Chapter Summaries

Georgiana reflected on Napoleon’s use of war and political marriages, then witnessed Louis Bonaparte pleading with Stephanie de Beauharnais to elope. She left the garden with Sophie, determined that Napoleon must not lose his human warmth, and ended by teasing Sophie about her husband and the First Consul.

• Georgiana considered the unrest caused by Napoleon’s taxes and worried that the kidnapped papal envoy could threaten his position and leave Sophie vulnerable.
• Georgiana and Sophie left the garden, where Georgiana compared Wordsworth with Severus and watched the British swans.
• Georgiana overheard Louis ask Stephanie to elope, but Stephanie rejected him and explained that she hoped to become the Duchess of Baden.
• Sophie told Georgiana that Louis would marry Hortense after National Day, and Georgiana worried that Napoleon’s political ambitions could make him cold-hearted.
• Georgiana returned to the castle with Sophie, praised Napoleon’s sincerity, bravery, and strength, and joked that Sophie did not believe the First Consul was a good man.

After Cardinal Caprara was kidnapped, Napoleon ordered an investigation, while Georgiana sought maps from Berthier. At Rambouillet, Gong Saiyi followed a magical clue to a seashell-covered house, and Severus directed him to Venice to continue searching for the missing woman.

• Napoleon flew into a rage over Cardinal Caprara’s kidnapping and demanded results from his officers.
• Georgiana asked Berthier for maps of Baden and Italy, then left the staff officers’ office.
• A trail of golden dust led Gong Saiyi to a seashell-covered house at Rambouillet.
• Gong Saiyi consulted Severus Snape, who recognized the house as Shell Cottage and told him to seek clues by the sea.
• Severus sent Gong Saiyi to Venice to find a capable contact at Caffè Florian, and Gong Saiyi Apparated away.

Georgiana discussed the kidnapped papal envoy, Italy’s future, and Napoleon’s plans for wounded soldiers with Leon, who sought comfort and affection from her. After he left, Georgiana wondered whether Severus might still make a life for himself in this world.

• Georgiana suggested Italians might have arranged Caprara’s kidnapping and urged Leon to have Fouché investigate.
• Leon told Georgiana that Caprara’s kidnapping could benefit the peace talks because Consalvi could continue negotiating the ecclesiastical treaty.
• Georgiana proposed building roads and a bridge to improve trade in Italy, and Leon asked how she would govern the country.
• Leon confided his concern for wounded soldiers and described his plan to build a city for retired veterans.
• Leon embraced and kissed Georgiana, then asked her to marry him and reveal her real name; she refused and told him she was Pomona.
• After Leon left, Georgiana asked Sophie to help put away the maps and wondered whether Severus could make a life in this world.

Severus took Felix to Venice and changed his plan, choosing to train him as a wizard while they searched for a hidden entrance. Meanwhile, Georgiana struggled with her affair with Napoleon and her anger over their time at Rambouillet, then turned to work and prepared to meet a freight company director.

• Severus brought Felix to Venice, told him Scourers operated there, and began teaching him to gather and analyze intelligence while traveling in disguise.
• The secret police found Bishop Caprara, who had been kidnapped by Royalists hoping to influence Napoleon’s choice of cardinal.
• Georgiana reflected on her growing entanglement with Napoleon and her wish to hide her Veela nature, while fearing Severus would be disappointed in her.
• Napoleon asked Georgiana to make sweets for homeless veterans ahead of National Day, and she helped the cooks grind cocoa beans while venting her anger.
• Georgiana rejected the chocolate as too sweet, then told Sophie to arrange tables by the pond so she could meet a director from the Bonafou Company.

Georgiana met transport director Gaston Anthony Martin to discuss roads, trade, and France’s rural problems, then Napoleon joined her by the pond and spoke of their relationship and his plans for her. The chapter left Georgiana uneasy about becoming Napoleon’s partner while he remained devoted to Josephine, as he urged her to grow stronger and accompany him to war.

• Georgiana received Gaston Anthony Martin and accepted his emerald olive-branch brooch before discussing road construction and trade.
• Martin described farmers leaving France and challenged Napoleon’s protectionist trade policies; Georgiana suggested allowing those who wished to leave to do so.
• Georgiana proposed adding soap and fine linen towels to Napoleon’s gifts for soldiers, and suggested beginning a new city with public baths.
• Napoleon joined Georgiana by the pond and agreed to build her a pavilion, then asked her to bear him a daughter.
• Napoleon told Georgiana he wanted her to accompany him on campaign and grow stronger, while she worried about Josephine and the war.
• Napoleon blamed Madame de Staël for opposing him and said he would not let her return to France.

Georgiana discussed marriage, women’s roles, religion, and the needs of soldiers with Napoleon, who revealed his fears of being unloved and asked her to help deal with Madame de Staël. He pressed Georgiana to attend the ceremony marking the canal construction, threatening to restore the blockade against Britain if she refused.

• Georgiana considered how famine, conscription, and early marriage affected France’s people and Napoleon’s plans for war.
• Napoleon spoke of his past experience with mutiny, his belief that money should help people achieve something, and his fear that Josephine and Georgiana would stop loving him.
• Georgiana urged Napoleon to reassure Josephine with a religious ceremony and argued that soldiers deserved dignity, slavery should be abolished, and families should be able to form.
• Napoleon asked Georgiana to help teach Madame de Staël a lesson, and Georgiana considered asking the women at the bandage workshop for help.
• Napoleon invited Georgiana to attend the canal construction ceremony and threatened to restore the blockade against Britain if she refused.

Georgiana prepared gifts and jobs for discharged soldiers while Napoleon’s political maneuvering raised tariffs against America. When a soldier named Gobain killed himself over love, Napoleon sent Georgiana to deal with the woman involved, leaving her to lead a group of soldiers away from the palace.

• Georgiana arranged for vagabonds and discharged soldiers to receive bags containing sugared almonds, soap, and handkerchiefs, and promoted canal jobs for former servicemen.
• France and its allies blamed America for the crisis around the peace talks and imposed sharply increased tariffs on American goods.
• Georgiana chose a white dress for the Saint-Martin Canal groundbreaking ceremony, while imagining a future in which she helped Napoleon surpass Charlemagne.
• Sophie summoned Georgiana to Napoleon’s study, where he told her that Gobain had killed himself over love, the second serviceman to do so that month.
• Georgiana asked for the woman’s name and location, selected a frightening-looking soldier to accompany her, and requested two doctors experienced in smallpox inoculation.
• Napoleon said he would deal with Gobain’s parents, and Georgiana led the soldiers away to confront the woman despite feeling sorrowful.

Georgiana led soldiers to Inas's mineral-water stand after a soldier's suicide over love, using the confrontation to punish the sellers and demonstrate vaccination to the citizens. Haunted by the women's screams and her own doubts, she abandoned her plan to visit Leoncourt's home and asked to be taken to a church.

• General Lannes brought a company of soldiers behind Georgiana's carriage as rumors of the corporal's suicide spread through Paris.
• Soldiers surrounded Inas's mineral-water stand, and Georgiana asked the three women there to identify Inas.
• Georgiana announced that the stand would become a vaccination site, and soldiers held down the three women while the army doctor vaccinated them against smallpox.
• General Lannes escorted Georgiana back to her carriage and ordered the coachman to take her to Leoncourt's home.
• Georgiana asked Sophie about Gaudin's love poems and advised her to give him a chance to find someone else if she could not love him.
• After Sophie prayed, Georgiana changed her mind and directed the coachman to take them to a church.

Georgiana visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Victories and reflected on Chaptal, Napoleon, and her fanciful image of a rude military-school boy. Napoleon arrived, kissed her in the rain, and discussed the soldiers who had died in the Great Patriotic War before carrying her off laughing.

• Georgiana went with Sophie to the Basilica of Our Lady of Victories and noticed the votive offerings and military medals.
• Georgiana learned from Chaptal about Napoleon’s grudges, his old comrades, and his approach to appointments in education and government.
• Georgiana imagined a story about a lonely military-school boy, then told the mother superior that her dream lover was a soldier.
• Napoleon arrived at the church, took Georgiana outside, kissed her in the rain, and called her his treasure.
• Georgiana asked about the Crown of Thorns and urged Napoleon not to seek revenge; they discussed the soldiers who had died and a Mass for them.
• Napoleon teased Georgiana, accepted her slap with delight, then lifted her and spun her around in the rain.

Rumors about Napoleon’s army, Georgiana, and French politics spread through Paris as people speculated about the new regime and the country’s relations with Britain and America. Georgiana remained under the guardianship of Caprara while talk of renewed hostility between Britain and France left her future uncertain.

• Napoleon’s troops routed Turkish cavalry, burned their camp, and drove fleeing soldiers into the flooded Jordan River, suffering remarkably few casualties.
• Parisians traded rumors about Bonaparte’s soldiers forcibly inoculating women, while stories about Napoleon’s modest habits and the country’s hardships shaped public opinion.
• The mayor of Antwerp’s prosecution and the unpopular military courts became subjects of public discussion, and women saw the judges as unable to defend themselves against the inoculation scandal.
• Georgiana drew attention for her restrained style and emerald olive-leaf brooch, while civil law required unmarried women to have guardians and Caprara became hers.
• People speculated that France and Britain might unite against American independence, and wondered what would happen to Georgiana if the countries became enemies.

Georgiana learned that the First Consul was testing her loyalty and that she could no longer remain neutral between France and Britain. After ordering materials for an unexplained plan, she told Sophie she had discovered where she wanted to be buried and left the waiting room.

• Gaston Martin told Georgiana that the First Consul was testing her and expected her commercial loyalties to favor France.
• Gaston warned Georgiana that she was at risk from political enemies and urged her to keep the First Consul calm when he returned.
• Georgiana asked Gaston to find wood, a two-wheeled horse cart, and a cart fitted with a cannon.
• Sophie told Georgiana that Gaudin had arrived, and Georgiana said she would rather be a Parisian woman but was Scottish.
• Georgiana told Sophie she had found where she wanted to be buried, then laughed and left the waiting room.

Georgiana met with Gaudin Poitvin at the Grand Trianon and set terms for his courtship of Sophie while asking him to write a play that would shape public opinion about Napoleon. The chapter left Georgiana reflecting on Napoleon’s limits and the hardships of war as she watched workers bring timber and cannons into the garden house.

• Georgiana led Gaudin through the gardens and told him to help correct public misunderstandings about Napoleon without using Sophie’s feelings to gain influence.
• Gaudin insisted he would pursue Sophie, and Georgiana challenged him to prove his ability before she would consider him suitable for her ward.
• Georgiana discussed Napoleon, politics, and history with Gaudin, then showed him the house being rebuilt to hold a warship.
• Georgiana recalled her past with Severus and compared Napoleon’s conduct in Italy with the devastation caused by earlier armies.
• Gaston brought timber and cannons to the site, and Georgiana grumbled that Napoleon had acted like a stubborn pig again.

Georgiana confronted Bonaparte over his distrust and argued that he should treat Italians fairly, while he challenged her feelings for Severus and offered her a role as regent queen. She asked whether Leon wanted to become emperor, and he led her away to see the Crown of Thorns.

• Georgiana angrily kicked the wooden beams of her unfinished mountain track before Bonaparte arrived with soldiers and stopped her from striking him.
• Georgiana told Bonaparte she wanted his trust and support, then demanded fair treatment and taxation for Italians across his territories.
• Bonaparte argued that Georgiana should stop sacrificing herself over her oath and Severus, while she insisted that Severus had saved her life.
• Bonaparte confessed his attachment to Georgiana and offered her the position of regent queen, but she said she wanted to have fun instead.
• Georgiana asked Leon whether he wanted to become emperor and agreed to go with him to see the Crown of Thorns.

Napoleon explained how taxes, roads, and competing trade routes shaped his plans, then asked Georgiana to support Lyon’s silk industry and remain with him. As they traveled to meet her new guardian, he confessed his fears and pleaded for her to marry him, while a whisper urged her to say yes.

• Napoleon told Georgiana that advisers pursued their own interests and explained how the proposed tariff changes could divert trade from Lyon to Strasbourg and benefit Austria.
• Napoleon suggested that Georgiana buy Lyon silk for her wedding dress, allowing him to protect Lyon’s silk industry while granting tax exemptions.
• Napoleon admitted he wanted to keep Georgiana at home and show her off, and he warned her not to expose The Prince to others.
• Napoleon revealed his fear of losing Georgiana and asked her to stay with him and marry him, while a whisper urged her to agree.
• Georgiana resisted Napoleon’s plea and pushed him away, but he kissed her as they continued toward the Crown of Thorns and her new guardian.

Felix Yang accompanied Severus on an unexplained journey while Georgiana met Bishop Caprara and accepted him as her guardian. Georgiana decided to stop resisting her feelings for Napoleon, then broke the Black Swan Pendant, leaving the story with Lily’s soul apparently triumphant.

• Felix Yang finished shopping with Severus and Apparated with him to an undisclosed destination.
• Georgiana accompanied Leon Sterndale to Notre-Dame to meet Bishop Caprara, her future guardian.
• Georgiana offered Napoleon a way to help with Marseille soap in exchange for Venice’s exclusive rights and told him she wanted peace.
• Caprara warned Napoleon that the Pope would likely refuse his request and questioned Georgiana about becoming his ward.
• Georgiana accepted her situation with Napoleon, removed the Black Swan Pendant, and the pendant broke around Pomona’s neck.

Georgiana reflected on Napoleon’s military brilliance and their growing intimacy while they attended Caprara’s ceremony before the Crown of Thorns. She considered how marriage, fashion, and politics might shape her future, but remained uncertain about love and the role of her guardian.

• Georgiana recalled Napoleon explaining the French army’s square formation at the Battle of the Pyramids and teasing her by tickling her palm.
• Georgiana smiled at Napoleon after he withdrew his hand, and he froze in surprise as Caprara’s religious rite ended.
• Georgiana considered how a lavish wedding dress for Hortense and Louis could promote Lyon silk and patriotism.
• Georgiana thought about opening a lingerie shop and wondered how Leon would judge her, then lost her mischievous mood.
• Georgiana accepted that she would need a guardian in this world and resolved to think more carefully about balancing love and political interests.

Severus and Felix sought out Gianluca in Venice, while Napoleon and Georgiana discussed the Church’s role in France and privately confronted their complicated relationship with Archbishop Caprara. The chapter ended with Napoleon agreeing to establish a chapel in the Tuileries Palace and Caprara watching the couple leave Notre-Dame.

• Severus asked Gianluca whether he was descended from Venice’s Dandolo family, and Gianluca said he knew a Dandolo descendant.
• Napoleon asked Archbishop Caprara to attend Georgiana’s wedding or Kléber’s funeral, then invited him to a canal groundbreaking ceremony.
• Georgiana proposed bringing nuns to work as nurses and requested soldiers to protect them, while Napoleon agreed and Caprara raised concerns about the harvest and farmers’ land rights.
• Georgiana confessed to Caprara that she loved both Napoleon and her ex-husband and feared Napoleon’s enemies would destroy Paris.
• Georgiana persuaded Napoleon to consider restoring court confessors, and Caprara proposed starting with a chapel at the Tuileries Palace.
• Napoleon promised to arrange the chapel, then left Notre-Dame with Georgiana as Caprara watched them go.

Georgiana and Napoleon discussed land leases, power, and her past with Severus while he washed her feet and pursued her. Napoleon recounted why he had attacked Venice and left Georgiana under his control, insisting that power let him ignore anyone who might witness them.

• Duke Leoncourt was sent to suppress the Chouans, while Georgiana reflected on the responsibilities and privileges of lords and the effects of perpetual leaseholds.
• Napoleon washed Georgiana's feet, teased her about her knowledge of farming, and pursued her despite her objections about the nun's clothing she had worn before.
• Napoleon confessed that he felt conflicted about the envoy's perpetual-leasehold proposal and asked Georgiana about her advice concerning the Venetians.
• Georgiana told Napoleon that Severus had taught her a forbidden spell to give him half her life, and Napoleon condemned Severus while expressing jealousy of their devotion.
• Napoleon recounted how Venice's leaders had tolerated attacks on French civilians, bribed officials, and rejected neutrality, leading him to seize Venetian artworks, warships, and cannons.
• Napoleon became jealous of Georgiana's time in the confessional with Caprara, questioned her about her past with Severus, and asserted that his power meant witnesses would stay silent.

Georgiana wrestled with her place in Napoleon’s household while preparing for Josephine’s family and their political schemes. A British visitor then offered her a chance to secure the title Countess of Aberdeen by helping change the peace treaty, leaving her amused and intrigued by the proposal.

• Georgiana recognized that Napoleon’s relatives were watching her and maneuvering around Josephine, while she reflected on Josephine’s plans for Hortense and Louis’s unhappy wedding.
• Georgiana received British scholar James Stuart Mill in the Malachite Hall, accompanied by Molly and Sophie.
• Mill told Georgiana that a British MP wanted the peace treaty to allow British sugar to be traded for French silk and wine without special licenses.
• Mill said Georgiana would become the Countess of Aberdeen if she secured the change, then left his contact details.
• Georgiana joked to Molly that she had received a proposal and returned to the tea gathering, amused by the prospect.

Georgiana suspected that James Mill’s marriage proposal was part of a British scheme and warned Napoleon about the dangers of Britain’s trade offer. Napoleon revealed his plan to draw precious metals out of Britain, but their argument over Georgiana’s freedom ended in a sudden attack.

• Georgiana wondered whether Sophie or Gaudin had revealed that she was Scottish and suspected Britain did not trust her.
• Napoleon arrived at the Grand Trianon, and Georgiana told him Britain had offered to make her the Countess of Aberdeen if she secured a trade agreement.
• Napoleon questioned whether James Mill or the Earl of Aberdeen had devised the proposal and said Mill was no threat without Britain’s backing.
• Georgiana challenged Napoleon’s attempts to restrict her freedom and warned him against bringing wartime wealth back to France.
• Napoleon said he had demanded cash payments to make Britain’s precious metals flow out, then tried to take Georgiana to bathe.
• Georgiana demanded a horse, a straddling saddle, and men’s clothes, slapped Napoleon, and he pounced on her.