. The final chapter shows Louis with thirteen million livres in the Louvre vaults, Colbert controlling intelligence and finance, and d'Artagnan recalled to serve as the king's sword. "Thirteen million in my cellar," Louis says, "Colbert holding my purse and d'Artagnan wielding my sword: I am king!"
The Climax: Two Thrones Transformed
The ending unfolds across three interlocking climaxes. First, the restoration of Charles II reaches its apex when Monck—the implacable Puritan general—voluntarily writes a letter instructing the exiled king to expect him at Dover. This occurs after d'Artagnan's kidnapping scheme collides disastrously with Athos's parallel diplomatic mission at Newcastle, a collision that initially threatens both the royalist cause and d'Artagnan's investment with Planchet.
Second, Cardinal Mazarin's protracted deathbed sequence dominates the novel's final third. His confessor, a Theatine monk, refuses absolution unless Mazarin restitutes his vast fortune to the king. The cardinal's attempt to game the system by bequeathing everything to Louis—expecting the young king to refuse—becomes an agony of waiting. When Louis does return the bequest, Mazarin dies knowing his materialist gambit failed. His wealth, amassed over decades through bishoprics, abbeys, and compound interest totaling forty million livres, passes to the crown.
Third, Louis XIV's self-coronation as an absolute monarch occurs on the very first day after Mazarin's death. He dismisses his ministers' condescension, has Colbert secretly transfer thirteen million in coin and bullion into the Louvre, grants Colbert authority over English diplomatic correspondence (a trap for Superintendent Fouquet), receives confirmation from Charles II that Fouquet is illegally fortifying Belle-Île, and recalls d'Artagnan from retirement. As covered in our analysis of the transfer of power, this sequence shows a boy-king becoming, in his own words, a true king.
Major Character Outcomes
d'Artagnan
The Gascon's arc completes a full circle. He resigns from the Musketeers after a bitter audience with Louis XIV, in which he accuses the king of forgetting thirty years of service. His scheme to restore Charles II—funded in partnership with the grocer Planchet—succeeds beyond expectation. Charles makes him a chevalier, Monck gives him his sword, and he receives three hundred thousand livres for that blade. He settles accounts with Planchet, delivering one hundred thousand livres as the grocer's share, and receives from Monck a landed estate worth fifteen thousand livres. The ending sees him recalled to royal service, no longer a forgotten lieutenant but the indispensable "brawn" to Colbert's "brain." For more on his journey, visit our d'Artagnan character guide.
Athos
The Comte de La Fère emerges as the quiet hero of the restoration. He safeguards the million in gold hidden at Newcastle, personally negotiates with Monck, and delivers Charles II's sister Henrietta for marriage to Philippe d'Anjou. At court, he reports these deeds before a seething Mazarin and a newly admiring Louis XIV. Athos ends the novel wealthy from Monck's converted land grant but reflective on the lost openness of youth. He invites d'Artagnan to retire with him to his estate near Blois, an offer the Gascon cannot yet accept. Read more about Athos.
Louis XIV
The young king transforms from a powerless figurehead to an absolute monarch in a single day. His first act as true sovereign is to co-opt Colbert's intelligence apparatus and recall d'Artagnan's military force. He understands that Colbert manipulated the English correspondence to trap Fouquet but decides a king needs both brains and brawn. The novel ends with Louis in command of treasury, intelligence, and armed force—the three pillars of absolutism. See our Louis XIV character analysis.
Cardinal Mazarin
Mazarin dies stripped of his forty million livres and his illusions. His deathbed scenes reverse every political deception he ever perpetrated: a monk out-negotiates him, his bequest to the king is returned unaccepted, and his doctor Guénaud calculates his true age at eighty-two by measuring the stress of the ten-year Fronde civil war. The Cardinal Mazarin guide explores his downfall in detail.
Charles II
The exiled Stuart king enters the novel in destitution—shown early in the book examining his last diamond and praying in quiet despair—and exits it as the restored sovereign of England. Charles demonstrates genuine kingly qualities during his interview with Monck, acknowledging d'Artagnan's independent heroism and giving Monck the dignity of a fair hearing. His brotherly letter to Louis XIV at the novel's end reveals his intelligence network already operating, as he informs Louis about Fouquet's fortifications. Our Charles II character entry traces this transformation.
General Monck
The Puritan general who begins as d'Artagnan's prisoner ends as the architect of the Restoration. Monck reveals he had been watching, waiting, and testing Charles all along. The million in gold Athos delivered was a test of Charles's character. Monck's letter to Athos instructing the king to meet him at Dover in six weeks exposes his long-hidden plan. He becomes a duke, gives his sword to d'Artagnan, and proves that his implacable silence was never stubbornness but strategic patience. See also our General Monck character profile.
Resolved Threads
The English Restoration is achieved through the unlikely combination of mercenary kidnapping and noble diplomacy. Charles II gains his throne without a single battle, thanks to Monck's mass defection of Lambert's army and the parliamentary cause's collapse. The marriage alliance between Henrietta Stuart and Philippe d'Anjou cements peace between England and France, a union that crushes Condé's hopes for renewed warfare. Mazarin's death clears the way for Louis XIV's personal rule. And d'Artagnan's financial venture with Planchet pays out at a 400 percent return, turning the rue des Lombards grocery into a triumphant partnership.
Unresolved Threads
Fouquet's conspiracy remains an open threat. Colbert has secured the right to read English correspondence specifically to trap the Superintendent, and Charles II's letter confirms the Belle-Île fortifications exist. But Fouquet has not yet been confronted. The novel ends on the setup for this coming conflict, explicitly pointing toward the next volume. D'Artagnan's recall to service places him directly in Louis's emerging power structure, but what the king will ask of him against Fouquet remains unknown. The youthful romance between Raoul de Bragelonne and Louise de La Vallière, established in the opening chapters at Blois, receives no resolution in this volume—their story is merely set in motion.
Theme Resolution
The novel's central themes resolve in counterpoint. Wealth as political instrument finds its ultimate expression when Mazarin's forty million livres pass to Louis, funding the absolutist state. The transfer of power occurs simultaneously in two kingdoms: one through restoration, one through a king's seizure of control. Loyalty versus disillusionment plays out in d'Artagnan's resignation and recall—his bitterness at being forgotten transforms into recognition when Louis remembers the musketeer who guarded his bed during the Fronde. Aging and the passing of an era is embodied in Athos's meditation on lost youthful openness and d'Artagnan's pivot from active service to entrepreneurship and back again. Restoration and exile resolves triumphantly for Charles II, but the theme's darker notes linger: exile ends, but the scaffold's shadow remains.
The Epilogue and Forward Motion
Between Two Kings does not end with a traditional epilogue but with a forward-pointing declaration: "The story continues in Book Six of the Musketeers Cycle, Court of Daggers." The final image—Louis XIV with money, intelligence, and armed force aligned under his command—functions as both a conclusion and a promise. The king who spent the novel as Mazarin's satellite now generates his own gravity. The note about Fouquet's fortifications and Colbert's trap makes clear that the next volume will center on the Superintendent's downfall.
Reasonable Interpretations
The ending can be read as the definitive close of the musketeer era. Athos, the noble soul of the original four, speaks of lost openness and invites d'Artagnan to retirement. D'Artagnan, though recalled to service, is no longer the brash young Gascon but a calculating entrepreneur who measures Monck's worth at three hundred thousand livres. The heroic, independent devotion Charles II praises in d'Artagnan is already becoming anachronistic in Louis XIV's bureaucratized state, where Colbert's ledgers matter as much as swords.
Another interpretation holds that Louis XIV's first day of reign is less a triumph than a warning. The king learns immediately that power requires both manipulation and force. His recognition that Colbert orchestrated the Fouquet revelation "as a political trap" does not lead to Colbert's punishment but to his promotion—with the addition of d'Artagnan as a counterbalance. The absolutism declared with such satisfaction in the final line carries the seeds of the very corruption and overreach that will define Louis's long reign.
Reader Questions Answered
1. Does d'Artagnan stay with the Musketeers?
No. He resigns in a painful audience with Louis XIV, citing age, forgotten service, and the king's failure to recognize him. However, Louis recalls him at the novel's end to serve directly as the king's armed enforcer, a position distinct from his former lieutenant's rank.
2. How does Charles II actually regain his throne?
Through a combination of d'Artagnan's kidnapping of General Monck and Athos's delivery of one million hidden gold to Newcastle. Monck, once released, reveals he was testing Charles's character all along. He stalls his rival Lambert until Lambert's army deserts, marches on London, dissolves the Rump Parliament, and announces Charles's return from The Hague.
3. What happens to Cardinal Mazarin's money?
After his confessor refuses absolution without restitution, Mazarin attempts to bequeath his fortune to Louis XIV, expecting the king to refuse it. Louis, following Colbert's advice, does return the bequest—a rejection that damns Mazarin's final gamble. The forty million livres flow to the crown regardless.
4. Does Athos survive the novel?
Yes. Athos survives, completes his mission to Newcastle, reports the Restoration to the French court, and receives land and wealth from Monck. He is last seen offering d'Artagnan a peaceful retirement together, an offer d'Artagnan declines in favor of returning to royal service.
5. Who is the "young brown-haired woman" who beckons Raoul from the garden path in Chapter II?
The novel introduces her as a mysterious figure who silently beckons Raoul during his visit to Blois. Her identity and purpose are part of the Raoul-Louise romantic subplot established in the opening chapters, but this thread is not resolved within Between Two Kings. The story points toward developments in the next volume.
6. What is the "Planchet and Co." venture, and does it succeed?
D'Artagnan forms a partnership with Planchet, a prosperous Paris grocer, to fund the restoration of Charles II. Each invests twenty thousand livres. After kidnapping Monck and navigating the diplomatic chaos this causes, d'Artagnan returns to Paris and delivers one hundred thousand livres to Planchet as his share—a 400 percent return. The venture succeeds beyond all expectations, though d'Artagnan conceals from Planchet how close it came to disaster.