The dead crossing the bridge broke into fierce battle with the demons almost the instant they came into contact. Severus ignored them and headed straight for the Louvre Museum's north wing.
He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was already past three in the morning, with a little over two hours until dawn. Just as he reached the corner tower containing the cabinet that led to the illusory Tuileries Palace, someone appeared in the middle of the room.
"She isn't here." Lyall Mayer, dressed in black robes, said to Severus, "Only her consciousness is in this palace. Her body is elsewhere."
Severus was breathing rapidly, looking like a dragon on the verge of fury.
"Why are you here?"
"Will figuring out what schemes I'm plotting help you get your wife back?" Lyall Mayer said calmly. "I suggest you hurry. Napoleon Bonaparte was already difficult enough to deal with when he was alive."
"What do you suggest?"
"Les Invalides is across the Seine. His corpse is buried there. Perhaps if you destroy his heart, his magic will disappear too."
Severus curled his lip. "I thought you were a priest of the Greek god of the underworld."
"Napoleon's heart has always remained in Egypt. He was a conqueror. He once said, 'I succeeded because I was determined to succeed. There is no such word as impossible in my dictionary.' Conquering Egypt was something he had always desired."
"Move." Severus threatened. "I don't care what you're planning. Don't get in my way."
"Keep a clear head, wizard," Lyall Mayer said. "That space isn't a mental world created by one person, but by many people together. Hegel once said that the world is balanced because God exists. Europe's scales are balanced because Napoleon exists. Napoleon is a godlike existence."
Severus