The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Cass, Kiera. The Crown. Harper Collins, 2016. Paperback Edition.

The narrative begins where the previous narrative, The Heir, ended. America in a comma as she recovers from her heart attack. Ahren is in France with his wife. Maxon is constantly by America’s side. He cannot concentrate on running the country, so he makes Eadlyn regent. Eadlyn accepts the position, but worries about her lack of popularity amongst the people. She also feels as if all of the people she can trust have left her since other matters preoccupy her direct family members.

It does not take her long, however, to realize that she can trust Lady Brice, one of the members of the advisory board. She also knows that she can trust General Leger. After talking to Lady Brice about her concerns, Eadlyn promotes Neena from the position of her maid to her lady in waiting and decides to also make Lady Brice and General Leger members of her personal advisory team. Happy with her team of confidants, Eadlyn begins to confide in them and moves forward as a leader.

At the same time, Eadlyn has decided to continue the Selection and has chosen the Elite. She sees finding a husband through the Selection as a way of showing the people that she is not a hard person and thus gain popularity. She dates the remaining constants and sees points about each one of them that she likes, but she does not profess love for any of them. There is one person who she finds herself drawn to even though he is not officially a member of the Selection. This person is Erik, Henri’s translator.

In the midst of all of this, Marid Illea, the son of August Illea, visits Eadlyn inquiring about America’s health. They talk about the rift that occurred between their families when August work with Maxon to deal with post-caste system issues ended in a fight. Marid suggest that perhaps Eadlyn can solve some of these issues. Thinking that doing so could improve her popularity, Eadlyn agrees and works with Marid as she accepts his suggestions. Not long afterwards, she finds herself liked romantically to Marid in the press even though she is not interested in him in a romantic sense. Even though General Leger and Lady Brice warn her that Marid may be a problem, she continues to trust him.

America’s health improves, but Maxon worries about her health once she regains her duties as queen. He also would like to spend more time with America as her husband. When he confides his feelings to Eadlyn, Eadlyn proposes that she become queen. He thinks that this is a great idea and abdicates.

The members of the Elite react positively during the announcement and so does the press. However, Eadlyn realizes that Marid is a menace during her coronation party when he blackmails her by saying that he will make the people turn against her if she does not marry him. His threat makes her decide to choose her husband quickly. However, the Selection process has left her with only two legitimate choices, Kile and Henri. She and Erik have professed their love for each other by this point, but they both agree that he cannot be her choice. She decides to choose KIle until she realizes that his dream is to work outside of the Palace to build affordable living accommodations. So, instead of proposing to him as planned, she makes his dream possible.

This leaves Henri. She proposes to him, and he accepts. When she is about to make the announcement, Henri realizes that Erik and Eadlyn love each other and brings them together. The problem is that Erik is not part of the Selection. Eadlyn confides in her father who tells her about the rules he has broken. This includes letting the illegitimate child of his father live. The child is Lady Brice.

Eadlyn goes on air and proposes to Erik. Then she announces that the state will be a constitutional monarchy in order to better address everyone’s needs. Marid is enraged after the announcement, and Eadlyn tells him that she does not need him anymore. She asks Lady Brice to be her Prime Minister until there are elections and acknowledges Lady Brice as her aunt. The Selection is now over and Eadlyn is happy that she has combines love and duty and found herself “happy in the middle of it all” (10).