Today’s #EggcerptExchange, Raging Sea: Reckonings by Kim Headlee, is free today at Amazon Kindle. See below for an interview of Angusel, her tortured hero.

Kim’s interview with Angusel:

How did you get your nickname?
For having failed the most important person in my life, and her infant son, I am no longer known by my birth name, Angusel. I now call myself Aonar a Dubh Loch, which in your tongue means “Alone from the Black Lake.” It is a fitting name for the condition of my soul.

What is your occupation?
I am a soldier in the Dragon Legion of Brydein, an officer of optio rank. This is the lowest rank in the officer corps and carries no command authority. This rank is bestowed upon couriers and spies. As an optio attached to the Fifth Turma of the Manx Cohort, I have been called upon to perform both types of service.

Where were you born?
The place of my birth—an earth-and-timber fortress named Senaudon atop a high stone promontory—is now covered by a massive stone construction called Stirling Castle in what is now Scotland. It grieves me that the invaders I fought so hard to repel have lent their name to this land, and that my people, the Caledonians—or Picts, as the Romans insisted upon naming us—are all but lost in the mists of time.

What is your favorite place to visit?
There is a large rock just off the Manx shoreline near the priory where I go to escape the pressures of my life, and just sit and think. At high tide, it’s completely surrounded by water, and it makes me feel at one with the “raging sea” that is my namesake.

Are you wealthy, poor, or somewhere in between?
Before the failure that caused me to be stripped of kin, clan, country, and purpose, I was Àrd-Oighre h’Albainaich Chaledon—that is to say, the Exalted Heir of Clan Alban, a prince among my people, with all the wealth and privileges that title entailed. Now, I own nothing more than the clothes on my back and the armor and weapons stored in the armory on my behalf.

Raging Sea: Reckonings
The Dragon’s Dove Chronicles, book 3.1
by Kim Iverson Headlee
Epic Historical Fantasy

Blurb:

Those who aspire to greatness must first learn servanthood.

Stripped of kin, clan, country, and even his identity for having failed the most important woman in his life and her infant son, Angusel begins the arduous task of rebuilding his life and reclaiming his honor. The path he treads is fraught with uncomfortable revelations, unexpected reconciliations… and unavoidable reckonings.

Purchase at Amazon: http://getBook.at/Raging_Sea_Reckonings_by_KIH_Kindle

EGGCERPT:

He stood on the bluff, staring at the gray-green sea churning against the Manx beach a score of paces below. The Sasunach funeral pyre at his back enveloped him with its draconic heat and eye-stinging smoke and gut-wrenching stench. As dizziness washed over him, the sandy ground felt as insubstantial as the cloud-laced sky. Hand to sweating temple, he tossed off the surreal sensation with a shake.

Earth, sky, fire, water… as if he were a god imprisoned at the convergence of the elements.

He snorted.

He was no god.

No longer did anyone address him by his given name, which meant “raging sea.” Even on the official duty roster he was listed as Optio Aonar, a junior officer not of command rank. No matronymic, no clan, no country; physically, emotionally, spiritually alone.

Author Bio:

Kim Headlee lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins—the latter having been occupied as recently as the mid-twentieth century—seem to be sticking around for a while yet. She has been an award-winning novelist since 1999 (Dawnflight 1st edition, Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster) and has been studying the Arthurian Legends for nigh on half a century.

Find Kim online at:

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE (Worldwide link) – http://Author.to/Kim_Headlee_Amazon_page
BLOG – http://kimiversonheadlee.blogspot.com
FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/KimIversonHeadlee
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/KimHeadlee
GOOGLE+ – https://plus.google.com/+KimHeadlee