Zane stood in the darkness.
“What?” she finally demanded.
“You really don’t have it,” he said quietly. “The Lord Ruler’s atium stash.”
“No,” she said.
“You don’t have any at all,” he said flatly.
“I used the last bead the day I fought Cett’s assassins.”
He stood for a moment; then he turned, stepping away from her. Vin sat up, heart thumping, hands shaking just a bit. She forced herself to her feet, then stooped and retrieved her fallen daggers. One had cracked against the roof’s copper top.
Zane turned back toward her, quiet in the mists.
Zane watched her in the darkness, saw her fear—yet also her determination.
“My father wants me to kill you,” Zane said.
She stood, watching him, eyes still afraid. She was strong, and she repressed the fear well. The news from their spy, the words Vin had spoken while visiting Straff’s tent, were all true. There was no atium to be had in this city.
“Is that why you stayed away?” she asked.
He nodded, turning away from her.
“So?” she asked. “Why let me live?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I may still kill you. But … I don’t have to. Not to fulfill his order. I could just take you away—that would have the same effect.”
He turned back toward her. She was frowning, a small, quiet figure in the mists.
“Come with me,” he said. “Both of us could leave—Straff would lose his Mistborn, and Elend would lose his. We could deny them both their tools. And we could be free.”
She didn’t respond immediately. Finally, she shook her head. “This … thing between us, Zane. It isn’t what you think.”
“What do you mean?” he said, stepping forward.
She looked up at him. “I love Elend, Zane. I really do.”
And you think that means you can’t feel anything for me? Zane thought. What of that look I’ve seen in your eyes, that longing? No, it isn’t as easy as you imply, is it?
It never is.
And yet, what else had he expected? He turned away. “It makes sense. That’s the way it has always been.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
Elend. …
“Kill him,” God whispered.
Zane squeezed his eyes shut. She would not be fooled; not a woman who had grown up on the streets, a woman who was friends with thieves and scammers. This was the difficult part. She would need to see things that terrified Zane.
She would need truth.
“Zane?” Vin asked. She still seemed a bit shaken by his attack, but she was the type who recovered quickly.
“Can’t you see the resemblance?” Zane asked, turning. “The same nose, the same slant of the face? I cut my hair shorter than he, but it has the same curl. Is it so hard to see?”
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Who else would Straff Venture trust as his Mistborn?” Zane asked. “Why else would he let me get so close, why else would he feel so comfortable letting me in on his plans?”
“You’re his son,” Vin whispered. “Elend’s brother.”
Zane nodded.
“Elend …”
“Doesn’t know of me,” Zane said. “Ask him about our father’s sexual habits sometime.”
“He’s told me,” Vin said. “Straff likes mistresses.”
“For more than one reason,” Zane said. “More women means more children. More children means more Allomancers. More Allomancers means more chances at having a Mistborn son to be your assassin.”
Breeze-blown mist washed over them. In the distance, a soldier’s armor clinked as he patrolled.
“While the Lord Ruler lived, I could never inherit,” Zane said. “You know how strict the obligators were. I grew up in the shadows, ignored. You lived on the streets—I assume that was terrible. But, think of what it would be like to be a scavenger in your own home, unacknowledged by your father, treated like a beggar. Think of watching your brother, a boy your same age, growing up privileged. Think of watching his disdain for the things you longed to have. Comfort, idleness, love …”
“You must hate him,” Vin whispered.
“Hate?” Zane asked. “No. Why hate a man for what he is? Elend has done nothing to me, not directly. Besides, Straff found a reason to need me, eventually—after I Snapped, and he finally got what he’d been gambling to get for the last twenty years No, I don’t hate Elend. Sometimes, however, I do envy him. He has everything. And still … it seems to me like he doesn’t appreciate it.”
Vin stood quietly. “I’m sorry.”
Zane shook his head sharply. “Don’t pity me, woman. If I were Elend, I wouldn’t be Mistborn. I wouldn’t understand the mists, nor would I know what it was like to grow up alone and hated.” He turned, looking into her eyes. “Don’t you think a man better appreciates love when he has been forced for so long to go without?”
“I …”
Zane turned away. “Anyway,” he said, “I didn’t come here tonight to lament my childhood. I came with a warning.”
Vin grew tense.
“A short time ago,” Zane said, “my father let several hundred refugees through his barricade to approach the city. You know of the koloss army?”
Vin nodded.
“It attacked and pillaged the city of Suisna earlier.”
Vin felt a start of fright. Suisna was only a day away from Luthadel. The koloss were close.
“The refugees came to my father for help,” Zane said. “He sent them on to you.”
“To make the people of the city more afraid,” Vin said. “And to provide a further drain on our resources.”
Zane nodded. “I wanted to give you warning. Both of the refugees, and of my orders. Think about my offer, Vin. Think about this man who claims to love you. You know he doesn’t understand you. If you leave, it will be better for both of you.”
Vin frowned. Zane bowed his head slightly to her, then jumped into the night, Pushing against the metal rooftop. She still didn’t believe him about Elend. He could see that in her eyes.
Well, proof was coming. She’d soon see. She’d soon understand what Elend Venture truly thought of her.
But I do so now. Let it be known that I, Kwaan, Worldbringer of Terris, am a fraud.
35
IT FELT LIKE SHE WAS going to a ball again.
The beautiful maroon gown would have fit in perfectly at one of the parties she had attended during the months before the Collapse. The dress was untraditional, but not unfashionable. The changes simply made the dress seem distinctive.
The alterations left her freer to move; let her walk more gracefully, turn more naturally. That, in turn, made her feel even more beautiful. Standing before her mirror, Vin thought of what it might have been like to wear the dress to a real ball. To be herself—not Valette, the uncomfortable country noblewoman. Not even Vin, the skaa thief. To be herself.
Or, at least, as she could imagine herself. Confident because she accepted her place as a Mistborn. Confident because she accepted her place as the one who had struck down the Lord Ruler. Confident because she knew that the king loved her.