‘Well at least there could be peace in Europe. The other nations might be prepared to live in harmony with us, as long as you don’t continue to treat Europe as if it was your personal property.’

‘What do you mean?’

Josephine was surprised. ‘Why, my love, you have been distributing kingdoms to your family and your marshals as if they were sweets.’

‘They have earned their rewards,’ Napoleon answered firmly. ‘Unlike those who merely inherit their titles.’

Josephine stared at him for a moment. ‘Is that what it is all about? A crusade on behalf of the worthy?’

‘Don’t be so foolish.’

‘I don’t think that I am being foolish,’ Josephine reflected. ‘It seems to me that you have resented aristocratic and royal blood as long as I have known you. And you seem to go out of your way to raise men up from the lowest stations in life to the highest posts of state. Napoleon,’ she reached for his hand and squeezed it affectionately,‘you are the man I love. You have achieved more in your life than any ten kings or emperors. Every man in Europe considers you its finest living general. Most of the people love you. All that remains is to establish your place in history. Now is the time to think carefully about the future.Will you be remembered as the man who loved war and glory above all else? Or as the man who led France to greatness and lasting peace? You can choose that, and history will remember you as one of the finest rulers that ever lived.’

There was a pleading tone in her voice, but Napoleon brushed her concerns aside. ‘A man is only a ruler if he is free to exert his will over others. I would have peace, Josephine, I really would. But only on my terms.’

She shook her head sadly. ‘Then there will be war. Always war, until you conquer all, or you are destroyed, and France falls with you.’

‘If that is what God wills.’

‘God? Since when did you acknowledge His authority?’

‘Since it became good politics to.’

‘And if God wants peace?’

‘Then He will bless my cause and abandon all those who oppose me.’

Another sheet of lightning illuminated the Paris skies and burst into the bedchamber, painting their exposed flesh deathly white for an instant.There was a pause of a few seconds before the thunder cracked the heavens and then rumbled away. Napoleon spoke again. ‘I think the storm is passing.’

Josephine shook her head. ‘The worst is yet to come.’