Chapter Summaries

Georgiana reflected on law, survival, and the ways people defended themselves before questioning Giovanni about the well and his origins. After she let him stay in the castle under strict rules, she considered writing Bonaparte to protest but left without deciding what to do.

• Georgiana considered historical examples of retaliation, piracy, and the dangers faced by people unable to defend themselves.
• Giovanni entered and told Georgiana he was from Faenza and had seen lepers drawing water from the well.
• Georgiana asked whether the well water could heal disease, and Giovanni laughed at the idea.
• Georgiana allowed Giovanni to stay in the castle like a boarding-school student and forbade him from leaving his room after nine o'clock.
• Georgiana considered writing Bonaparte to protest, then left before acting impulsively.

Georgiana reflected on love, dignity, and the fate of women treated as replaceable, then met Simon Stratico, an Italian engineer and navigator who described the pirate Sam Bellamy. Simon showed her his plans for underground rail travel, and Georgiana proposed they search for a map of Milan’s tunnels over dinner.

• Georgiana watched young people exercising at Sforza Castle and spoke with Bonaparte, who said he felt truly alive despite his pain over Josephine.
• Georgiana reflected on Anne Boleyn, Catherine, and Kant’s argument that people must not be treated merely as means.
• Simon Stratico told Georgiana about Sam Bellamy, his principles as a pirate, and the growing pirate fleet that led the navy to destroy it.
• Simon led Georgiana to his tower workshop, where she saw blueprints for traveling underground on rails.
• Simon explained that he believed underground travel was possible, and Georgiana invited him to dinner to look for a map of Milan’s underground layout.

Georgiana studied Cape Cod and Salem while considering Bellamy’s shipwreck, hidden treasure, and the legal risks of recovering it. Her work was interrupted by Antonelli, who arrived with blueprints for renovating Sforza Castle, and she cleared the map away to make room for them.

• Georgiana located Cape Cod, Eastham, and Salem on a map and considered where Bellamy might have hidden his treasure.
• Georgiana recalled the history of Red-haired Anne and reflected on privateering, piracy, and the law.
• Antonelli arrived with blueprints and explained that the people of Milan wanted to demolish Sforza Castle’s old structure.
• Georgiana noticed that her magnifying glass had burned a hole in the map, put it away, and made room for Antonelli’s blueprints.

Georgiana examined plans for Sforza Castle and proposed turning part of it into a public library, while reflecting on slavery, law, and her past mistakes. She ended by wondering whether Snape and Lily had quarreled.

• Georgiana learned about a covered passage beneath Sforza Castle and asked Antonelli to take her to see it.
• Antonelli described plans to demolish the Sforza court and prison for public buildings, and Georgiana proposed building a public library there.
• Georgiana recalled Anne's opposition to slavery and considered the legal status of enslaved people and the consequences of abolition.
• Georgiana reflected on her errors involving slavery and debt collection, and on her envy of Fleur Delacour.
• Georgiana remembered the green light in the Slytherin common room and wondered why Snape had not read in the library with Lily.

After Antonelli’s suggestion stirred her curiosity, Georgiana went to the castle’s outer wall and found Leo with Alessandro Torlonia. She reassured Leo that she had not adopted him to be Dermide’s scapegoat and urged him to stop Dermide if he was about to make an irreversible mistake, then took both boys to dinner.

• Georgiana hurried to the castle wall at dusk, where she found Leo and Alessandro Torlonia waiting.
• Alessandro explained that Leo wanted to know whether Georgiana had adopted him to make him Dermide’s scapegoat.
• Georgiana denied it and told Leo she hoped he would use good judgment and stop Dermide from doing something irreversible.
• Alessandro laughed at Georgiana’s advice, and she angrily asked what was funny.
• Polina’s companion invited Georgiana to dinner, and Georgiana brought Leo and Alessandro along.

Georgiana prepared for dinner with Caroline and Polina, fielded their questions about love magic and her relationship with Bonaparte, and discussed a Torlonia child’s encounter with Leo. After leaving the sisters, she rested alone and drifted into a dark vision of a wizard walking away from her.

• Caroline and Polina helped Georgiana choose jewelry and questioned her about love magic, Bonaparte, and the Black Swan Crystal Necklace.
• Caroline and Polina admired the Mughal Diamond and teased Georgiana about the gift and her feelings for Bonaparte.
• Georgiana told the sisters that a child from the Torlonia family had asked Leo whether he had been adopted as Dermide’s scapegoat, and she said wrongdoers should bear their own responsibility.
• Georgiana left the sisters and lay down in the next room to rest.
• Georgiana dreamed of a wizard walking away through Hogwarts before darkness filled her vision.

Georgiana reflected on repentance, marriage, and the journey from Hell toward Heaven before learning more about Alessandro Torlonia from Caroline and Polina. The chapter ended with her considering whether she truly wanted to go to Heaven, knowing people she disliked might be there too.

• Georgiana recalled Judas's remorse and wondered where his thirty silver coins had gone.
• She watched a scene of soldiers and miners being attacked in a tropical forest, then encountered someone tossing silver coins who asked whether she wanted to go to Heaven.
• Georgiana reflected on Marzia's choice to remain in Limbo rather than reunite with her former husband in Purgatory.
• Caroline and Polina told Georgiana that Alessandro Torlonia was the favored third son of a wealthy Roman family who had recently returned from Britain with three future ministers.
• Georgiana invited the others to eat because they had an honored guest, then considered whether she would want to enter Heaven alongside people she did not want to see.

Georgiana followed Caroline and Polina to a lavish gathering at Duke's Courtyard, thinking through the histories of marsh drainage, Portuguese wealth, and Italian currency along the way. As the crowd welcomed Caroline and Polina, Georgiana put on a practiced smile and searched the guests for someone she recognized.

• Georgiana followed Caroline and Polina through Sforza Castle, reflecting on the Pontine Marshes and the history of Portugal's wealth and public works.
• Georgiana considered how competing currencies and the Church's influence shaped the Italian states.
• Caroline, Polina, and Georgiana arrived at Duke's Courtyard, where acrobats performed over a water trough and Paganini played the violin.
• The master of ceremonies announced the three women, and the guests applauded as Caroline and Polina entered the gathering.
• Georgiana searched the banquet guests for someone, then straightened her back and joined the crowd with a practiced false smile.

At a banquet, Georgiana reflected on books, Portuguese history, Hogwarts, and political power before speaking with Grando about the Vatican Library’s coins. A French cavalryman then announced that General Murat had won Dalmatia, while Grando hinted he would join Georgiana’s unspoken plan.

• Georgiana left the banquet crowd to smoke and considered Lisbon’s trade arrangements, Portugal’s colonial history, and the castle’s features as she waited for a chance to investigate a secret passage.
• Georgiana discussed Alessandro Torlonia and the Vatican Library’s ancient coins with Grando, whose face reminded her of Lyall Meyer.
• A French cavalryman rode into the courtyard and announced that General Murat had won and Dalmatia belonged to France.
• Georgiana sent Grando to find out what had happened and headed toward the gathering crowd.
• Grando asked about Georgiana’s original plan, then said he would join because he had paid for it, leaving Georgiana suspicious.

Georgiana considered how food, power, and political legitimacy shaped societies while waiting for news from the Italian campaign. Caroline announced a victory at Osoppo, but Georgiana’s thoughts drifted elsewhere.

• Georgiana tested the bronze horse outside Sforza Castle and reflected on flexible construction and Lisbon’s earthquake.
• Georgiana considered Portuguese rule, the Jesuits’ power in Brazil, and the Duke of Pombal’s suppression of the order.
• Georgiana compared Dumbledore’s restraint with Umbridge’s attempt to compel obedience and reflected on how students quietly resisted her.
• Georgiana asked Zoisite about his promise after moving out, and he told her to wait and see whether the count kept his word.
• Caroline emerged with Polina and told Georgiana that they had won at Osoppo after Ajim set an ambush near Udine.

After Murat’s victory in the Alps, Georgiana considered what she had learned and wrote a letter describing preservation and casting techniques. A navigator from Pavia brought her a secret drawing, and she hid both it and the letter before leaving under a protective spell.

• Murat ambushed Austrian forces near Osoppo, seized their warhorses, and prepared to reunite with his cavalry in Dalmatia.
• Georgiana left Caroline’s victory celebration and reflected on understanding herself and making decisions.
• Georgiana wrote about using sealed, oxygen-free containers to preserve food and casting bronze cannons with clay molds.
• A navigator from Pavia showed Georgiana a drawing and said its value was being blocked by the First Consul.
• Georgiana told the navigator to return in the morning, locked the drawing and letter in a drawer, warded the room, and left with Grando and the navigator.

Georgiana refused Augereau’s request for Swiss troops, saying the navy would take them from Dalmatia, while he warned her that Murat’s forces faced danger in the mountains. She explored Sforza Castle’s secret passage with Augereau and Simon, and the group entered its dark underground corridor.

• Snape and Pomona discussed a fire-breathing chicken in the Daily Prophet and speculated about magical creatures.
• Augereau demanded that Georgiana give him the Swiss troops so he could use their mountain-warfare skills, but she refused and said the navy would remove them from Dalmatia.
• Augereau questioned Georgiana about her plans, then decided to accompany her into Sforza Castle’s secret passages.
• Simon led Georgiana and Augereau to the former library, where he and Grando opened the concealed stone door behind Medusa’s relief.
• Georgiana lit the stairs with her wand, descended with Augereau, and told Simon and Grando to close the entrance.

Georgiana and her companions searched the castle’s secret passages for a way out while she interpreted clues drawn from Leonardo da Vinci’s art and religious imagery. A voice speaking Parseltongue led her to a decorated wall beneath the theater, where she suspected they would find another hidden passage.

• Georgiana, Simon, Augereau, and Grando reached an exit to the secret passage and discussed the bronze ring that could flood the tunnel from the lake.
• Georgiana searched the wall for a way out, and Simon hinted that an eel and a ladder were connected to the clue.
• Simon identified the torch as the mechanism that opened a route to the theater, but Georgiana continued looking for another destination.
• Georgiana heard a voice saying “Kill” in Parseltongue and traced it to a decorated wall opposite the bronze ring.
• Georgiana recognized the location beneath the theater as the likely clue to an “unsung” hidden passage.

Georgiana discussed Leonardo's Knot with Simon and Grando before Augereau confronted her about her intentions and the military situation in Piedmont. After Augereau left, she ended the discussion for the night and walked down the corridor with Simon and Grando following with torches.

• Georgiana explained the patterns and figures she saw in Leonardo's Knot while Simon and Grando studied the wall.
• Augereau asked Georgiana whether Bonaparte had told her about Murat's operation, and she urged him to keep it secret so the enemy would underestimate it.
• Georgiana challenged Augereau about the Lyonnais and explained her concern that Lyon's silk looms must keep running to protect workers' livelihoods.
• Augereau described Piedmont's bandits and asked for troops or gendarmes, while Georgiana told him to continue recruiting.
• Simon reported that gangs of robbers also operated in the lower Milan Plain, and Georgiana left for the night with Simon and Grando carrying torches behind her.

Georgiana discussed land, patronage, and the consequences of reforms in Italy with Melzi, then admitted she might have been wrong about the wheels. She invited the young people who had accompanied her the previous day to share breakfast and keep playing.

• Georgiana told Melzi he could stay permanently in the guest room after he explained that Madame Murat had hosted him overnight.
• Georgiana said she had wanted to prove someone wrong but now thought she had been wrong again about the wheels.
• Melzi said the roads needed maintenance and that the matter was being discussed.
• Melzi thanked Georgiana for breakfast, bowed, and left the pavilion.
• Georgiana asked Olesya to summon the young people from the previous day to finish the meal and continue their games.

Georgiana watched the soldiers play football while considering Italian communities, patronage, and the cruelty of the Muggle world. After Zabini told her someone had found the key, she joined Grando and Simon in testing their solution to the Da Vinci Knot and followed them down a newly opened staircase.

• Georgiana watched Alessandro Torlonia referee a football match and reflected on Italian landholding, local administration, and the pain of victims who were told to let go of the past.
• Zabini told Georgiana that someone had found the key, but Grando interrupted them with a drawing of the Da Vinci Knot and a wooden shield he had made from its pattern.
• Georgiana followed Grando to the theater, where Simon revealed a secret passage beneath the stage.
• Grando pressed the shield against the matching pattern in the passage wall, triggering a mechanism that opened a staircase.
• Simon went down first, and Georgiana followed him and Grando into the passage.

Georgiana, Grando, and Simon explored the hidden passages beneath Sforza Castle, uncovering an armory, stables, and signs of ancient construction. After a trap nearly dragged Simon away, they found a potion-like illusion and decided they had seen enough, leaving without finding Mark.

• Georgiana, Grando, and Simon followed the diversion channel stairs into an armory filled with Milanese armor and old cannons.
• They climbed a slope into an underground passage with stables and a ruined feeding trough, then followed rats through a carved opening.
• Grando recognized ancient Latin carvings, and Georgiana concluded Mark could not have left by the stairs they had used.
• A metal net dropped on the group and dragged Simon, but Georgiana severed it and Simon escaped.
• The group chased a shadow to a blacksmith's shop, where Georgiana identified shimmering colors above a cauldron as illusions.
• Georgiana and Grando discussed education, war, and compensation before they returned the way they had come.

Georgiana read Leonardo da Vinci’s fables and reflected on deprivation, trust, power, and fairness as she considered the danger posed by dark wizards and the Basilisk. She resolved to deal with the wizard in Milan’s underground city directly, then joined the others for lunch with Leonardo’s manuscript beside her.

• Leonardo da Vinci’s fables described a painter’s revenge on a priest and a friar throwing a stingy merchant into a river.
• Georgiana connected the stories to deprivation and trust, and considered the danger of the Basilisk and the limits of controlling it.
• Georgiana ordered the wizard occupying Milan’s underground city to leave, deciding that a direct approach was better than using public authority or roundabout methods.
• Caroline and Polina brought the dining cart, and the young people gathered for lunch.
• Alessandro recognized Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscript beside Georgiana, who began choosing which dish to taste first.

At a banquet, Georgiana discussed Torlonia’s finances and tested the guests’ interest in a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript by proposing a practical experiment with its copied notes. Polina agreed to stay in Milan, while Alessandro described plans for a dramatic sculpture-lamp in his Venice house.

• Polina asked Georgiana where her diamond was kept as they discussed Torlonia’s financial ambitions and the history of his alum mines and loans.
• Georgiana noticed the guests’ greed when Alessandro mentioned a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript, so she threw a copied page onto the table and proposed testing its support frame on the bronze horse.
• Polina asked to visit Bologna, but Georgiana persuaded her to stay on the condition that Georgiana would not leave a party early.
• Alessandro told Polina and Georgiana that he was seeking a sculptor for a large lighting feature in his Venice house, and Caroline compared it to Canova’s Hercules and Lichas.
• Murat’s children and Dermide ran off after eating, and Georgiana called after them to stay away from the lake before continuing her lunch.

Georgiana spent lunch with the Torlonia family and then walked with Alessandro, discussing his interests and Napoleon. She offered to take Alessandro somewhere, leaving their destination unknown.

• The priest sprinkled holy water, and Caroline gave him a customary donation of gold coins.
• Georgiana let the young people play with her eagle while Alessandro stayed behind and Polina and Caroline went their separate ways.
• Georgiana and Alessandro walked through the garden, where he said he enjoyed making money, travel, and reading newspapers.
• Georgiana questioned Alessandro about his reading habits and his thoughts on Napoleon.
• Georgiana headed toward the castle and told Alessandro she would take him somewhere.