The Ring and the Crown
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.
Readers also enjoyed
Melissa de la Cruz
Melissa de la Cruz writes as if she were holding open a hidden door, inviting readers into worlds where power, magic, and identity collide. Over the years she has become one of the most recognizable voices in contemporary fantasy and young adult literature, not only for the sheer number of her books but for the way they balance glamour with danger, myth with modern life.
She was born in Manila and moved to San Francisco as a teenager, an experience that shaped her sense of in-between spaces, what it means to leave one world behind while building another. At Columbia University she studied art history and English, fields that continue to echo through her work in the architectural details, cultural references, and historical flourishes she weaves into her novels.
The Ring and the Crown
The Ring and the Crown consists of two books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
