Andrella
Safe through Heroes of Ravenford Book 3
Main text: Book 1. Books 2–3: collapsed sections below.
Characters
Lady Andrella Avernos is the daughter of Baron Gryswold and Baroness Gracelynn of Ravenford. Just about to turn eighteen as Ruins on Stone Hill unfolds, she is 5’7″ with long, strawberry-blonde hair and electric-blue eyes — and a sharp intellect she works to keep hidden behind the finery her position provides. Her parents know how strong-willed she is, even when Ravenford’s suitors see only the elegant young noblewoman.
Andrella’s lineage makes her more than a baron’s daughter. Her mother Gracelynn is sister to Lord Kelvick, Duke of Dunwynn. Kelvick has no children of his own, so Andrella is the de facto heir to the Duchy of Dunwynn. Her uncle spoils her with fine clothes, jewellery, and tutors in noble etiquette, and would rather she live in Dunwynn under his sway than in ‘backwater’ Ravenford. Gryswold has forbidden the move until Andrella is of age to decide her own path — a decision Book 1 leaves in front of her.
On the surface she can play the spoiled noble. Underneath, like her mother, she holds to noblesse oblige: nobility carries responsibilities and obligations that outweigh its privileges. She is well learned thanks to her uncle’s tutors, and she spent a year or so studying magic under the wizard Maltar before their temperaments clashed and ended the lessons. Suitors travel to Ravenford for her lineage and beauty; she has spurned them all, being far too intelligent to be used for someone else’s political gain.
When she meets Lloyd Stealle (noble yet unassuming, easygoing, and formidable in battle), Book 1’s packet biography says she is immediately smitten, and his genuine heart stands out against the fortune-hunters. Book 1 leaves her choices about Dunwynn, magic, and Lloyd still ahead of her. Books 2 and 3 are in the collapsed sections below.
See Ravenford for her home, and Lloyd for the young lord Ravenford meets in the same chapters.
After Book 1 — spoilers for Book 2, Serpent Cult
Serpent Cult builds to Andrella’s coming-of-age birthday gala at Ravenford Keep. Voltark’s corpse-memory and the cult’s moves suggest she may be a target. Lord Kelvick attends, still wanting her in Dunwynn, and the companions watch over the celebration.
When the Serpent Cult attacks the feast, she is among the guests in the courtyard. After Lloyd brings Voltark down, Andrella runs to him, tells him he was magnificent, and kisses him in front of everyone.
After Book 2 — spoilers for Book 3, Dark Monolith
In Dark Monolith she helps the wounded Lloyd into the keep after the battle. She also sits on the council where her parents, Captain Gelpas, Dame Alana, and the companions plan a strike against the Serpent Cult’s target in the Darkwoods.
When Sir Fafnar’s accusation leads to a duel, Andrella wears Lloyd’s colours, ties her scarf around his arm, and kisses him after he wins. She is there to say goodbye when the company rides south.