Chapter Summaries

Georgiana planned to move her lace business to Belgium and recruit Jews to buy land there, then ordered Lannes to handle the venture. Napoleon visited her dressed in a bee-adorned outfit, and she warned him that she feared for his life before they kissed.

• Georgiana condemned France's exploitation of Belgium and planned to move her lace business there and arrange for Jews to buy land.
• Lannes asked Georgiana for help after overspending on Imperial Guard supplies, and she offered him work in Belgium.
• Lannes accepted Georgiana's job despite not wanting to leave Paris and his newlywed wife.
• Napoleon arrived in a bee-adorned outfit and discussed Georgiana's plans for Belgium and Lannes's troubles.
• Napoleon placed his feathered hat on Georgiana's head, and she tearfully warned him to be careful before they kissed.

Georgiana met Julian Ouvrard, who asked her to negotiate with Britain over grain shipments and offered to act as her envoy. She agreed to pass along conditions for trade and British Royalist expulsions, then left angry after Ouvrard took the tassel from her wrist as proof of his mission and offered to obtain Napoleon the Wine King from Clos Vougeot.

• Georgiana considered Belgium’s strategic importance and wondered whom she could enlist to help manage its affairs.
• Sophie told Georgiana that Councilor of State Julian Ouvrard had requested an audience, and Georgiana prepared by putting on the Black Swan Necklace and tying Bonaparte’s tassel around her wrist.
• Ouvrard asked Georgiana to persuade the British Royal Navy to let French grain ships pass and revealed that he and other bankers had arranged for Madame de Montesquieu to help her communicate with the British.
• Georgiana told Ouvrard that France would trade tobacco from India but would not normalize trade in other goods, and she demanded that Britain expel its Chouans and provide engineers for her cannery.
• Georgiana gave Ouvrard the tassel as proof that he represented her, then angrily left after he offered the forty-year-old Wine King from Clos Vougeot as a wedding gift for Napoleon.

Georgiana warned Bonaparte that she feared danger at the upcoming ceremony, but he insisted on attending and reacted jealously to her dealings with Ufral. After their quarrel over her contact with the British, she agreed to return to the table, while planning a stargazing farewell for him.

• Georgiana told Bonaparte she feared the ceremony and urged him to return to Malmaison, but he insisted on going after it.
• Georgiana asked Bonaparte to bring more guards and his sword, and he comforted her before joking about prophecy and Divination.
• Bonaparte grew angry when Georgiana mentioned meeting Ufral and demanded to know what terms she had offered him.
• Georgiana said she had offered Britain the expulsion of Royalists and engineers, and she refused Ufral's offer to make her a real princess.
• Bonaparte forbade Georgiana from writing to Ufral, and she threw bread at him before he picked it up and ate it.
• Georgiana persuaded Bonaparte to let her return to the table by offering him a date, then planned to find the observatory and give him a stargazing farewell.

Georgiana spoke with Lucien about Napoleon, their relationship, and the wedding he wanted to give her. She agreed to make Napoleon a cherry pie and turned her attention to persuading the British envoys to ease the naval blockade.

• Georgiana recalled her conversation with Leon about trust and continued treating Sophie and Madame de Montesquieu as before.
• Lucien brought Georgiana cherries and urged her to make Napoleon a cherry pie, telling her that Napoleon and Lily had once shared walks and cherries.
• Georgiana asked Lucien to help persuade British warships to let French fishing boats fish in deep waters, and Lucien urged her to accept Napoleon's wedding plans.
• Georgiana agreed to send Napoleon a cherry pie and invited the British envoys to lunch so she could discuss the naval blockade.
• Lucien warned Georgiana not to recommend Eugene as Napoleon's heir, and Georgiana left him to cook.

Georgiana hosted Lucien’s guests, including British representatives led by Thomas Granet, while considering her precarious position in Napoleon’s family and the political crises ahead. At dinner, she and Lucien hinted that the meal—and their hospitality—carried a pointed message for the British visitors.

• Lucien feared that the army’s advance toward Olivenza could lead it into an enemy trap, so he called a halt.
• Georgiana considered Napoleon’s need for an heir and concluded that an elaborate wedding would not make her empress or secure her place in France.
• Georgiana prepared a lavish meal for Lucien’s guests, including two men who appeared to represent the Royal Navy and Thomas Granet.
• Lucien introduced Granet to Georgiana, who greeted him in English and then moved beside Lucien to avoid further attention.
• Georgiana announced that she had made steak in the English style, and Lucien suggested the British guests try French fish on a future visit.
• Georgiana led the guests to dinner as Lucien’s remarks hinted that their hospitality had a political message.

Georgiana moderated a tense dinner between Lucien and the British delegates as they argued over peace terms, trade, and French concessions. The evening ended with Napoleon sending her a white rose, while Granet questioned whether she was truly married and still devoted to her English husband.

• Georgiana broke up the British delegates’ argument with Lucien and urged both sides to consider moderate market access and the needs of starving people.
• Lucien recounted Napoleon’s threat at Udine to shatter a porcelain tea set rather than accept an unfavorable peace, then challenged Britain’s demands.
• Georgiana proposed learning from Britain’s land system and raised fishing rights, while Granet insulted her and questioned her marital status.
• An Imperial Guard delivered Georgiana a white rose from the Paris Botanical Garden on Napoleon’s behalf, and she accepted it.
• Lucien teased the British delegates about Napoleon’s efforts to court Georgiana, while Granet insisted she still thought of her English husband.

Georgiana considered the security of the Grand Trianon and discussed Lucien’s plans to use a play about Charlotte Corday to redirect public attention from the Revolution’s violence. Lucien asked her to visit Napoleon at Malmaison, and she agreed to let him tell Napoleon she wanted a sculpture of Ceres, while a meeting with Carnot remained ahead.

• Georgiana reflected on the unfinished greenhouse, her household responsibilities, and the young Imperial Guards courting Sophie.
• Lucien arrived with Gaudin and explained that Gaudin had written a play about Louis XVI and Charlotte Corday to counter rumors and Napoleon’s plan to make Corday a national heroine.
• Lucien urged Georgiana to visit Napoleon at Malmaison, but she said she would not pose as Cleopatra or Maria and reminded him that Napoleon could choose a reward for the sculpture she had promised.
• Gaudin suggested depicting Georgiana as Ceres, and she approved the idea while refusing Lucien’s suggestion that she also pose for a portrait.
• Lucien said he would tell Napoleon about the sculpture and planned to introduce Georgiana to Carnot that afternoon; Georgiana began reading Gaudin’s script.

Georgiana read Gaudin’s script about Charlotte Corday’s assassination of Marat and recognized it as Lucien’s warning that he could shape her fate through a public trial. She sent the script to Napoleon and began searching for a way to alert the British despite being forbidden to write letters.

• Gaudin’s script portrayed Charlotte Corday as a woman who killed Marat to prevent civil war, then faced trial and went to the guillotine with dignity.
• Georgiana realized Lucien had used the script to threaten her with a heroic but fatal fate if she hurt him again.
• Georgiana decided the story should be a serious drama and considered showing the script to Leon Sterndale.
• Georgiana wrote a personal note about Lucien, placed the script in a bag, and told an Imperial Guard soldier to deliver it to Napoleon.
• Georgiana tried to devise a way to warn the British, considering invisible ink but struggling with how to signal its use.

Georgiana studied Carnot's history and considered how his legal skills might serve France without giving him control of the army or police. She then planned to pass a message to Britain through Gaudin and use a secret meeting as an opportunity to leave the Grand Trianon.

• Georgiana read about Carnot's conscription policies, his ruthless use of soldiers, and the generals his army had produced.
• Georgiana considered France's position in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and its struggle with Britain, and decided Carnot could control the courts but not the army or police.
• Georgiana reflected on Marie Antoinette's role in France's alliance with Austria and concluded that Britain could not continue supporting the French.
• Georgiana planned to send Britain a warning through Gaudin and considered smuggling out the Regent Diamond.
• Georgiana decided to invite Napoleon to a secret meeting and use the appointment to slip away from the Grand Trianon.

Georgiana warned Thomas Granet about Lucien, the freezing sea, and the danger of British involvement with the Royalists, then met Napoleon at his modest Paris house. After they confronted each other about her past and discussed love and loyalty, Napoleon left to buy wine while Georgiana began cooking.

• Georgiana received Carnot politely, then read an anonymous invitation to meet on Rue de la Victoire.
• Georgiana visited Thomas Granet, gave him Champagne, and warned him about Lucien, French cavalry crossing frozen water, and contact with the Royalists.
• Georgiana went to a modest house in Paris, where she found Napoleon dressed as a court clerk and entered with meat and seasonings.
• Napoleon angrily questioned Georgiana about whether she had approached him for survival, and she explained her past and her wish for a spiritual love with him.
• Napoleon told Georgiana he had stayed away from other women and teased her about Lucien, then began crying after laughing.
• Napoleon went out to buy wine, and Georgiana stayed behind to cook.

Georgiana and Napoleoni discussed politics, faith, and her wish to be cherished, before their intimate encounter shifted into a painful confrontation over Leon’s resentment toward the woman who had betrayed him. The chapter ended with Georgiana holding him close and enduring the moment rather than leaving him alone with his anger.

• Georgiana cooked Hungarian beef-and-potato stew, and she and Napoleoni discussed his political views, including religion, power, and the role of the provinces.
• Georgiana asked Napoleoni to keep her statue somewhere safe and private, and he promised he would.
• Napoleoni questioned Georgiana about Sirius, then she told him she would attend the ceremony and would not flee like Marie Antoinette.
• Napoleoni urged Georgiana to pray for a child, and she held him as he spoke of finding her again if he could not live on memories.
• During their encounter, Georgiana asked Napoleoni who she was, and he answered as Leon, angrily describing his love and resentment toward the woman who had made him a laughingstock.
• Georgiana apologized and stopped resisting, screaming as Leon continued to demand that she say “harder.”

Georgiana considered France’s political obstruction, agricultural needs, and the limits of Napoleon’s support for rural recovery while sitting for a sculpture. When the sculptor’s rebuke touched a sore spot, she stormed out of the gallery.

• Georgiana reflected on the deputies’ opposition to Napoleon’s canal project and the urgent need to support farmers during sowing season.
• Georgiana weighed agricultural relief against using the army for farm labor and considered Napoleon’s existing subsidies and other political problems.
• Georgiana thought about landownership, the Church’s resistance, and Napoleon’s respect for courage and competence.
• Georgiana remembered an embarrassing night with Napoleon and blushed at the neighbors’ likely knowledge of it.
• The sculptor sternly told Georgiana not to move, and she left the gallery in anger.

During a rehearsal for the canal groundbreaking ceremony, Georgiana rode with Carolan to meet Napoleon, but an assassination attempt erupted as he approached her carriage. Georgiana helped Napoleon regain control of the situation, and the chapter ended with him exhausted in her arms as they prepared to leave.

• Davout escorted Georgiana and Carolan through Paris to the dockyard, where Napoleon waited for the ceremony rehearsal.
• Carolan told Georgiana that Napoleon had invited wizards to duel on his behalf, with the former estates and a cemetery plot promised as prizes.
• Cavalrymen attacked Napoleon, and he escaped into Georgiana's carriage while Davout fought the assailants.
• Georgiana urged Napoleon to choose whether the assassins would be bound or taken away with dignity, and he ordered the soldiers not to kill them.
• Napoleon identified Gairande as the ringleader and ordered the captured men treated respectfully before returning to the carriage, where he collapsed into Georgiana's arms.

After an assassination attempt on Napoleoni, Paris came under military control while Georgiana considered the political dangers and sought a way to protect France’s next harvest. She left Carnot with a plan to lend farmers money for seeds and draft horses, while refusing the title of Second Lady and wondering whether she could ever leave Napoleoni.

• After the attack, Napoleoni went to Saint Luke Palace as Masséna imposed a ban on gatherings of more than four people and police arrested Royalists across Paris.
• Davout investigated the twenty-man alliance behind the assassination attempt and identified Gairande, an old acquaintance of Napoleon’s, while Napoleon escaped the melee with only a few strands of hair cut by a saber.
• Georgiana reflected on the threat of a trial and execution, sought solitude in the palace chapel, and decided to focus on restoring sowing and livestock farming.
• Georgiana asked Carnot to help her lend farmers money for seeds and draft horses, and he questioned whether the plan came from her or the First Consul.
• Georgiana told Carnot that Napoleoni feared being compared to Louis XVI and that she did not want to become Marie Antoinette, then insisted he call her Georgiana rather than a Second Lady.
• Georgiana questioned whether she could leave Napoleoni and wondered if she was going mad when she seemed to hear Severus crying.

Georgiana discussed France’s rural labor shortage and proposed an agricultural company to lend money, insure harvests, and support food production. Carnot agreed to consider the plan, while Georgiana remained separated from Napoleon and resolved to find other work.

• Georgiana explained to Carnot that France needed laws to organize rural labor and prevent small landowners from exploiting agricultural loans.
• Georgiana proposed an agricultural joint-stock company based on Lan Zhi’s pamphlet, with fixed-price harvest purchases and agricultural insurance.
• Carnot worried that farmers would see land-backed loans as an attempt to seize their property, and Georgiana argued that the plan should focus on land capable of producing food.
• Georgiana estimated that the company would need 1.2 billion francs and suggested starting in selected departments, with Napoleon’s agreement.
• Carnot questioned Georgiana about her marriage and her intended borrowers, then left after she urged him to act before planting season.
• Sophie asked what Georgiana would do next, and Georgiana said she would find work for herself.

Georgiana reflected on love, marriage, and her place in Bonaparte’s life while considering his letter about political threats and her new quarters. She rejected Gaudin’s apparent advances toward Sophie and ended by moving toward the Louvre library, still doubting Bonaparte’s declaration of love.

• Georgiana received a letter from Bonaparte warning that Count Athos had bribed assassins in Paris and asking her to sleep in his bedroom rather than Josephine’s.
• Sophie told Georgiana that Gaudin had relayed Bonaparte’s claim that he loved her, but Georgiana doubted the message and decided to think before replying to the letter.
• Georgiana learned that Bonaparte had arranged for her to work and sleep in the Louvre Museum’s library.
• Georgiana ordered Sophie to stop receiving Gaudin alone and warned her not to sleep with him unless he proposed.
• Georgiana denied that Bonaparte had said he loved her, then vowed to treasure the Girl with a Pearl Earring and walked toward the library.

Davout forcibly brought Georgiana from the Louvre to Napoleon after the attempted assassination, and the newlyweds discussed the danger Napoleon faced and plans to help farmers. The chapter ended with Napoleon carrying Georgiana toward the bedroom, leaving his thoughts about Robespierre and his rise to power unanswered.

• Georgiana took over an office at the Louvre to sleep, but Davout arrived with soldiers and ordered them to take her to Napoleon.
• Davout’s carriage carried Georgiana through Paris and into the outskirts, where she was covered with a cloak and brought into Napoleon’s suite.
• Georgiana confronted Napoleon about Davout’s abduction and asked whether Gaudin had delivered a message to Sophie.
• Georgiana told Napoleon she had proposed loans for farmers and the return of draft horses, and Napoleon criticized Carnot’s plan to raise capital for an agricultural company.
• Napoleon spoke about Caesar’s assassination and asked Georgiana which side of the Roman conflict was right; she asked what he thought of Robespierre.
• Napoleon questioned whether Georgiana thought Josephine had been responsible for his promotion, then carried her toward the bedroom.

Leon and Georgiana discussed France’s political upheavals and the burden of war on ordinary people before sharing an affectionate evening. Leon gave Georgiana a gold bee seal, and she suggested postponing their ceremony while they planned a future anniversary feast.

• Napoleon survived his arrest after Robespierre’s fall and searched Paris for a chance to return to military service.
• Sieyès later sought Napoleon’s military support to overturn the Directory, but Napoleon rejected Sieyès’s preferred system after their coup.
• Leon explained to Georgiana how royal privilege, political violence, and war had harmed France’s people, and she asked him to ease pressure on Britain.
• Leon and Georgiana agreed to treat the day as their anniversary and imagined celebrating with a feast the following year.
• Leon gave Georgiana a gold bee seal, and she proposed canceling their ceremony the day after tomorrow so she could handle other matters.
• Leon told Georgiana he loved her, kissed her forehead, and left her to fall asleep.

Georgiana shaved Napoleon and discussed his political plans, her fears, and whether she would accompany him on campaign. The chapter ended with Georgiana accepting a kiss as her reward.

• Georgiana shaved Napoleon while they teased each other about love, death, and his need to deal with the Church through Sieyès.
• Napoleon described Brune’s career and said he had helped him become accepted in Parisian society.
• Napoleon asked Georgiana to avoid discussing other men and recalled how frightened she had been in the icehouse.
• Napoleon challenged Georgiana to undergo smallpox inoculation in public, and she agreed.
• Napoleon asked whether Georgiana would come with him, and she agreed as long as a certain man did not come looking for her.
• Georgiana chose a kiss as her reward, and Napoleon kissed her.

Georgiana settled into temporary quarters at the Louvre and reflected on Napoleon, Leon, and the dangers of their political world. She adopted a stray cat and named it Tyrant as she faced the prospect of a long life and future loneliness.

• Georgiana returned from Saint Luke and found that rooms in the Louvre had been cleared for her, with Madame Leoncourt and Alice bringing furniture.
• Georgiana sent a letter to her guardian, Caprara, sealed with Napoleon's golden bee emblem.
• Georgiana recalled Napoleon's ambition, her plan to guide his course, and the political and financial struggles surrounding the French Republic.
• Georgiana wondered what scheme Leon was plotting against the British and imagined how Napoleon might respond to her teasing.
• Georgiana adopted the short-legged stray cat and named it Tyrant.