Crown of Steel (Chaos Awakens) Read Online Free Page A

life."
    "Xandrith saved me!" Haley spat, her fists balled until her knuckles turned white. "How am I supposed to just forget about him? He's dead and you let me just keep hoping that he would come back. What kind of monsters are you?" Haley began to walk towards the front door. "I'm going after him."
    Shawl jumped up from his chair. "You can't!"
    Kassa was around the room and blocking the exit in a flash. "Haley, please, going out into the mist isn't going to help Xandrith. It's only going to end with another lost life. Do you think Xan would want you to kill yourself?"
    Haley drew her dagger. "Do you think Xan would want me to stay here on this island while the world dies and do nothing? I'm not ready to accept that he's gone. Mist be damned, I don't believe Xan would die so easily. He is stronger than that. He's stronger than either of you know. Now I'm going out there to find him, and you can't stop me."
    Kassa stood her ground. "You know that's not true, Haley. I can stop you. Put the knife away and think about what you're doing. You're angry and distraught, and that isn't the best frame of mind in which to make big decisions. Xandrith would have told you the same."
    Death will not get us any closer to saving Xan. Haley's inner voice spoke to her as if of its own volition. He must be alive out there somewhere, but we shouldn't rush into the unknown. Not yet. Haley let out a long sigh and returned her knife to its scabbard. Kassa was right, as much as Haley didn't want to admit it. A troubled emotional state was not conducive to making good decisions. Xan wasn't gone. Haley would find him, but she needed to plan.
    Kassa looked relieved and maybe a little surprised. "We should talk about this. We can decide what to do next together. You don't need to be alone just because Xan is gone. I miss him too. Every day."
    Haley frowned, stifling the desire to cry. She told herself she wouldn't allow that to happen. Xandrith wasn't dead, so there was no reason to cry. He just needed help, and she would find some way to give it to him. "I don't want to talk about any of this. Not yet, anyway. I need to be alone." She told the older woman. Kassa looked hurt for a moment, but she nodded and stepped away from the door, heading back to her seat at the table. There was really nowhere for Haley to go to be alone at night, so she simply slipped into a chair and closed her eyes, finding privacy internally if she couldn't externally. Relax. Everything will be fine. We'll make sense of this all tomorrow. She let out a shaky sigh, so upset that she didn't even notice that those thoughts hadn't originated from her own mind.
     
    If Haley had hoped that morning would bring her more clarity, she was sadly mistaken. She awoke with a start before the sun had even risen with a cold sweat clinging to her body. She'd dreamt that she was chasing Xandrith through a dense fog. When she'd finally been able to catch him it hadn't been him at all, but instead an imposter dressed in his clothing. That's when the dream had gotten really disturbing. The Xan imposter had turned the chase on her. He'd come after her through the fog, his hands with fingers like steel claws chasing her through the void and reaching out to snag her and hold her down. His face had been locked in an evil grin that promised a poisonous lust, and his eyes had been aflame with a will to break and devour her. Haley stood up and shook her head as though the physical act might dispel the remainders of her dream. The fear and the sense of violation still clung to her. She felt a great welling of self-loathing roll through her. Since the murder of her family and her subsequent rape she'd battled with that inner hatred, and sometimes it threatened to consume her. She may have killed the bastard who ruined her life, but the things he'd done to her had left her feeling worthless. She fought every day to rebuild her confidence, but nightmares like the one she'd just had made all the shame at her