Thanks in no small part to their contribution to the war effort, Wellington defeated Napoleon soundly in the Battle of Quatre Bras. The war, so long trumpeted and feared, was over almost before it began, with little loss of English life. Though the specific reason was kept a secret from the general public, the Prince Regent made Vincent a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order for his service to the Crown, and would have raised him to a peer had the newly made Sir David Vincent not implored him otherwise. The Prince did, however, insist upon giving a dinner in honour of Sir David and Lady Vincent.

Jane suffered through the dinner, filled as it was with conversation which seemed commonplace and insipid after the erudite dinners at the Chastains. At the end of the meal, the Prince Regent excused the ladies. Jane resigned herself to the cliquish gossip that would follow and the near certainty of questions about her cropped hair. As she reached the door, the Prince Regent clapped his hands in anticipation. ‘Now, Sir David, what we all really want is to hear every bloody detail of the war.’

Vincent cleared his throat. ‘One moment, sir. Jane?’

She stopped in the door, all surprise. The gentlemen at the table had already begun to pull out their cigars, and fiddled with them impatiently.

‘Yes, my love?’

‘Would you care to stay?’ Vincent held his hand out to her and inclined his head in a seated bow to the Prince Regent. ‘With your permission, sir, I have learned that it is to my folly to do anything without my wife.’

With pleasure, Jane took her place by her husband’s side. Together they related their story to the astonished gentlemen, who were forced to admit that Lady Vincent was a formidable woman and more than an equal partner for her husband.

Of this, Vincent and Jane had no doubt. And Jane? Jane discovered that a formal English dinner party was not a cause for dismay, but for delight – so long as she had her husband by her side.

Author’s Afterword

The morning after I won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, I met David Brin at Strolling with the Stars at WorldCon. It’s a lovely thing where established authors, artists, and editors walk along and chat with anyone who wants to do so. I’ve been a fan of David’s since the first book of his I picked up. He was very gracious to a baffled writer and asked me about Shades of Milk and Honey which was, at the time, unsold. After I told him about it, he asked, ‘What happens in your magic system if a woman is pregnant?’