Chapter Summaries

Georgiana attended a meeting in Lyon where Napoleon’s circle discussed the returning Egyptian army, unrest, and France’s grain crisis. When Reynier and Destaing stormed out after an argument, Georgiana followed them to intervene.

• The chapter contrasted the Egyptian army’s humiliating return to Lyon with the celebratory welcome Josephine received there.
• Napoleon planned to keep returning soldiers in mobile detachments and special criminal courts, or send them to Bruges, rather than disband them outright.
• The discussion covered banditry, royalist unrest, forged Assignats, and grain shortages caused by departments restricting trade under Minister Roland’s policies.
• Napoleon left the meeting to visit the ball, and Reynier and Destaing soon began arguing over the parade formation.
• Georgiana followed Reynier and Destaing out of the meeting room, intending to referee their dispute.

Georgiana found General Reynier and General Destaing about to duel and tried to make them consider their families and the consequences of fighting. She challenged Destaing and questioned his account of the Egyptian campaign, while Napoleon intervened; the two generals still drew their swords, and Georgiana stayed to watch their duel.

• Georgiana found Colonel Lorisdon at the ball, and he summoned Doctor Chabert before she went to find the dueling generals.
• Georgiana reached Reynier and Destaing, warned them about their families, and told them Chabert was ready to treat their wounds.
• When Destaing drew his sword, Georgiana took a sword and confronted him, hoping to test the power of her ring.
• Georgiana criticized Destaing’s conduct in Egypt and argued that fear and poor tactics had shaped the French victories.
• Napoleon defended his decisions in Egypt and told Destaing to wait for the right time to seek revenge for Kléber.
• Reynier and Destaing drew their swords, and Georgiana stood behind Napoleon to watch their duel.

Georgiana rode through the snowy countryside near Lyon with Major General Louis de Narbonne-Lara and reflected on Napoleon’s political and economic plans, France’s history, and the problems facing the army. She ended the ride eager to explore the Roman aqueduct ruins and resolved to obtain the power in her ring, even if it meant taking risks.

• Georgiana rode outside Lyon with Major General Louis de Narbonne-Lara, accompanied at a distance by a hundred Mamluk soldiers assigned to protect her.
• The chapter described Napoleon’s inauguration as Supreme Chief Executive of the Italian Republic and his plans to build Roman aqueducts in Paris and tax watermills.
• Georgiana considered the benefits of artificial pastures and potato cultivation, including how planting British and German varieties might prevent famine in Ireland.
• Georgiana reflected on the failed Egyptian expedition, the generals’ anxious positions, and the rumors surrounding Napoleon’s power.
• Georgiana asked Lara to take her to the Roman aqueduct ruins, then galloped through the snow while thinking about the power in her ring.

Napoleon and Georgiana planned Paris’s markets, waterworks, and architectural committee while disputes over looted Italian paintings unfolded. At Madame Tallien’s salon, Georgiana warned Teresa that fate might bring her an unforgettable love, and Teresa ended their conversation with a flirtatious invitation.

• Napoleon showed Georgiana Les Halles and outlined plans for a Roman-style water tower and canal districts in Paris.
• Napoleon arranged for Italian representatives to stay at Princess de Soubise’s former mansion, which Madame Tallien ran as an inn.
• Georgiana persuaded Laborde that looted paintings could be sold, but Napoleon refused to return the Mona Lisa and The Wedding at Cana to Italy.
• Georgiana and the Arts Committee cleared paintings from the Louvre, angering the Italian representatives, while Denon approved their removal.
• Georgiana read Teresa’s Tarot card and predicted an unforgettable love, and Teresa warned her about Napoleon before inviting her to the opera.

Georgiana attended the French Opera with Teresa, but the spectacle and the Horatius tragedy made her question her compassion for the nobles and her involvement with Napoleon. She left before the performance continued, resolved not to return to the opera house.

• Georgiana and Teresa arrived at the French Opera in restrained gowns, drawing attention from the audience.
• Major General Ra lent Georgiana opera glasses while Teresa urged her to get used to being watched.
• Georgiana reflected on Napoleon’s past affair with an actress and watched a play about Horatius killing his sister after she mourned her fiancé.
• Georgiana questioned whether the nobles deserved her sympathy and worried about Napoleon’s continued wars and the strain on France.
• When the curtain rose and the audience applauded, Georgiana left the box and decided she would not return.

Georgiana, disillusioned by her feelings for Severus, left the opera and was drawn into a request to help an injured ballerina keep her position. Madame Tallien arranged for the dancer and her husband to meet Georgiana at Soubise Palace, while hinting that Napoleon’s search for a Divination practitioner remained important.

• Georgiana rejected Major General Narbonne-Lara’s offer to return to the palace and met Jacques-Louis David, discussing his portraits of Napoleon and other paintings.
• Madame Tallien brought Miss Chamoro into Georgiana’s carriage, where Miss Chamoro asked Georgiana to help her injured friend, Miss Chevigny, whose opera-house position was at risk.
• Georgiana questioned whether helping Chevigny would disadvantage aspiring ballerinas, but Madame Tallien urged her to use the opportunity to build ties with the theater and Cherellier.
• Georgiana asked Major General Lara to bring Chevigny and Cherellier to Soubise Palace the next day, and he left with her shawl as proof of the invitation.
• Madame Tallien told Georgiana that General Bonaparte still wanted to find the Divination practitioner and suggested that her own return had been a reward for changing someone’s mind.

Georgiana and Teresa discussed Napoleon’s ambitions, the coming peace celebrations, and how to dress for Talleyrand’s victory banquet. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the King of Etruria, prompting Georgiana to get dressed and meet him.

• Georgiana read that France would waive conscription for 1802 and discharge veterans after four campaigns, while plans advanced for a victory banquet celebrating the Treaty of Lunéville.
• Teresa teased Georgiana about attending the banquet and warned that Giuseppina Grassini and Josephine might be there.
• Teresa told Georgiana that Napoleon had resumed wearing his French Academy uniform and that his movements were kept secret until shortly before he left.
• A carriage arrived at the residence, and Teresa announced that the King of Etruria had come to visit.
• Georgiana changed out of her nightdress so she could meet the king.

Georgiana attended a diplomatic gathering, then took Dermide to the Paris Agricultural Association while reflecting on Napoleon’s ambitions, the dangers of power, and the child’s future. She hoped Napoleon would secure Dermide a safe life away from the throne, though she remained uneasy about the political violence surrounding them.

• Georgiana met King Louis I, then left the social gathering for the Paris Agricultural Association.
• Georgiana brought Dermide with her because Letizia could not speak French and could not stay beside him for long.
• Georgiana considered Napoleon’s plans for France and feared that political schemes could bring back the gallows and guillotine.
• Georgiana decided that Dermide should stay away from thrones if he could not understand what she taught him.
• Letizia compared Dermide with Achille Murat and said Dermide was quieter, while Georgiana found him restless in the carriage.
• Dermide asked Georgiana to hold him, and she embraced him despite her misgivings about their age difference.

Georgiana arrived at Gaudin and Sophie’s new villa, where they revealed they were leaving for Spain and had arranged for her to meet Bonaparte. After wrestling with her doubts about their relationship, she accepted his invitation upstairs and reunited with him passionately.

• Georgiana discovered that Gaudin and Sophie had bought a villa with her money and were leaving for Spain, where Gaudin would serve as an ambassador’s secretary.
• Gaudin and Sophie left Georgiana alone at the villa and told her Bonaparte was waiting upstairs.
• Georgiana hesitated at the foot of the stairs, reflecting on her feelings for Bonaparte and the choices she had made.
• Bonaparte spoke with Georgiana about their doubts and their relationship, and she began to cry.
• Georgiana joined Bonaparte, and they kissed passionately.

Georgiana considered her uncertain position with Napoleon as he discussed reducing her allowance and raised another matter before leaving. Maria Adelaide Lenormand then sought refuge from the Scourers, and Georgiana agreed to let her in.

• Napoleon received King Louis I of Etruria in Paris while Talleyrand entertained him, and Georgiana hired Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de Saint-Aubin as her personal maid.
• Georgiana drew on Leonardo da Vinci’s designs and historical spectacles while discussing the planned water tower with Napoleon, who admitted he wished he could paint.
• Napoleon dressed in his colonel’s uniform, secured Georgiana’s agreement to a reduced living allowance, and mentioned a small matter before leaving without explaining it.
• Georgiana reflected on her lack of a marriage certificate and uncertain future with Napoleon, then heard stones striking her window.
• Maria Adelaide Lenormand asked Georgiana for shelter from the Scourers and said she wanted to live long enough to strengthen her powers of Divination.
• Georgiana agreed to let Maria in and told her to come to the front door.

Georgiana questioned Maria about her prophecy and learned that old nobles and wizards planned to attack the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the seventeenth. After Maria vanished, Georgiana considered whether the vision of a boat-shaped dish foretold another political disaster and prayed that its meaning would stay favorable.

• Georgiana asked Maria to divine for her, and the blood in the water transformed into a boat-shaped condiment dish made of bearfoot flowers.
• Maria revealed that old nobles and wizards planned to attack the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the seventeenth, then said she had seen someone who had returned from the dead.
• Maria warned Georgiana to use Sèvres as her family name and described her as a fragile mediator caught between Josephine and France's fate.
• Georgiana saw a woman appear behind her in Maria's eyes, followed by a flash of green light and a black dog driving the woman away.
• Maria disappeared, leaving a note that thanked Georgiana as Madam Sèvres.
• Georgiana recalled Lucien smashing a similar boat-shaped dish before William Pitt the Younger and Sir Merry, then prayed that the omen would not turn bad.

Georgiana prepared defenses in the Bois de Boulogne and planned a trap for an attack expected on February 17, while considering the dangers posed by bandits and pure-blood wizards. Rabastan Lestrange arrived, and Georgiana asked him to fight for France before turning the conversation to the French Ministry of Magic.

• Georgiana weighed the threat of Alpine bandits, Scourers, and hostile pure-blood wizards as she planned for the expected February 17 attack.
• She began preparing a trap, assigned the Mamluks to Major General Laharpe, and returned to building defensive fortifications in the Bois de Boulogne.
• Georgiana reflected on her fears, her choices concerning Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, and her understanding of Albus and Severus.
• Rabastan Lestrange arrived with Carolan, and Georgiana challenged him about his past in exile.
• Georgiana asked Rabastan to fight for France and then asked whether the French Ministry of Magic still existed after the Revolution.

Georgiana negotiated funding and support for a French Ministry of Magic, then inspected the forest for weaknesses in its defenses. She left Carolan to visit her Muggle lover, while their conversation revealed her doubts about her relationships and her feelings for Severus.

• Georgiana arranged for French pure-blood wizards to fund a Ministry of Magic and help suppress wizard rebels, with plans to announce it through Arcanus.
• Georgiana searched the forest for defensive gaps and considered the limits of the crocodile amulets and her Dragon's Breath ring.
• Georgiana reassured Carolan that she valued her as a guard and discussed Carolan's wish to marry someone she loved rather than enter a political marriage.
• Georgiana spoke about her Muggle lover, Severus, and Sirius, while Carolan challenged her lack of confidence in her own appeal.
• Georgiana left the woods to visit her Muggle lover and asked Carolan for a Disillusionment Charm.

Georgiana wrestled with her fear and anger over Severus before Napoleon found her and discussed her political preparations, the capital of Elba, and plans for Milan. The chapter ended with Leon turning out the candle as a woman laughed in the darkness.

• Georgiana returned to Gaudin and Sophie’s house, slept fitfully, and woke before dawn in a thick fog.
• Napoleon appeared in the dark and asked Georgiana whether she knew the capital of Elba, then vanished when sunlight entered the room.
• Napoleon showed Georgiana a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s hydraulic machine design and asked about the three million she had spent; she explained that she was establishing the Ministry of Magic and preparing for possible danger.
• Georgiana told Napoleon she had received information about the victory celebration and asked whether he knew anything, but he did not answer.
• Napoleon identified Elba’s capital as Iron Harbor, also known as Cosmpolis, and Georgiana asked him for a drink.
• Napoleon accused Georgiana of wanting him as a One-Day Lover to take revenge on Severus, then discussed Paris, Milan, and Sieyès before extinguishing the candle.

Georgiana learned that Napoleon was receiving treatment at Malmaison and could only meet her in secret while Josephine’s parents visited Paris. When a Ministry of Magic official reported that an entrance to a suspected tunnel had been found near the Bois de Boulogne, Georgiana took Dermide along to inspect it.

• Georgiana realized Napoleon had been hinting that she should ask about his health because he was being treated for ringworm by Doctor Corvisart at Malmaison.
• Georgiana took Dermide skating on the frozen lake and reflected on Napoleon’s guarded relationship with the boy and his preparations for war against England.
• A French Ministry of Magic official told Georgiana that the entrance to a suspected tunnel near the Bois de Boulogne had been found.
• Georgiana ordered the Mamluks to carry Dermide and went to see the tunnel entrance with the official.

Georgiana investigated a newly uncovered tunnel that might be part of a plot against the diplomats attending Napoleon’s celebration, while weighing how to respond to the danger. The threat remained unresolved, and Georgiana insisted she would attend the next day despite her guilt and Carolan’s warning.

• Georgiana reflected on Napoleon’s ostentatious life in Italy and the cold reception he received from the Directory when he returned to France.
• General Laharpe handed command to General Régnier, who joined Georgiana at the snow-covered tunnel entrance in the forest.
• Georgiana ordered Régnier to let half his men enter the tunnel and then seal it, while his other men dealt with the people in the forest.
• Napoleon privately told Georgiana that a tapestry had not been delivered because no one had gone on pilgrimage to Mecca that year, according to Islamic historians.
• Georgiana prayed that the Mamluks would not attack the following day, but Carolan told her the danger was unavoidable and urged her to attend the ball.
• Georgiana said she would attend the next day, even though seeing the ballet dancers had made her regret her curiosity about the opera rehearsal.

Georgiana toured the National School of Arts and Crafts with Brongniart and met Augustin Fresnel, whose experiments aimed to improve lighthouse reflectors. She offered to fund his work and arranged to explore another inventor’s threshing machine, leaving Fresnel with Brongniart’s promise of factory support.

• Georgiana asked Brongniart to show her the National School of Arts and Crafts instead of attending the day's grand occasion.
• Georgiana found Augustin Fresnel experimenting with glass lenses for lighthouse reflectors and heard how he hoped to make the light travel farther.
• Georgiana offered to sponsor Fresnel’s research, and Brongniart agreed that the factory accountant would pay for it.
• Georgiana invited Fresnel to exhibit his work at the second industrial exhibition and told him to come to the Grand Trianon the next day.
• Brongniart offered to summon a broker with a Scottish inventor’s threshing machine, and Georgiana agreed to see it.

Georgiana supported inventors and prepared students to reproduce agricultural machines for France’s Second Industrial Exhibition. A visit to the Paris Botanical Garden brought her into contact with Georges Cuvier, who recalled a rose Napoleon had given her.

• Georgiana weighed the risks of funding Fresnel and resolved to support inventors despite how often talented people went unrewarded.
• Georgiana had technical-school students copy Stanley’s threshing and winnowing machine models so farmers could learn about them.
• Georgiana treated the students to a meal at Madame Tallien’s inn, then sent them back for afternoon classes.
• Georgiana visited the Paris Botanical Garden with Brongniart and Madame Tallien to see two roses from the Netherlands.
• Georges Cuvier arrived, and Georgiana learned that the white Cloris rose Napoleon had given her had bloomed by chance.

Georgiana reflected on the escalating conflict between Britain and France as English people were arrested and Napoleon reacted furiously to a break-in at his study. She stopped waiting helplessly and demanded that Lord Bloom bring her the British Constitution.

• Georgiana considered the maze and the trap awaiting anyone who followed its snowy path on the night of February 17, 1802.
• George III conveyed a treaty condition through Cornwallis requiring the head of the Order of Saint John in Malta to be a Bourbon royal family member.
• English people were arrested and taken to barracks, forcing Georgiana to stay hidden in the house William Pitt the Younger had reserved for her.
• Guards discovered an intruder in Saint Luke's office, but could not tell whether any intelligence had been stolen before the intruder vanished.
• Georgiana rose from her bedroom and ordered Lord Bloom to bring her the British Constitution.

Georgiana learned that Addington had eased tensions with France by ordering British forces to watch French fishermen rather than arrest them, while William Pitt the Younger had secretly helped her secure the concession. As she weighed her role in the negotiations and the religious divisions in the military camp, the diviner Maria arrived and said Georgiana urgently needed help.

• Addington changed the order on French fishing boats to keep an eye on them after Mr. Otto threatened to release French prisoners and go to war.
• William Pitt the Younger passed Georgiana intelligence about the fishermen through books delivered by Cornwallis's son.
• Mill served as the only Protestant pastor in Sir Merry's military camp as townspeople crowded into the chapel to hear him preach.
• Georgiana reflected on the Bible story of Jesus calling fishermen and wondered whether she was a mediator or a witness to the agreement the players had made.
• Maria visited Georgiana, thanked her for her help, and said she needed help very badly.