Chapter Summaries

Severus stole a French military document about British trade permits and was caught by armed soldiers as he set fire to the papers. Meanwhile, Napoleon recounted the Cairo revolt and his failed plans to retrieve the children, then pressed Pomona to become his mistress as gunfire erupted nearby.

• Severus found a French translation of Britain’s permits allowing armed neutral ships to carry goods and pocketed it.
• Severus set fire to the documents, but French soldiers burst in and fired at him.
• Napoleon told Pomona about the Cairo uprising, its causes, and his efforts to control Egypt and secure support from the Pope.
• Napoleon told Pomona that Egypt had fallen to the British and offered her a choice between becoming his mistress or being handed to the Scourers.
• Pomona refused Napoleon’s proposal and asked him for poison rather than face the Scourers.
• Gunfire broke out, but Napoleon stayed in the bath while Pomona washed his hair and worried about the fighting.

Severus fought his way through Saint Luke Palace searching for Pomona, but Evan Salem warned him that she was in Napoleon’s dream and that her body remained elsewhere. Pomona tried to keep Napoleon from hardening into the ruthless ruler she feared he would become, while Severus fled the guards and left her with Napoleon.

• Severus used his cloak and magic to survive the soldiers’ gunfire and grenades, then escaped the intelligence room through a shattered window.
• Severus searched Saint Luke Palace as guards fired at him, while the soldiers treated his flight as entertainment and speculated that he was pursuing Napoleon’s mistress.
• Severus called for the Invigoration Potion, and Evan Salem appeared, claimed he had captured Severus’s wife, and warned him not to Apparate in Napoleon’s dream.
• Evan told Severus that Pomona’s body was elsewhere and urged him to leave; Severus transformed into black smoke and flew away as the guards arrived.
• Pomona told Napoleon that he had won the Cairo rebellion by earning local support, then challenged his belief that fear alone made people follow him.
• Pomona warned Napoleon that he might become like the tyrants of history, comforted him with a story about a future saint, and called him her Lion before fleeing the bathroom.

Pomona spoke with Napoleon about his military methods and his wish to escape court life, while Severus returned from the other world wounded and discovered that time passed there much faster. The chapter left Severus preparing to re-enter that world with classified intelligence, as Gong Saiyi and Champollion continued searching for a map.

• Pomona helped prepare Napoleon’s bedroom and read about Saint Louis and the Crown of Thorns while waiting for him.
• Napoleon explained his army’s camp arrangements and infantry squares, then invited Pomona to stay at the Grand Trianon and meet her British guardian.
• Napoleon kissed Pomona good night, and she fell asleep beneath the bed curtains while he slept on his camp bed.
• Bocca helped Severus return to the real world, where he found less than a minute had passed despite his spending hours in the other world.
• Severus treated his bullet wound, drank a Blood-Replenishing Potion, and jumped back into the other world with classified intelligence.
• Champollion wondered whether Severus was British, while Gong Saiyi told him to keep searching the papers for the map.

Pomona was taken by Napoleon to discuss rising bread prices and grain exports, while he asked her to persuade Edward Jenner to promote inoculation in France. The chapter left Severus investigating a Malfoy-linked chamber of commerce in Napoleon’s dream and discovering that Lucius believed Cissy was leaving him.

• Napoleon escorted Pomona from Saint Luke Palace and brought her in a carriage with Fouché and Dubois to discuss rising bread prices and grain exports.
• Pomona explained that someone was selling grain abroad to raise food prices, and Napoleon asked whether she remembered more of her prophecy.
• Napoleon told Pomona that Edward Jenner had been brought to France and asked her to persuade him to promote inoculation.
• Napoleon kissed Pomona in the carriage, and she shoved him away and slapped him before he resumed discussing business with Fouché.
• Severus visited a British chamber of commerce bearing the Malfoy family crest and heard Lucius say that Cissy was leaving him.

Pomona entered the Grand Trianon with Napoleon while guarding against being drawn into his court and trying to keep the peace talks on course. In France, Severus found a group of men recruiting wizards and offered them important intelligence.

• Pomona considered how women could be trapped by marriage and resolved not to become Napoleon’s childbearing instrument or remain in a world where Hathor’s victims died in their sleep.
• Napoleon showed Pomona the renovated Grand Trianon and said her guardian was waiting in the waiting room, while Pomona kept the guest and the peace talks in mind.
• A steward at the Malfoy family’s trading company turned Severus away, but a Liverpudlian dockworker invited him to fight for Britain.
• The Liverpudlian led Severus to a warehouse, where a middle-aged man asked why he had come to France.
• Severus said he was looking for someone, refused to identify them, and offered the man a bloodstained note containing important intelligence for payment.

Pomona resisted Napoleon’s efforts to make her his lover and fled the Grand Trianon, while Napoleon demanded that she stay in Paris. Elsewhere, Severus learned that Napoleon planned to use an opera performance at Fontainebleau as bait to catch him.

• Napoleon asked Edward Jenner to become Pomona’s legal guardian and teach French doctors cowpox vaccination, but Jenner objected to Napoleon’s wealth and intentions.
• Pomona escaped to a gondola, then told Napoleon she wanted to see how ordinary people lived and would leave Paris; Napoleon confessed his jealousy, tried to kiss her, and ordered her to stay.
• Severus told a British contact that France was secretly obtaining American grain and saltpeter, then asked for information to help assassinate Napoleon.
• The contact showed Severus a map and said Napoleon would visit Fontainebleau in a few days for an opera performance, where they planned to ambush him.
• Severus recognized The Village Soothsayer as a trap and revealed that he was the soothsayer Napoleon intended to catch.

Napoleon tightened his rule after the assassination attempt, while rumors and factional infighting spread through France. John questioned whether Napoleon truly meant to negotiate peace, and Napoleon considered the fate of a man connected to the woman he desired.

• After surviving the Rue Saint-Nicaise bombing, Napoleon launched a crackdown on Jacobins, and Fouché blamed the attack on British gold despite John Archer’s investigation pointing toward priests.
• Napoleon shut down hostile newspapers as rumors about his private life circulated, while Fouché and Dubois feuded within the secret police.
• Napoleon brought Georgiana from Saint Luke Palace to the Grand Trianon, where Edward Jenner had been taken after the secret police arrested him.
• John gave Severus gold coins to buy intelligence, and Severus used them to pay John for the earlier intelligence before leaving.
• A man from Liverpool asked John whether Napoleon had wizards around him, and John said Severus already knew of the danger.
• In a carriage, Napoleon told Fouché he would exile a man rather than have him killed, then laughed at Fouché’s claim that women loved disreputable men.

Pomona tried to steady herself by organizing the palace girls to copy books, then received gifts from Dubois and wrestled with her attraction to Napoleon. Meanwhile, Severus watched events in France and anticipated conflict between Napoleon and Lucien.

• Pomona organized the girls at the Grand Trianon into groups to copy books and help with tea, and appointed Sophie de Villepin to check their work.
• Dubois visited Pomona with Egyptian clothes and accessories, flattering her and urging her to wear them for Napoleon.
• Sophie warned Pomona about Pauline Frey, and Pomona left the Malachite Hall after realizing she needed to clear her head.
• Severus watched Saint Luke Palace under a Disillusionment Charm and considered how Lucien Bonaparte might return to Paris and challenge Napoleon.
• Severus looked forward to Napoleon losing power as his family and generals turned against him.

Pomona tried to persuade Napoleon to remove her shackles while they shared an intimate dream, but he postponed the decision and questioned whether she was a British spy. Elsewhere, Severus outlined a plan to disrupt Bonaparte’s next campaign and draw his brother Lucien home.

• Napoleon returned from Fontainebleau and told Pomona he planned to turn the palace into a military academy.
• Pomona admitted she feared Dubois and asked Napoleon to remove her shackles; he agreed only to consider it after she wore the gifts.
• Napoleon and Pomona discussed Italy, Venice, and military strategy before he postponed freeing her and asked whether she was a spy named Georgiana.
• John thanked Severus for rescuing them, and Severus proposed blowing up bridges to delay Bonaparte’s army and bring Lucien home.

Severus and John discussed France’s likely invasion of Portugal and how to weaken Napoleon’s power. Meanwhile, Pomona regained her magic, resisted Napoleon’s advances, and left with him and Mr. Jenner to see Paris, still determined to escape.

• Severus warned John that France would likely send troops to Portugal and urged him to identify the unit and investigate Gouvion Saint-Cyr.
• Napoleon unlocked Pomona’s shackles, and she pointed her wand at him before insisting that Mr. Jenner accompany them.
• Pomona slapped Napoleon and resolved to leave France, telling herself that their kiss had been a mistake.
• Napoleon introduced himself to Mr. Jenner as Vincennes and proposed that they walk through Paris to see its poor sanitation and streets.
• Pomona clung to Mr. Jenner as Napoleon spoke about literature, fearing his formidable presence and hoping her reinforcements would arrive.

Pomona walked through Paris with Napoleon and Mr. Jenner, confronting the city's poverty and unsanitary conditions as Napoleon pressed her to help reform them and challenged her views on Britain. Elsewhere, Severus and John discussed the shifting war in Europe and learned that British forces had captured Cairo, while Severus questioned the cost of victory.

• Pomona accompanied Mr. Jenner and Napoleon through filthy Paris streets, where Napoleon explained his plans for drainage, clean water, and aid for beggars and veterans.
• Pomona offered a disabled beggar bread or help finding work, and Napoleon urged him to stand and directed him toward a soup kitchen.
• Napoleon pressed Pomona to help address Paris's social and sanitary problems, argued that Britain was poorly governed, and threatened that he could attack British and Turkish forces in Egypt.
• Napoleon discreetly scratched Pomona's palm before joining Mr. Jenner, leaving her unsettled.
• At a warehouse card table, Severus, John, and their associates discussed Denmark's secret aid to France, Britain's strained position, and calls for peace talks.
• A British associate reported that British forces had defeated Menou and occupied Cairo, and Severus asked how many men they had lost.

Pomona accompanied Napoleon and Mr. Jenner to a Paris café, where Napoleon proposed turning Georgiana’s estate into a medical school and Jenner resisted the idea of graduates serving in the army. Meanwhile, Severus received a pass from John and learned that John planned to use a prophecy to challenge Napoleon through Lucien, just as the police arrived again.

• Pomona accepted a pamphlet defending Louis XVI, but Napoleon took it and teased her about her feelings and vow before Mr. Jenner joined them at a café.
• Napoleon asked Mr. Jenner to support converting Georgiana’s estate into a medical school, and Jenner objected when Napoleon admitted its graduates might serve in the army.
• A Scourer sat near Pomona, preventing her from secretly asking Mr. Jenner to contact Severus.
• John gave Severus a travel pass and warned him about the brutal fate of Kléber’s assassin, urging him to stop risking himself for a woman.
• John told Severus that the Chouans’ prophecy could be used against Napoleon through Lucien, and the two men prepared to leave when police arrived.

Pomona questioned Dubois about the secret police, public relief funds, and grain smuggling while accompanying Josephine and Jenner through the Paris Botanical Garden. Severus later asked John for help before going to see his wife.

• Pomona endured Hortense's hostility as Josephine accompanied Jenner through the Botanical Garden.
• Dubois asked Pomona what the First Consul had said during his city inspection, and Pomona learned he feared scrutiny of the porridge shop funds.
• Pomona questioned Dubois about grain smuggling and his rivalry with Fouché, and warned him that his work differed from Fouché's role.
• John asked Severus whether his healing potion could be mass-produced, and Severus said it could not.
• Severus said he was going to see his wife and asked John to help him, and John agreed.

Pomona weighed the dangers of becoming Napoleon’s political scapegoat and rejected the idea of sacrificing herself for France, then confronted Hortense over her hostility. Meanwhile, John discussed the Paris Opera’s masked ball with Severus and learned that Severus had faced only one rival for Pomona’s affection.

• Pomona considered how her status as Napoleon’s mistress could turn public opinion against him and leave her blamed for his actions.
• Pomona challenged Hortense’s insults and reminded her not to embarrass her parents in front of their guests.
• Pomona wondered whether she could guide Hortense toward charitable work, but worried that Hortense’s marriage to Louis Bonaparte might threaten Napoleon.
• John told Severus that the Paris Opera held four masked balls each year and suggested Pomona attend the next one with Napoleon.
• John asked Severus about his rivals when he pursued Pomona, and Severus said he had faced one.

Pomona toured the Louvre with Napoleon’s party, confronted Hortense about her family and her treatment of Pomona, and then spoke privately with Napoleon. The chapter ended with Napoleon courting Pomona and asking to enter her bedroom, while she pulled away and tried to find other people.

• Pomona failed to identify Champollion among the Louvre staff and reflected on her place in Napoleon’s life.
• Hortense told Pomona that Napoleon loved Josephine, and Pomona challenged Hortense’s assumptions and scolded her about marriage and her mother.
• Pomona wandered through the Louvre alone until Napoleon found her and ordered Raphael’s painting of the Virgin Mary sent to the Grand Trianon for her.
• Pomona told Napoleon she feared becoming a target, and Napoleon said French people’s support depended on victory and asked how to defeat his rivals for love.
• Napoleon called Pomona his lion, kissed her hand, and asked to enter her bedroom; Pomona pulled away and sought a place with more people.

Severus learned that Napoleon had put him on a death list, while Pomona weighed her feelings and her future before rejecting Napoleon’s offer to bear his children. The chapter left Napoleon challenged to defeat Pomona’s husband if he wanted her, and Pomona walking away from him.

• John warned Severus that Napoleon’s secret police had placed him on a death list and gave him a red scarf to cover his scar.
• Severus thanked John, then turned into black mist and flew away from the intelligence station.
• Pomona decided that waiting for a small share of Napoleon’s time was not worth giving up what she already had, and concluded she would not bear him a child.
• Napoleon dragged Pomona into a hidden room in the Louvre and tried to persuade her to become the mother of his children.
• Pomona pointed her wand at Napoleon and said he would have to defeat her husband before she would consider him.
• Pomona called Napoleon an idiot and left the Chamber of Secrets.

At a reception on the Tennis Court, Pomona endured scrutiny as Napoleon’s mistress and rebuffed ambitious young men while reflecting on her feelings for him and Severus. The chapter left Severus disguised in period clothing and armed, apparently preparing to confront Napoleon or pursue revenge.

• Mr. Jenner escorted Pomona to a reception at the historic Tennis Court, where she watched children play and felt judged by the guests.
• Gaudin Poitvin approached Pomona, explained the controversy over banning tennis, and offered to send her a play through her maid, Sophie.
• Other young men crowded around Pomona with apparent ambitions, but Madame de Rémusat invited her to join the ladies’ conversation.
• Pomona watched Josephine and Napoleon, felt jealous and disillusioned about being a substitute for a human woman, and noticed Napoleon’s angry glance.
• Severus changed into men’s clothing from Napoleon’s era, concealed a dagger and wand, and set out looking like a lone assassin.

Pomona explained to Napoleon that young men had approached her to influence him, then left to stay with Mr. Jenner. In Paris, Severus met Giovanni at a salon and asked the vampire to guide him.

• Pomona told Napoleon that young men wanted to reach him through her and described their plan to explain his decrees through opera.
• Napoleon asked whether Pomona wanted to enter politics, and she compared herself to Cecilia, a consort who aided Venetian diplomacy.
• Pomona said she would stay with Mr. Jenner, and Napoleon told her he needed Jenner’s reputation and did not want to kill her.
• Severus recognized Giovanni at a Paris salon and asked him to become his English-speaking guide.

Pomona arrived at the estate Napoleon had given her, rejected his extravagant jewelry, and sent him a poem instead. After Napoleon replied with a single line, she finally fell asleep, while Severus arrived at Giovanni’s apartment and shut himself in an empty room.

• Pomona reached the vast estate near Versailles and learned that Napoleon intended it to become a medical school and possibly a hospital.
• Pomona found Napoleon’s diamond jewelry gift, decided it did not suit her, and wrote him a letter quoting Shakespeare’s poetry.
• Pomona gave the jewelry and letter to a guardsman to return to Napoleon, then received Napoleon’s reply: “Good night, queen upon the throne.”
• Pomona complained about Napoleon’s reply, rolled around in bed, and eventually fell asleep.
• Giovanni brought Severus to his apartment, where Severus shut himself in an empty room while Giovanni returned to his architectural design.

Pomona prepared a weaving workshop to make medical bandages and faced her growing conflict over helping France while remaining loyal to Britain. As she prepared to attend Lucien’s welcome ball with Napoleon, Mr. Jenner announced he would return to Britain, while Severus and Giovanni discussed a proposed City of Beggars in Paris.

• Pomona recruited former textile workers to make ramie bandages in the estate’s converted hunting dog shed and planned further facilities for the medical academy.
• Napoleon arrived to take Pomona to Lucien’s welcome reception, told her Josephine would travel separately, and asked whether she would remove the Black Swan Pendant; Pomona refused.
• Pomona sought Mr. Jenner’s help, but he said she could decline the ball and argued that he had chosen to share his medical knowledge despite its potential benefit to Britain’s enemies.
• Mr. Jenner told Pomona he would return to Britain after the ball, and Pomona left his room in tears before going to dress.
• Giovanni showed Severus a blueprint for a City of Beggars intended to house Paris’s beggars, including discharged soldiers, and Severus angrily blamed France for the Channel Tunnel.