Abriella

## Biography

Abriella (Brie) and her younger sister Jasalyn (Jas) grew up in a loving home with a mother who told them stories of the Fae. The stories were meant to entertain them and also to teach them how to protect themselves. When Brie is nine years old, a terrible fire threatened to burn their home down, killing their father in the process and trapping Jas inside. Brie rushes in to save her sister, and is mortally wounded with severe burns as she used her body to protect Jas. To heal Jas's burns and save Brie's life, their mother summons her first love, King Oberon, who sacrifices his life by placing the Seelie Crown on Brie - effectively making her his heir. Brie is half-conscious when the sacrifice happens and grows up believing that her mother abandoned them to live with her fairy love.

As part of her sacrifice, their mother must go to the fairy lands, where she dies. She leaves the girls in the care of her brother Devlin, who lives with his wife Vivias and their two daughters Cassia and Stella. Devlin dies shortly after the girls move in, leaving them with their aunt and cousins, who treat them as slaves and force them to live in a windowless cellar. Vivias abuses the sisters and forces them to pay rent to live at her house, while charging interest on the debt that she knows they cannot pay. Brie is forced into a contract to pay back the long-overdue debt and spends her days working as a maid to earn money. At night, she breaks into vaults of the wealthy townspeople that have taken advantage of others and steals from them to help pay her debt. Brie meets and befriends the handsome mage apprentice, Sebastian, who lives next door. Over the next couple of years, Sebastian sneaks food to the sisters and provides them with light-hearted banter when they have difficult days living with their aunt. Brie falls in love with Sebastian during this time but never shares her feelings because she is afraid to love after thinking that her mother abandoned her, and knowing that he will have to leave as part of his apprenticeship. After 7 years of serving her, Vivias uses the contract to sell Jas to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court, King Mordeus, claiming that Brie will never pay back her debt and that selling Jas has now freed her from the obligation.

Brie is forced to go to the Fae Realm to save her sister, where she enters a competition with other human girls at the Golden Palace to become the bride of Prince Ronan. While at the palace, Brie meets a silver-eyed noble Fae, whom she later discovers is Prince Finn, she meets his motley crew of Seelie and Unseelie and trains with them in secret after discovering her power to control the darkness. She also runs into Sebastian at the palace, thinking that he used fae glamour to follow her and was dismayed to learn that he was actually Prince Ronan and that Bash was his human disguise.

Brie is taken from the palace and brought to King Mordeus in the Unseelie Court, where she makes an agreement with him to collect 3 relics in exchange for her sister's safe return. The first relic is a mirror, which she is able to acquire by asking Ronan to take it from his mother's heavily guarded sunroom. After retrieving the mirror, it is revealed that the second relic is a grimoire, displayed in the library of the seaside palace. Brie steals the book, but is racked with remorse after learning that Ronan's mother needs it to sustain her life. Brie learns that the third and final relic is the crown placed on her head by King Oberon and that she had worn it on her head since the day he sacrificed his life to save her. King Mordeus tells her that her mother did not abandon her, but instead sacrificed herself to hide the crown sitting on her head, a glamour that would last for 7 years.

Since the crown must be bestowed willingly, King Mordeus tells Brie that she must bond with him to fulfill their contract. She saves Jas by twisting the words of the contract and then kills him using the dagger (made of obsidian and iron) from Ronan. Brie is badly injured during this exchange, but wakes up in Ronan's bed healing with him by her side. She begs for his forgiveness for betraying him and confides her entire story to him, including the details of her encounters with Finn. Once she sees that her sister is safe, she agrees to become bonded with Ronan. The bonding ceremony kills Brie, but she is revived with the elixir of life that Ronan begs her to drink to make her a fairy.

Brie wakes groggily, slowly adjusting to her physical changes while her maids, Tess and Emma, happily prepare her for the coronation. Brie notices that the maids are actually fae, to which they respond that they glamoured themselves because Ronan thought she would be more comfortable if she believed them to be human. Brie is also told that the coronation was to crown Ronan as king of the Unseelie Court, which was possible because he is the biological son of King Oberon, making him half Unseelie. Knowing that it would kill a human to bond with fae of Unseelie blood, Brie realizes that Ronan was prepared in advance with the elixir of life because he knew that the ceremony would kill her. Brie is enraged when she realizes that Ronan was willing to kill her to steal the crown from her and proceeds to storm out of the palace as Ronan chases her, using their bond to beg for her return. She covers the Golden Palace and everyone there in darkness, to help her escape.

## Personality

Growing up in poverty and experiencing years of abuse, Abriella is extremely compassionate towards those who are helpless or in need. She is very protective of those she cares for, especially Jas, whom she wants to protect from everything (including the hardships of their life). She is willing to sacrifice anything for those she loves.

After their mother leaves, Abriella becomes weary of caring for or depending on others in fear of abandonment. She becomes incredibly independent, often trying to solve problems on her own.

## Physical Description

As a human, Brie is described as a beautiful girl with hazel eyes a short and curvy structure and fire red curls that can't be tamed. At first, Brie is exceedingly thin due to malnutrition because most of the money she made was given to Madame V as part of her contract. Once she goes to the fae realm, she puts on a healthy glow because she is able to rest and eat regularly. Brie is later forced to cut most of her hair off, leaving her with jaw-length hair.

As a fae, her features are very similar, except that her hazel eyes shine brighter, her skin is luminous and her ears are pointed.

While working as a maid or thief, Brie often wore trousers and work boots to help her move around with more ease. When she arrives at the Seelie Court, she wears wears a variety of beautiful gowns and elegant slippers as part of her deception to blend in with the other hopeful brides. When she stays at Castle Craig, she tells her maids that she prefers pants - she dresses in light brown leather riding pants, a white blouse and riding boots.
## Relationships

### **Finn**

Finn and Brie meet on her first night at the Golden Palace. He runs her and immediately spots the "burn scar" on her wrist. Finn is surly and sarcastic and they initially have an antagonistic relationship but eventually grow closer as they spend time together training. They sit together watching the stars and share their thoughts. Brie recognizes a pull towards the beautiful fae, that she feels in addition her growing attraction to him. She is able to wield her powers more effectively when she has physical contact with Finn.
Finn's companions recognize immediately that he cares for her, which concerns them because of their plans.

Finn enjoys teasing Brie, focusing on the sexual tension between them, which was evident when she drank drugged fairy wine that lowered her inhibitions and had her begging for his touch. Brie realizes that she cares for Finn when she is hurt after discovering his deception.

### **Ronan**

Brie met Ronan when he was disguised as the apprentice mage Sebastien, her first love. Brie grew to love him deeply - from the first moment she laid eyes on him in their shared courtyard and all the ways he provided comfort when she lived with her aunt. She was angry when she first learned that he was the Golden Prince but continued to love him, believing at first that her own deception was worse.
Brie and Ronan fell deeply in love with each other when they lived in Elora. Brie believed her love was unrequited because Ronan never acted on his feelings until the day she announced that she was leaving for the Fairy Realm. Even though Ronan, initially befriended and charmed Brie to get his hands on the crown, he shows genuine affection and begins to care deeply for her. Ronan often strokes Brie's face lovingly but often holds himself back, fearing that she will not agree to be his bride or bond with him. During his courtship of Brie and the other human females, Ronan becomes intimate with the other females in hopes of replacing his feelings for Brie - which Brie witnesses while hidden and proceeds to run away in tears.

Ronan is protective of Brie and becomes jealous when she mentions her connection with Finn, angrily asking if she had slept with him.

Brie spends an intimate night with Ronan when he takes her to the seaside palace. She agrees to bond with him after the events that lead to Jas' rescue. She eventually learns that he was aware that their bonding would kill her, and she becomes enraged as she pieces together the depths of his deception. Due to their bond, Brie can feel Ronan's real heartbreak at having lost her but she refuses to return to him for fear of manipulation. His willingness to sacrifice her life to gain his crown is the final straw that destroys her love for him. She blames him for forcing her to becoming an immortal fairy, beings that she has despised for years.

### **Jasalyn**

Brie affectionally refers to Jasalyn as "Jas", who is her younger sister of 3 years. The sisters share a very close bond, being orphaned at a young age and having only each other to depend on as they grew up together in poverty and strife. After the loss of their parents, Brie felt responsible for shielding Jas from the truth of their situation- hoping that she would be able to stay young and lighthearted.

After Jas was sold to King Mordeus by their aunt to pay debts, Brie was grief-stricken and did everything she could think of to retrieve her sister.

### **Tess and Emma**

Tess and Emma are Brie's maids at the Golden Palace, Brie has a good relationship with both and treats them well, feeling bad that they are humans that were sold to the fae as slaves. Brie is kind to them and appreciates their help while she is at the palace, though she rarely uses their services because she is not interested in dressing up or going to the parties. Tess and Emma are excited to serve Brie because they see immediately that Prince Ronan shows preference for her over the other potential brides.

Tess and Emma were overjoyed when Brie transformed into a fae and believed her to be the future Queen. Brie is upset to learn that they were both glamoured to look human on Ronan's orders.

## Powers/Abilities

* **Darkness:** Brie has the ability to create and control darkness. She can also manipulate the darkness to turn herself and others to shadow.
	+ **Night Vision:** Because of Brie's affinity for darkness, she is able to see exceptionally well in the dark compared to other humans.
* **Intangibility:** Brie is able to walk through solid objects.

## References

1. ↑ These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan: Chapter 7, Pg. 97
2. ↑ These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan: Chapter 8, Pg. 111
3. ↑ These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan: Chapter 10, Pgs. 136-137
4. ↑ These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan: Chapter 14, Pg. 178
5. ↑ These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan: Chapter 2, Pg. 31