Ring and the Crown
2 primary works Complete
This was originally planned as a series, but later the first book was reconsidered as a standalone. The second book was self published because it was already written when the decision to cancel the series was made. The second book ends on a cliffhanger, but there will be no further books.
Book 1
Magic is power, and power is magic…
Once they were inseparable, just two little girls playing games in a mighty castle. Now Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the mightiest empire in the world, and Aelwyn Myrddyn, a bastard mage, face vastly different futures.
Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second. With the help of her Merlin, Eleanor has maintained a stranglehold on the world’s only source of magic. While the enchanters faithfully serve the crown, the sun will never set on the Franco-British Empire.
As the annual London Season begins, the great and noble families across the globe flaunt their wealth and magic at parties, teas, and, of course, the lavish Bal du Drap d’Or, the Ball of the Gold Cloth.
But the talk of the season is Ronan Astor, a social-climbing American with only her dazzling beauty to recommend her. Ronan is determined to make a good match to save her family’s position. But when she falls for a handsome rogue on the voyage over, her lofty plans are imperiled by her desires.
Meanwhile, Isabelle of Orleans, daughter of the displaced French royal family, finds herself cast aside by Leopold, heir to the Prussian crown, in favor of a political marriage to Marie-Victoria. Isabelle arrives in the city bent on reclaiming what is hers. But Marie doesn’t even want Leopold-she has lost her heart to a boy the future queen would never be allowed to marry.
When Marie comes to Aelwyn, desperate to escape a life without love, the girls form a perilous plan that endangers not only the entire kingdom but the fate of the monarchy.
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There is an independently published sequel to this book, as it was originally planned as a series. However, the author feels this can be read as a standalone.
Book 2
The glamour and enchantment continues in the sequel to bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz’s The Ring and the Crown.
After a wild season of ballroom dances, magic, high treason, and wars abroad, Marie-Victoria Grace Eleanor Aquitane, Princess Dauphine of the Franco-British Empire, joins in matrimony with the Kronprinz of the Prussian Empire, Wolfgang Friedrich Joachim von Hohenzollern. “Wolf” for short. On the night of Wolf and Marie’s wedding, her mother, Queen Eleanor, dies suddenly and ends a centuries long reign.
Bound by blood magic, the Queen’s mage, Merlin, gives up his own mortal form. His passing leaves daughter, Aelwynn Myrddyn, as the most powerful magician and new Morgaine of the Realm.
Set to ascend the Lily Throne, Queen-Designate Marie needs all the help her magical confidant Aelwynn can provide, but malevolent forces seek to tear them apart. A spectral fog brings ships of war. Isabelle of Valois, Lady Orleans, fights for her own kingdom now stripped away. A mysterious first cousin twice removed, Henri de la Rouchefort, seeks the services of Ronan Astor a beautiful, American socialite and fine milliner, to make a new royal crown, but for whom?
The fate of the empire and even the world is as stake in this dazzling continuation of the Ring and Crown series.
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This book is an unedited first draft of the previously unpublished sequel to The Ring and the Crown. Proceeds from the sale of this title will benefit the YALLWEST book festival and its school outreach programming, bringing books and authors to underserved communities.