The rain was sweeping in through the window now and he blinked as if recovering from a trance, and looked at his wife.‘What? What is it?’

‘Close the window. Close it and come back to bed. Before you catch a chill.’

Josephine gently drew him away from the window and closed it behind them, securing the latch firmly. Outside the rain pattered off the glass, streaking the view of the gardens as they were brilliantly illuminated by lightning again, before the thunder crashed out over Paris. Napoleon walked slowly back towards the bed and climbed in under the sheet, while Josephine lay down on the other side and then edged across so that she could cradle his head against her breast.

‘What’s worrying you so?’ she asked softly.

Napoleon was silent for a moment, his eyes wide open and staring at the gilded mouldings on the ceiling. His brow furrowed slightly. ‘There is going to be another war. It cannot be avoided.’

‘We are already at war. Unless the British have changed their minds.’ He smiled her light-hearted tone. ‘We are always at war with Britain. I’m talking about Prussia. I thought we’d humbled them for some years yet. Seems that I hadn’t counted on that vixen wife of Frederick William’s. He is a weak fool and Talleyrand can play him like a fiddle. But that Queen of his, Louise, is made of tougher material. She has been agitating against us from the moment the peace treaty was signed.’

Josephine smiled, and wound one of his dark curls around her little finger. ‘You should never underestimate women, my love.’

Napoleon’s gaze flickered away from the ceiling and he tilted his head round so that he could look into her eyes. ‘I know. I made that mistake once before.’

Josephine felt an old anxiety well up in the pit of her stomach as she recalled the affairs she had conducted while Napoleon had been away campaigning in Italy and then Egypt in the early years of their marriage. She had nearly lost him when Napoleon discovered her infidelity.There was a quick flicker of anger as she recalled that he had been unfaithful himself.Then the thought was banished and she turned her mind back to Prussia as Napoleon continued.