American Royals

As the engagement party winds down, Daphne is pleased to see Nina leaving in a hurry. Daphne goes to find Jefferson, who is drinking his sorrows away. Jefferson tells Daphne that Nina broke up with him, and she “said some pretty weird things about [Daphne]” (376) and even accused her of outright sabotage. Daphne plays innocent and insists that she only tried to help Nina, and Jefferson believes her. Daphne admits that she still has feelings for Jefferson and can’t bring herself to be sad about Nina and Jeff’s breakup. Jefferson tells her that they can still be friends. As she leaves for the night, Daphne is pleased that she seemed to “[rekindle] the spark” (379) with Jefferson.

Ethan offers to share a palace-provided town car with Daphne, and during the car ride, Daphne tells Ethan everything she did to sabotage Nina’s relationship with Jeff. Ethan is impressed but tells her that Jeff will never know or appreciate Daphne’s scheming mind like he does. Daphne and Ethan start to kiss, and although she knows it’s wrong and not what she should be focusing on, “she and Ethan [become] a pair of blades striking to make fire, like sparking against like” (383).

After the party, Beatrice finds a moment to get Teddy alone and apologizes for breaking things off with him. Teddy is patient and understanding, and when Beatrice asks him not to tell anyone yet, he promises to “keep behaving like [her] fiancé until [he] hear[s] otherwise from [her]” (385). As soon as the Eatons leave, Beatrice asks to speak to her father in private. Once they’re alone, she tells him she can’t marry Teddy because she is in love with her guard, Connor. The king is sympathetic, but he insists that Beatrice “cannot be with that young man and be queen” (389). Beatrice argues that they have the power to change the old laws that would forbid her from being with Connor, but her father refuses and tells her that over time, Connor would grow to resent her if they got married and he had to live in her shadow. The king confesses that he was in love with a commoner before he married Beatrice’s mother and that “real love comes from creating a family together, from facing life together” (392). Beatrice announces that she will not bend to this antiquated rule and will marry Connor with or without the king and America’s approval, even if it means she must renounce her title as queen. Suddenly, the king collapses, and Beatrice cries out for help.

The night after the party, Daphne wakes up in her bed with Ethan and their clothes strewn around the floor. She is filled with immediate regret, although she cannot ignore the “current of desire that pulse[s] between her and Ethan” (396). She urges him to leave, but Ethan wants to talk about the possibility of them being together for real. As they argue, Daphne notices her phone is full of messages and news alerts: The king has been hospitalized and is in critical condition. Daphne seizes at the opportunity to be at the king’s bedside with Jefferson and give him comfort, but Ethan becomes angry and warns Daphne that if she chooses Jefferson, she will be alone for the rest of her life, playing the role she has carefully curated. After all, one day she’ll find herself with “a ring on [her] finger and a crown on [her] head and a big elaborate title,” but she’ll be alone with “a prince who hardly knows [her] at all” (399). Ethan leaves, and Daphne is haunted by the word alone.

Nina has a nightmare about playing cards with Daphne and losing to her. She wakes up in her childhood bedroom and remembers the confrontation from the night before at the engagement party, and she is overwhelmed with sorrow when she remembers her breakup with Jeff. When she goes downstairs, her parents tearfully tell her about the king’s hospitalization. Nina worries about Sam and Jeff and how they are holding up, and she and her parents remember the day the king was crowned 12 years prior. Her mom urges Nina to go to the hospital because “Jeff and Samantha could use a friendly face right now” (404), but Nina tells them about her breakup with Jeff and her confrontation with Daphne. Her parents give her a pep talk and remind Nina that she shouldn’t give up on Jeff, she shouldn’t change who she is, and she certainly shouldn’t let Daphne push her around. Nina is emboldened and agrees to go to the hospital, but when she arrives, she finds that Daphne has swooped in to comfort Jeff. She feels her heart “shattering all over again” (409) and leaves before anyone can see her.

As Samantha sits in the hospital waiting room, she remembers hearing Beatrice’s “raw, panicked shouts” (411) the night before when their father collapsed. The Washingtons’ world has been turned upside-down, and after the flurry of activity, they have been waiting for news for 10 hours. The king is on life support, and as Sam takes in the waiting room scene, she sees her family in various stages of shock and fear. She notices that Teddy is still playing the role of Beatrice’s supportive fiancé, and Sam wishes she could sit next to Teddy and be comforted by him. Instead, she makes herself tea and strikes up a conversation with Jeff. Jeff tells her that Nina broke up with him at the engagement party, although he doesn’t mention her accusations toward Daphne. Jeff admits that he “couldn’t turn Daphne away” (415) when she came to the hospital to offer her support. Sam realizes how much has changed in the past few months, and although she and Jeff used to be the “court jesters” (416) of the family, Sam senses that she is starting to grow up and wants to take on a different role in the Washington family.

As Daphne sits in the hospital waiting room with Jeff and the rest of the Washington family, she is pleased that she has managed to work her way back into the royal family’s inner circle. Still, her mind is racing with the memory of what happened to Himari last year. Daphne goes to find Himari’s room in the hospital and tells her unconscious friend that she “slept with Ethan again” (419). Daphne remembers how after she slept with Ethan the first time, Himari confronted her and threatened to tell Jefferson if Daphne didn’t. Ethan suggested coming clean and telling Jeff, but Daphne was so afraid of losing her chance at a crown that she decided to “fight blackmail with blackmail” (423). On the night of the graduation party, Daphne slipped ground-up sleeping pills into Himari’s drink, hoping to make anything she said sound like “drunken incoherent ramblings” (424). However, Himari wound up trying to climb a flight of stairs and fell, hitting her head and entering a coma. In the present, Daphne is overwhelmed with the guilt of what she has done to her friend, and she tells Himari that she is sorry. Still, Daphne decides that she has lost too much and done too many terrible things to give up her pursuit of a crown now.

Beatrice is wracked with guilt and is convinced that her argument with her father triggered his medical emergency. The king’s doctor asks to speak to the queen and Beatrice, then admits that the king’s condition is “not promising” (428), especially considering his cancer is advanced. Beatrice asks to see her father, and the doctor reluctantly agrees. To Beatrice’s surprise, the king regains consciousness long enough to tell her that he loves her, and he has “every intention of getting better” (431). He tells Beatrice that he is proud of her, and urges her to not lose sight of her responsibilities as queen. Beatrice tries to apologize for what she said the night before, but her father ignores her apology and tells her that it has been “the greatest honor of [his] life, helping prepare [her] to take on this role” (432). Exhausted by the exertion, the king drifts back into unconsciousness. Beatrice, Sam, Teddy, and Jeff decide to take their minds off of things by greeting the crowds gathered around the hospital, but in the middle of making their rounds, her father’s doctor bursts through the front doors of the hospital, and everyone realizes that the king has died. As shock and grief sweep through the crowd, people begin to bow and curtsy to Beatrice, who has just become the first Queen of America.