On the way to Italy, Villanelle reveals the rest of her story: She continued her affair with the Queen of Spades for nine nights before realizing it was hopeless, married a fat, mean gambler in order to leave Venice, and traveled with him for two years before stealing his money and running. As Henri travels through Europe, he notes that the people he has been trained to see as monsters are actually regular people. The pair plus Patrick agree to escape Russia for Italy. Henri and Villanelle meet in Russia, where Henri is camped with Napoleon’s fading army and where Villanelle works as a prostitute. She realizes the couple shares a love that she and the Queen of Spades will never have. However, on New Year’s Eve 1804, Villanelle happens upon the Queen of Spades and her husband sharing an intimate moment. Despite her mistrust of matters of the heart, Villanelle falls in love with the woman, who she affectionately calls the Queen of Spades, referring to her luck at the card table. The two women become lovers, meeting while the woman’s husband is away. The daughter a boatman born with webbed feet, Villanelle cross-dresses for a living at the casino. Meanwhile in Venice, androgynous beauty Villanelle falls in love with a mysterious woman she meets at a casino. Now 20 years old, Henri rings in the New Year of 1805 riddled with guilt over the mass deaths and questioning his faith.

In 1804, after 2,000 men are killed in an avoidable accident, Henri begins to doubt Napoleon’s motives. While camped at Boulogne, Henri befriends a horse keeper, Domino, and Patrick, a defrocked priest removed from the church for spying on naked women.

Looking back, Henri notes the rising support of Napoleon and how he symbolized France’s ambition for itself.

Enthralled by Napoleon’s charisma, Henri ignores Napoleon’s despotic behavior. Henri becomes responsible for quelling Napoleon’s great appetite for chicken. After coming to the rescue when the head cook is too drunk to perform his duties, Napoleon commends Henri’s skill and demands that Henri wait on him personally. The Passion begins in Henri’s voice he’s a young, bright-eyed soldier in Napoleon’s army who dreamed of being a drummer but is assigned to cook instead.

The passion novel jeanette winterson