Chapter Summaries

Severus and Giovanni discussed the elusive British captain John Wright as Pomona accompanied Napoleon and Mr. Jenner to a victory banquet in Paris. After Pomona helped repel an ambush on the way, the group reached the Paris Opera, where her thoughts returned to the hidden entrance to the wizarding world.

• Severus asked Giovanni about John Wright, a British captain blamed for sabotage and other alleged plots, and said he knew what the newcomer had done.
• Pomona let her Veela features transform before opening the door to Napoleon, who dismissed her monstrous appearance as realistic makeup and took her and Mr. Jenner toward the banquet.
• During the carriage ride, Napoleon argued with Mr. Jenner about his ambitions and claimed that their world was a dream.
• Pomona sensed danger, conjured an earthen wall, and helped the Imperial Guard survive an explosive attack on Napoleon's carriage; the attackers escaped, but the guards found their cannon.
• The group continued to the Paris Opera, where Napoleon received cheers and Pomona entered thinking about Severus and the concealed wizarding entrance behind the theater.

Giovanni brought Severus into the Paris Opera, where Severus revealed that Napoleon’s mistress was his wife and set out to leave Napoleon a message. Pomona attended Napoleon’s victory banquet beside him, where he praised the soldiers and Edward Jenner, then announced that assassins had attacked them on the way.

• Giovanni led Severus through the actors’ entrance and into the Paris Opera, where they watched Josephine mingle with the guests.
• Severus told Giovanni that Napoleon’s mistress was his wife, then left to find an empty room and leave Napoleon a message.
• Giovanni eagerly followed Severus and searched the theater for an empty room.
• Pomona arrived at the banquet beside Napoleon, feeling watched and preferring to stay out of the spotlight.
• Napoleon addressed the guests, honoring the soldiers and introducing Edward Jenner and his cowpox technique.
• Napoleon revealed that assassins had attacked their carriage, declared himself unharmed, and called for glory to France.

At Napoleon’s masked celebration banquet, Pomona drew the attention of Lucien Bonaparte, who challenged her about France’s plunder and Britain’s colonial violence before taking her to dance. Severus watched her from the crowd but disappeared, leaving Pomona dancing with Lucien as Napoleon’s first dance ended.

• Severus and Giovanni watched Napoleon’s speech, and Giovanni recognized Lucien Bonaparte among the guests.
• At the masked ball, Pomona spotted a man wearing a golden mask like Severus’s while Severus recognized her Black Swan Locket as the counterpart to his White Swan Pendant.
• Lucien introduced himself to Pomona, gave her a gold bracelet, and argued with Mr. Jenner over French plunder and the Bengal famine.
• Pomona interrupted Lucien and Mr. Jenner by agreeing to dance with Lucien, who said he would introduce her to his family.
• Lucien warned Pomona about insulting Napoleon, discussed their marriages being declared invalid, and led her onto the floor to dance a waltz.

Lucien urged Pomona to accept Napoleon's offer of an heir, but she refused because she would not betray Severus or make Napoleon risk his feelings again. After Severus escaped an ambush and a threatening message appeared at the opera house, Napoleon ordered Pomona sent to a convent, just as news arrived that Envoy Cacault had kidnapped the Pope's Secretary of State and was approaching Paris.

• Lucien told Pomona that Napoleon could designate their child as his heir, but she refused his proposal and reaffirmed her oath to Severus.
• Severus appeared at the ball, kissed Pomona, and fled through a shattered window as the Scourers pursued him.
• Pomona handed Napoleon Severus's note, and Lucien led them to a conference room where a death threat had been carved into a chair.
• Napoleon ordered Pomona taken to a convent and shackled, while she waited in the room with him and Lucien.
• A messenger reported that Envoy Cacault had kidnapped the Pope's Secretary of State and reached the outskirts of Paris.

Pomona returned to tending vegetables at the convent while reflecting on loyalty, love, and the shifting allegiances of men and women. Napoleon sent her a letter admitting his feelings and agreeing to seek peace, and Pomona left the guardsman with a slap as her reply.

• Pomona settled into convent life, gardening alongside the nuns and considering how women’s loyalties could shift between households and causes.
• Napoleon had Cardinal Consalvi brought to Paris and ordered Cacault to stay home after the envoy’s failed negotiations with the Holy See.
• A guardsman delivered Napoleon’s letter to Pomona and waited all afternoon for her response.
• Pomona read Napoleon’s letter, in which he confessed his feelings, described returning to Josephine for comfort, and agreed to negotiate peace while warning Severus not to cause more trouble.
• Pomona told the guardsman to slap Napoleon for her, then returned to the convent.

Pomona saw signs of the coming famine and considered how Napoleon could keep Paris supplied and orderly as people fled there from the countryside. After receiving Napoleon’s weary letter, she sent him advice about Lucien and work relief, along with an unripe ear of wheat as a warning about the harvest.

• Pomona observed that the wheat harvest looked poor and saw villagers leaving for Paris, where Napoleon would need to secure food for more than a million people.
• Pomona decided not to contact Severus about Napoleon’s troubles and instead focused on the convent’s work and the risk posed by bandits.
• An Imperial Guard delivered Napoleon’s letter, in which he described his regret over loving Pomona and said he would wait until Hortense died before remarrying.
• Pomona wrote back urging Napoleon to speak with Lucien, listen carefully to his advisers, and advance his Paris water-supply project through work relief.
• Pomona gave the Imperial Guard bread and cheese, then enclosed an unripe ear of wheat with her letter as a sign of the approaching famine.

Napoleon brought Pomona to the Ourcq River to show her his planned canal and invited her to help design the riverbanks. Their conversation turned to the canal’s benefits, her past, and his desire to spend time with her, and they set off to find a place for a picnic.

• An officer brought Pomona from the countryside to Paris, where Napoleon met her by the Ourcq River.
• Napoleon explained his plan for a thirty-million-franc canal to supply Paris with water and offered Pomona the chance to design its banks and future residential districts.
• Pomona warned that the canal project could be seen as British sabotage but argued that it would protect Paris from an epidemic, and she pleaded with Napoleon to treat vulnerable women gently.
• Pomona proposed naming the canal Saint-Martin Canal, and Napoleon teased her after his coat button caught in her hair.
• Napoleon took Pomona’s hand as they walked along the river and told her that her presence gave him vitality.
• Napoleon and Pomona went looking for a picnic spot, while a flock of ducks flew away before they could hunt.

Severus and Giovanni brought ancient daggers to Madam Cassandra’s disciple, who warned them that the blades carried dangerous fates. Meanwhile, Pomona urged Napoleon to free her shackles, and he seized her ankle in the river as the Imperial Guards pretended not to notice.

• Severus and Giovanni discussed the rumors of a giant bat and animal deaths in Paris while visiting Madam Cassandra’s salon.
• Madam Cassandra’s disciple examined their daggers, identified Severus’s as a pharaoh’s, and warned both men about bloodshed and curses.
• Severus asked which king would bleed, but the woman refused to say and ordered him and Giovanni to leave.
• Pomona fed fish by the Ourcq River and argued with Napoleon about their outing, her husband, and the danger posed by powerful wizards.
• Napoleon jumped into the river and grabbed Pomona’s ankle, while the Imperial Guards turned away after hearing her cry and a slap.

Severus prepared to use Kamose I’s dagger against Napoleon, while Napoleon and Georgiana crossed a line that left her torn between the two men. The chapter ended with Napoleon deciding that he and Georgiana’s former lover would have to fight to the death.

• Severus considered using Kamose I’s dagger to destroy Napoleon’s soul, and reflected on the unrest caused by his interference with food supplies.
• Napoleon and Georgiana were intimate by the water, but Georgiana cried and said she was wearing a nun’s clothes.
• Georgiana confessed that she loved Severus more deeply because he needed her, and Napoleon said he was sorry for taking Severus’s happiness.
• Napoleon carried Georgiana to the carriage, where she pushed him away and asked to return to Severus.
• Napoleon demanded to know what Severus had that he lacked, then concluded that one of them had to die.

Pomona stayed at an estate near Versailles and remained furious with Napoleon after he violated her trust. Liancourt arrived as her appointed guardian and asked her to help with a crisis: several granaries had sprouted grain, threatening food supplies and public health.

• Pomona recalled how she had surrendered to Napoleon and resolved to keep her anger and the debt she owed him in mind.
• Liancourt arrived, introduced himself as chairman of the Paris Charity Society, and presented his appointment as Pomona’s guardian.
• Liancourt offered Pomona medicinal supplies and a white rose, and she agreed to take a walk with him.
• Pomona rejected Napoleon’s gifts and heard Liancourt explain that Napoleon regretted his actions and wanted her forgiveness.
• Liancourt told Pomona that several granaries had been sabotaged and their stored grain had sprouted, while Napoleon negotiated to procure more grain.
• Liancourt asked Pomona to help keep Napoleon clear-headed, warning that another revolution could destroy his family.

Pomona tried to persuade Napoleon to spare Severus and focus on the danger facing Paris, while their tense relationship deepened. Napoleon removed her Black Swan Pendant, testing her claim that it kept her young.

• The seeds in several Paris granaries sprouted overnight, prompting Napoleon to raise the bounty on Severus and order a citywide manhunt.
• Citizen Liancourt escorted Pomona to the Tuileries Palace, where she interrupted Napoleon’s furious meeting with his officials.
• Pomona urged Napoleon to spare Severus, and he admitted he had expected the matter to be simple.
• Pomona offered to make Napoleon happy if he would let Severus go, then led him away from the Council of State.
• Pomona warned Napoleon not to abandon France like Louis XVI, and he pulled off her Black Swan Pendant to test her claim.

Pomona spent the night with Napoleon while feeling guilty about Severus and wondering whether she had any right to return to him. She and Napoleon argued about their tangled relationships and the dangers of grain speculation, and he left her confined while hinting at a coming contest with Severus.

• Pomona reflected on her betrayal of Severus and feared that she had become unworthy of returning to Hogwarts.
• After someone summoned Napoleon, Pomona put her Black Swan Locket back on and dressed while he returned with a jewelry box.
• Pomona told Napoleon that she and Severus had been together for over thirty years and accused Napoleon of being the third party.
• Napoleon admitted that he was jealous of Severus, and Pomona realized he had arranged for her to stay in the countryside to keep them apart.
• Pomona urged Napoleon to control grain prices and warned him that Leoncourt had called for soldiers or the removal of her shackles because of plague concerns.
• Napoleon refused to loosen her restraints and said he would later let her see which man was more of a man.

Napoleon ordered French financiers to buy grain in British and Dutch ports and arrange its delivery to Paris, using exiled Jacobins and the bankers’ greed to advance his plan. After Pomona challenged the plan and urged him to consider peace, Napoleon accused her of wanting war, stormed out, and left her looking for her new guardian.

• Napoleon summoned Julian Ouvrard, Professor Van Laiberg, and several bankers to Marie Antoinette’s drawing room and tasked them with buying grain in British and Dutch ports for delivery to Paris.
• Napoleon explained that exiled Jacobins in Britain had helped prepare the opportunity and promised the bankers a two-percent commission.
• Pomona questioned how the grain would reach Paris without a functioning French fleet, and Napoleon said he would pay only after it arrived in the granaries.
• Napoleon and Pomona argued over his feelings for Josephine, Pomona’s husband, and the prospects for peace; Napoleon declared that he would disrupt Britain and stormed out.
• Marie Antoinette told Pomona that Napoleon had long wanted Britain to expel the exiled nobles, and Pomona decided to seek out her new guardian.

Pomona sought Leoncour’s help to prevent the conflict between Britain and France from worsening, but he treated the feud between Severus and Napoleon as a contest over Helen. She urged him to watch shipping and land transport so grain could be brought to Paris, then left him wondering whether she was a spy.

• Pomona found Leoncour playing billiards and asked him to talk in the Tuileries Garden.
• Pomona asked whether continued fighting between Britain and France would help or harm them and pleaded for a way to avert further misfortune.
• Leoncour suggested that Severus and the First Consul were fighting over Helen and agreed to act as her protector.
• Leoncour asked what Pomona had discussed with the financiers, and she advised him to watch ships and land transport for grain shipments to Paris.
• Leoncour asked about the French Navy and wondered whether Pomona might be a foreign spy, while Pomona laughed off his comparison to Cleopatra.

Pomona confronted Napoleon about war, ambition, and his treatment of Josephine, then persuaded him to cancel the bounty on a man’s life and sought the reward money for charitable work. After leaving Napoleon’s bedroom, she had to find somewhere else to sleep.

• Pomona compared Napoleon’s ambition and romantic history with Severus’s devotion while Napoleon recounted his victory at Marengo and his strained marriage to Josephine.
• Pomona reflected on Napoleon watching the Paris Commune’s unrest from the sidelines and on the destruction caused when the Tuileries Palace was burned.
• Pomona told Napoleon she hated war and challenged him to consider Josephine’s feelings; after she slapped him, he slapped her back.
• Pomona asked Napoleon to cancel the bounty, and he agreed.
• Pomona asked to use the reward money to help others, dressed, and left Napoleon’s bedroom, planning to find a place to sleep in the Louvre.

Severus learned that he had become a prize for Paris’s returning authorities and parted ways with Giovanni while seeking a way to remain in this world. Meanwhile, Pomona arrived at the Leoncourt residence, accepted Napoleon’s dress, and began arranging loans for struggling bakeries with the Leoncourt family’s help.

• Giovanni told Severus that Napoleon’s amnesty had brought French aristocrats back and made Severus a target for anyone seeking to become Paris’s first Prefect of Police.
• Severus thanked Giovanni, sent him away alone, and asked Bocca to seek another way to preserve his entry into the world before his remaining three days ran out.
• Pomona arrived at the Leoncourt residence, spent a sleepless night, and put on the black velvet dress Napoleon had sent her.
• At breakfast, Pomona proposed lending money to small bakeries and asked for the Leoncourt family’s support.
• Leoncourt offered to bring his law-student grandson Lance into the effort, while Pomona arranged for Alice to check on books being copied for return to the Church.

Pomona discussed Napoleon’s grain scheme, a regulated loan program for struggling bakeries, and the Church’s role with Monsieur Leoncourt. A sudden realization about Napoleon alarmed her, and she demanded that Leoncourt take her to see him.

• Alice and Madame Leoncourt went to the Grand Trianon while Georgiana stayed with Leoncourt and Lance.
• Pomona explained how Napoleon’s grain scheme relied on difficult trade routes, political pressure, and privateers, and warned that Parisian grain prices would eventually have to rise.
• Pomona told Leoncourt she wanted to establish rules and contracts for loans to bankrupt small bakeries, and she asked him to accompany her to a refugee camp.
• Pomona asked Leoncourt about the Church and discussed Napoleon’s support for nuns running hospitals, then worried that charitable efforts could compete with the Church for public loyalty.
• Pomona suddenly realized something about Napoleon, became furious and anxious, and ordered Leoncourt to take her to him immediately.

Georgiana confronted Napoleon at Saint Luke Palace, where their argument over his rash turned into a discussion of charity, war, and their shared ideals. Napoleon urged her to return to the person who loved her, but she chose to remain with him in the dream, leaving their rivalry over her unresolved.

• Georgiana arrived at Saint Luke Palace with Monsieur Leoncourt and waited while Napoleon practiced shooting and spoke with his officers.
• Napoleon embraced Georgiana, and she slapped him before accusing him of giving her a disease; he said his ankle rash was an ordinary fungal infection.
• Georgiana told Napoleon she wanted to use his money to lend aid to people ruined by the Bread Guild, and he agreed that she should help them.
• Napoleon warned Georgiana to return because someone else loved her, while they discussed their ideals and his code of law.
• Georgiana refused to leave the dream, and Napoleon declared his love for her before heading back to his army as she mentioned Severus.

Napoleon and Georgiana argued over love, marriage, fidelity, and her role in his coming war as she posed for a portrait styled after Girl with a Pearl Earring. Napoleon left after declaring he wanted her as his lawful wife, while Georgiana was left conflicted about him and Severus.

• Napoleon had Georgiana pose in pearl earrings and a blue headscarf while he watched the court painter arrange the portrait.
• Georgiana sent the painter away and told Napoleon she would not spend the night with him because she wished to respect Josephine and establish rules for his other relationships.
• Napoleon asked Georgiana to go to the front with him, but she feared the danger and warned that she did not want him or Severus to die.
• Napoleon said he wanted Georgiana to become his lawful wife and invited her to return with him to the Grand Trianon, but she refused and challenged him for never having proposed.
• Napoleon left for work, and Georgiana wondered whether marrying him would make Severus her illicit lover.

Severus watched Pomona kiss Napoleon and refused to let the British spies use him to assassinate the First Consul, instead directing them toward a plot involving the envoy sent to abduct the Pope. Meanwhile, Napoleon took Pomona to Petit Trianon, where his guards interpreted their closeness as proof of his romantic influence.

• Severus and the spies watched Pomona passionately kiss Napoleon outside Saint Luke Palace, and Severus said he still intended to save her.
• Severus hexed the man from Liverpool when he mocked him, then told the spies that Napoleon was protected by unseen forces and they should target his associates instead.
• Severus urged John to kidnap Cardinal Caprara and prevent the agreement between Napoleon and the Church from being signed.
• Napoleon's Imperial Guard traveled with him and Pomona to Petit Trianon, gossiping about their relationship and admiring the First Consul.
• Napoleon and Pomona entered Claudia's palace, and the guards relaxed outside.