[4] William Laurence and Temeraire, who have decided to make a pastoral life for themselves in the British colony of New South Wales, are disturbed by the arrival of the diplomat Arthur Hammond, lately assigned to China, who bears dire news.

The three dragons fly east for three days straight, eventually collapsing aboard the nearest ship they can find; alas, it is the French transport Triomphe, bearing a diplomatic envoy of Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes and Juliette Récamier to the Inca Empire, and Temeraire's company are marooned on a small island for later retrieval.

As such a match would be greatly desirable to British fortunes, Granby is pressured into the role, despite a private confession to Laurence of his own homosexuality, and the two are practically at the altar when a new suitor arrives to press his claim: Napoleon himself, lately divorced from Joséphine de Beauharnais and eligible for remarriage.

With Napoleon and the Inca now poised to attack from the south, Laurence advocates to Prince João an immediate treaty with the Tswana, the only military force which can possibly defend Brazil, even after the arrival of Lily, Maximus and the rest of Temeraire's former formation.

He reveals that he is a servant of Prince Mianning, son of the Jiaqing Emperor and heir-apparent to China; Gong Su suggests a return to the Middle Kingdom to discuss Napoleon's ongoing conquest of the world.