Camilla's heart still aches in RAGING SEA Ch 10/Sc 2a by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Graphic overlay c2016 by Kim Headlee.

In the Dragon's Dove Chronicles novella The Challenge, which takes place about ten years in the future relative to the setting of Raging Sea, Camilla has turned to the dark arts in her quest for revenge against Gyan for having killed Camilla's betrothed in battle.

Exactly how far into the darkness Camilla will plunge remains to be determined, but we get the first glimpse of her wounded psyche in today's installment.

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings

 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b |

Raging Sea Chapter 10, Scene 2a

©2016 by Kim Headlee

All rights reserved.

Camilla Ællesdottr sat in Ælferd’s chair, behind his worktable arrayed in her private chambers of the fortress overlooking the rocky beachhead of Cymensora, fingering his expensive blue glass goblet and trying to make sense of the scribblings scattered across the parchment in front of her. They were purported to represent enemy troop deployments and patrol patterns on sea as well as on land, but this evening she stood a better chance of solving one of Loki’s impossible riddles.

Some days she wondered why she’d petitioned Ælferd’s uncle, King Cissa, to move Ælferd’s personal effects here from his final posting at Anderceaster. Every day she wondered why it had become her wyrd to die a ringless widow.

She used that naked hand to clutch Ælferd’s goblet and drained the wine it held, knowing he had liked that vintage as much as she did.

Every day, she never believed that she could miss Ælferd more acutely than the last. And every day, she proved herself wrong.

She balled a fist to support her forehead, blinking hard to check the tears that still sprang forth all too easily. The pain lancing her chest she could do nothing about until it had run its course.

***

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