Chapter Summaries

Georgiana and Feilier searched Rouen's library for historical records about dark wizards and magical creatures while Georgiana reflected on Europe’s politics and her own uncertain fate. The choir’s song made her suspect that the crows were connected to a wind god, so she told Feilier to begin their research with wind.

• Georgiana went to Rouen’s library with Feilier to search old books, while Bonaparte read nearby.
• Georgiana reviewed histories of European wars, trade, agriculture, and diplomacy as she searched for clues about dark wizards and magical creatures.
• Hearing the choir sing about the wind, Georgiana wondered whether Jack had deceived a wind god named Kull and whether she was doomed to wander without a place to belong.
• Feilier brought Georgiana the books she had requested, and she said they should start with wind because she suspected the crows were involved again.

Georgiana studied Breton legends and the Memnon Bird, then warned Bonaparte that it could set Rouen ablaze. She remained curious about Merlin’s burial place and Guesclin’s childhood forest, while Leon urged her to rest and she wondered whether he had played war games as a child.

• Georgiana decided she wanted to visit Garon to search for Merlin’s grave, and Bonaparte forbade her from going.
• Georgiana copied the records for Feilier and explained that the Memnon Bird could threaten Rouen with fire; Bonaparte left after hearing her warning.
• Georgiana reflected on Merlin’s possible wand and her own death before Leon made her sit on his lap and told her to rest.
• Georgiana asked Leon whether he had played war games as a child, and he said he had often fought people instead.
• Georgiana listened to a song about a cat proposing to a mouse, and Leon laughed at the idea.

Georgiana bathed in the library courtyard and dressed for the day, reflecting on her longing to return to childhood and her irritation with Bonaparte. Madame Barillon arrived with seventh-century shoulder clasps lent by the Rouen Museum, leaving Georgiana to decide how to wear them.

• Georgiana followed Feilier’s singing to a sculpture room, where Feilier said she had been singing “Three Mermaids.”
• Feilier led Georgiana and the maids to an empty courtyard pool, and Georgiana filled it with Aguamenti before they screened it off for her bath.
• Georgiana washed in the pool and wished she could remain a little girl forever, then dressed in a black-and-gold outfit and jewelry.
• A maid announced Madame Barillon’s arrival, and Georgiana received her in the dressing room.
• Madame Barillon presented garnet-and-gold shoulder clasps from the seventh century, lent by the Rouen Museum, and offered to help Georgiana find a way to wear them.

Georgiana dressed for Bonaparte’s masquerade ball and descended into the gallery, where she identified him among the masked guests. They danced a minuet together, and the chapter ended with Georgiana hearing a mournful wolf’s howl beneath the cloudy night sky.

• Georgiana chose a Celtic-knot shoulder clasp and a deep blue veil decorated with golden birds for the ball.
• Georgiana and Alice entered the gallery, where masked guests fell silent and watched Georgiana descend the stairs.
• Georgiana searched the crowd and recognized Bonaparte by his cologne and gray-blue eyes.
• Bonaparte invited Georgiana to dance, and they shared a minuet while exchanging affectionate words and teasing remarks.
• Georgiana heard a lonely, mournful wolf howl as clouds hid the moon and stars above the gallery.

At a masked ball in Rouen, Georgiana met draftsman Jean-Jacques Lequeu and considered his architectural designs before clashing with Jeanne Dusser over women’s rights and her relationship with Bonaparte. She left Lequeu’s drawings with Rapp and asked him to arrange a meeting the next day.

• Henry Becker introduced Georgiana to his friend Jean-Jacques Lequeu, who showed her his architectural designs.
• Georgiana praised Lequeu’s practical windmill design and explained the idea behind Bonaparte’s constellation clock.
• Jeanne Dusser challenged Georgiana about her life with the powerful and women’s oppression, and Georgiana answered by distinguishing Roman Law from customary law.
• Rapp approached Georgiana, and she gave him Lequeu’s drawings and told him to invite the two men to see her the next day.

At a merchants’ ball in Rouen, Georgiana reflected on women’s dependence, the fragility of peace, and her uncertain place beside Napoleon. Dumont explained the lord’s trade strategy and reassured her that she was not being asked to negotiate, leaving her questioning whether anyone truly loved her.

• Georgiana watched Alice dance with Henry Petty and thought about how war, custom, and men’s control of women’s property threatened women’s security.
• Dumont joined Georgiana, and she compared her position to Edward III’s mistress and worried that the lord might be using her as John of Gaunt had used his relatives.
• Dumont explained how dumping steel could affect domestic industry and described the lord’s plan to limit textile output and prices through an agreement.
• Georgiana learned that the lord had not asked her to negotiate the removal of the trade treaty clause, and Dumont told her to leave complicated matters to them.
• Georgiana wondered whether anyone truly loved her, then asked Dumont to dance a folk dance, but he declined because it would be too lively.

Georgiana considered France’s industrial and financial strategy, including its loans to British businesses and the loopholes used to form companies, while worrying about Alice’s marriage. At a party, Napoleon confronted her about speaking with an Englishman, then persuaded her to leave with him.

• The Prince of Wales suspected that France’s trade treaty concealed a plan to gain influence over British industry and acquire its patents.
• Georgiana weighed France’s proposed loans against the weaknesses of British financing, railway development, and mining, and regretted neglecting her earlier research on metals.
• Georgiana realized France’s plans to evade Britain’s Bubble Act through trusts would fail, and Henry Petty was in no hurry to act.
• Georgiana worried that she was calculating Alice’s marriage like Bonaparte and wondered whether Alice’s dancing partner could become a suitable match.
• Napoleon pulled Georgiana behind a curtain and demanded to know who the Englishman speaking with her had been.
• Georgiana teased Napoleon about his jealousy, threatened his hypothetical new lover, and agreed to slip out of the gallery with him.

Georgiana and Bonaparte visited Corneille's former home after leaving the Halloween reception, where their banter gave way to an unexpected discovery. The chapter ended with Bonaparte identifying an engraving as the Madonna of the Harpies and Georgiana questioning him about its name.

• Georgiana and Bonaparte arrived at Corneille's former residence with their guards and waited for the caretaker to unlock it.
• Georgiana and Bonaparte discussed tragedy, Rome, and Georgiana's jealousy of actresses while they waited.
• Georgiana used Lumos to inspect the dark museum house after Bonaparte entered ahead of her.
• Georgiana heard wings behind a bookshelf and used Diffindo to reveal a cupboard where Bonaparte found an engraving.
• Bonaparte identified the engraving as the Madonna of the Harpies, and Georgiana asked whether he knew what a harpy was.

Georgiana studied Corneille’s hidden records about harpies in the Royal Marsh Forest while Bonaparte distracted her with teasing and pressed her to sign a personal contract. She refused to sign without time to think, asked him for a wand-hiding bracelet and a look at the Ourcq Canal, and left the study with the documents as he went ahead.

• Georgiana read Corneille’s pamphlets and investigation records, which linked harpies hiding in the Royal Marsh Forest to abnormal weather.
• Bonaparte told Georgiana about the Prince of Wales’s desperate pursuit of Maria and asked whether she would return to him if Bonaparte wrote love letters.
• Bonaparte showed Georgiana a paper containing her questions about whether he would love her if she lost her beauty or possessions, and she refused to sign it immediately.
• Georgiana drove her dagger into the table and explained that she could not offer the overwhelming jealousy Bonaparte wanted.
• Bonaparte kissed Georgiana and said he loved Josephine, then asked what Georgiana truly wanted; she requested a wand-hiding bracelet and a visit to the Ourcq Canal.
• Georgiana asked Bonaparte to cover Corneille’s hidden niche with boards, gathered the documents, and followed him out of the study.

Georgiana pressed Leon to address Rouen’s defenses, economic stability, and women’s opinions, while their conversation turned to his fears that she would leave him. Leon ended by explaining that Georgiana’s relationship with Fitzherbert had helped him reach an understanding with the Prince of Wales.

• Georgiana proposed expanding cider, pasture, meat, and dairy production, warned against careless road building, and suggested sending prisoners to overseas colonies by sea.
• She asked Leon about Rouen’s defenses and warned him that the Scourers could be dangerous even when they worked for him.
• Georgiana argued that women’s opinions mattered and that freedom should have limits, while Leon said he gave her freedom because he trusted her judgment.
• Leon accused Georgiana of having vanished before and feared she might leave him, and she recalled that he had promised to treat Britain as she treated him.
• Leon said his understanding with the Prince of Wales had been reached partly because of Georgiana and Fitzherbert, then joked that the prince had wanted to see whether he was as handsome as Leon.

Georgiana considered how to develop Brittany and preserve French art while Bonaparte asked her to sing. Their music and conversation led to an intimate moment, but Georgiana broke down as she remembered her former life and the man she had loved for thirty years.

• Georgiana reflected on Brittany’s forests, farmland, labor needs, and the importance of stability for development.
• Georgiana wrote to Denon asking him to identify paintings in the Louvre that had originally belonged to France so they could be sent to museums elsewhere.
• Bonaparte asked Georgiana to sing, and she arranged for musicians to play Bach before singing “Scarborough Fair” to him.
• Bonaparte drew Georgiana onto his lap and asked about Oisín, then kissed her as Bach’s music played nearby.
• Georgiana cried as she remembered her past relationship, and she and Bonaparte discussed marriage, the Prince of Wales, and the possibility of public scandal.

Georgiana managed her household finances and considered ways to strengthen Rouen’s economy before traveling to the University of Rouen. As Feilier read her an account of King Arthur’s history, she reflected on Bonaparte’s courtship and wondered why she had asked him for only a bracelet.

• Georgiana authorized Matilda to withdraw fifty thousand francs and buy items, advising her to be restrained and discreet.
• Georgiana considered how to improve Rouen’s economy by developing agriculture and local industries, and Fiegel said the monstrous bird might have only been passing through.
• Georgiana traveled with Fiegel, Feilier, Henry Becker, Jean-Jacques Lequeu, and Margarita toward the University of Rouen.
• Feilier read Georgiana a translated account connecting the Dumnonia dynasty, King Arthur, and the collapse of the Knights of the Round Table.
• Georgiana reflected on Bonaparte’s public display of affection, the private nature of the Prince of Wales’s pursuit of Maria, and her own choice to ask for a bracelet.

Georgiana visited the University of Rouen and saw its neglected facilities and lack of funds, which helped her regain her composure about her affair and political choices. As she toured the school with its headmaster, she noticed a strange crow with blade-like, blue-glowing talons.

• Georgiana rode through the countryside outside Rouen and reflected on Napoleon, her affair, and the need to pursue peace that offered profit.
• Georgiana arrived at the University of Rouen, where the headmaster, teachers, and students welcomed her, and she noticed the school's neglected buildings.
• Georgiana toured the university's greenhouse and apothecary, saw a struggling Cinchona tree, and realized how badly the school needed funding.
• Georgiana questioned the headmaster about his marital status and reconsidered her closeness to human men.
• Georgiana heard a crow caw and saw that its sharp talons glowed faintly blue.

Georgiana visited the impoverished University of Rouen, where she learned about its history and the obstacles facing its students. She left the headmaster hoping to secure a charter and planning to fund a building project for the children.

• Georgiana attended a luncheon at the University of Rouen, surrounded by the cemetery's skeleton-covered buildings and mass graves.
• Georgiana learned how the university had been founded, closed during the French Revolution, and left its poor students living in the former cemetery.
• The headmaster asked Georgiana to help obtain a charter so local businesses could donate to the school without fear.
• Georgiana considered how Bonaparte's education policies neglected the university and its medical students.
• Georgiana discussed plans to have Leque build something for the children, giving them work to do.

Georgiana visited the graveyard-filled University of Rouen to review Corneille’s investigation, then saw a child in red vanish into the woods. She left without pursuing the child and continued considering the investigation and the risks that disease posed to her plans.

• Georgiana compared Corneille’s notes with the names in the vast cemetery while Feilier and Fiegel watched.
• Georgiana spotted a child in red near the woods and briefly followed before the child disappeared.
• Fiegel offered to search for the child, but Georgiana ordered her to leave and told her to ask locals whether a child was missing.
• Georgiana returned to Rouen with Feilier, Fiegel, and Margarita, reflecting on animal diseases and the risks to her plans for a ranch and farm.
• Georgiana reread Corneille’s report about the investigation into who had printed the engravings and thought of the child in red and the Dance of Death.

Georgiana reflected on medicine, public health, and the choices shaping her shelter and the University of Rouen, while reconsidering why Napoleon relied so heavily on perfume. The chapter ended with her recognizing that he may have used fragrance to cope with the fear and trauma of treating plague-stricken soldiers.

• Georgiana considered Laennec’s medical work at her shelter and recalled how Corvisart had recommended him.
• Georgiana gave Feilier a drawing of Napoleon’s Theorem and told her to consider its proof.
• Georgiana thought about how lemon peels and other insect-repelling ingredients may have helped prevent plague from spreading through Paris in 1668.
• Georgiana reflected on the poor conditions facing male vagrants near the University of Rouen and on the importance of training capable naval commanders.
• Georgiana reconsidered Napoleon’s use of perfume, concluding that it may have helped him manage fear and trauma after he touched plague victims in Jaffa.

Georgiana feared that her pursuers would bring danger to Rouen, so she diverted her party and faced an aerial attack in the forest. The chapter ended as she and the cavalry prepared to fight two strange birds amid a violent storm, still unsure why they had been targeted.

• Georgiana reflected on Napoleon’s desire to be loved and her own growing refusal to endure humiliation for the sake of appearances.
• Georgiana sensed danger outside the carriage and stopped it, deciding she could not bring her pursuers to Rouen.
• Georgiana sent Feilier and Margarita away in the carriage and chose to ride with the cavalrymen.
• Two strange birds approached through the storm, and Georgiana cast a Peaceful Guard while Fiegel and the others drew their flintlocks.

Georgiana and Fiegel followed two guide birds through Roumare Forest, where they encountered a Garuda being fed by a mysterious young man. The man was followed by two cavalrymen as Georgiana recognized a connection between the bird’s pearl and her Fire Opal Ring.

• Georgiana fed cheese to two guide birds, explained their role in leading people through forests, and ordered the cavalry to follow them while leaving markers.
• Georgiana warned Fiegel that French uniforms might make displaced people in the forest mistake the cavalry for arresting forces.
• At a rainy lakeside, Georgiana reviewed Corneille’s report about inflammatory engravings and considered exporting Quinquina wine as medicine.
• Georgiana and Fiegel saw a golden Garuda dancing above the lake after a young man fed it fish, and she suspected its crown pearl was connected to her Fire Opal Ring.
• Two cavalrymen followed the young man after he left, while Georgiana joked about sheltering from lightning and teased the cavalryman who commented on Leon’s nickname.

Georgiana and Fiegel investigated a secluded village after scouts reported a hundred residents and sensed danger nearby. A red-cloaked woman confronted Georgiana, revealed that her group hunted wizards, and sent Garudas diving at her.

• Georgiana considered the economic importance of cod and other trade as she weighed the threat of France selling Louisiana.
• Two cavalry scouts reported a village of about a hundred people, and one said the place gave him a terrible feeling.
• A strange song made Georgiana feel hungry and close to losing control, but a voice calmed her by calling her a beautiful swan princess.
• Georgiana summoned a swan Patronus while the birds circled overhead, then faced a woman in red who called her a witch.
• The woman identified her group as the Wild Man Hunters, and the Garudas dived toward Georgiana with their claws extended.

Georgiana fought Maria and her Garudas alongside Fiegel and the Muggle soldiers, then struggled with the danger of the villagers arriving and her own reluctance to kill. After Maria escaped, Leon Sterndale arrived and took Georgiana home as she confessed how exhausted and unhappy she felt.

• Georgiana ordered Fiegel and the soldiers to capture Maria after the Cygnus Patronus drove back the Garudas.
• Maria fought Georgiana with the Elder Wand while Georgiana used transformed trees, leaves, fire, and water to defend herself and the soldiers.
• Georgiana sent her Cygnus Patronus for help as villagers approached, then struck several Garudas with the Feather Arrow Charm.
• Maria escaped on a Garuda, and Georgiana realized she still could not bring herself to kill.
• Leon Sterndale arrived, held Georgiana, and took her home after she told him she was suffering and had wanted only a simple romance.