Vin didn’t reply.
“Where would you go, Vin?” Zane asked. “If you weren’t bound to this place, bound to him? If you were free, and could do whatever you wished, where would you go?”
The thumpings seemed louder. She glanced toward OreSeur, who sat quietly by the side wall, mostly in the dark. Why feel guilty? What did she have to prove to him?
She turned back to Zane. “North,” she said. “To Terris.”
“We can go there. Wherever you want. Location is irrelevant to me, as long as it is not this place.”
“I can’t abandon them,” Vin said.
“Even if by doing so, you steal away Straff’s only Mistborn?” Zane asked. “The trade is a good one. My father will know that I have disappeared, but he will not realize that you aren’t still in Luthadel. He’ll be even more afraid to attack. By giving yourself freedom, you’ll also be leaving your allies with a precious gift.”
Zane took her hand, forcing her to look at him. He did look like Elend—like a hard version of Elend. Zane had been broken by life, just as she had been, but both had put themselves back together. Had the re-forming made them stronger, or more fragile?
“Come,” Zane whispered. “You can save me, Vin.”
A war is coming to the city, Vin thought with a chill. If I stay, I will have to kill again.
And slowly, she let him draw her away from her desk, toward the mists and the comforting darkness beyond. She reached up, pulling out a metal vial for the journey, and the motion caused Zane to spin suspiciously.
He has good instincts, Vin thought. Instincts like my own. Instincts that won’t let him trust, but that keep him alive.
He relaxed as he saw what she was doing, and smiled and turned away again. Vin followed him, walking again, but she felt a sudden stab of fear. This is it, she thought. After this, everything changes. The time for decisions has passed.
And I made the wrong choice.
Elend wouldn’t have jumped like that when I took out the vial.
She froze. Zane tugged on her wrist, but she didn’t move. He turned toward her in the mists, frowning as he stood at the edge of her balcony.
“I’m sorry,” Vin whispered, slipping her hand free. “I can’t go with you.”
“What?” Zane asked. “Why not?”
Vin shook her head, turning and walking back into the room.
“Tell me what it is!” Zane said, tone rising. “What is it about him that draws you? He isn’t a great leader. He’s not a warrior. He’s no Allomancer or general. What is it about him?”
The answer came to her simply and easily. Make your decisions—I’ll support you in them. “He trusts me,” she whispered.
“What?” Zane asked incredulously.
“When I attacked Cett,” Vin said, “the others thought I was acting irrationally—and they were right. But Elend told them I had a good reason, even if he didn’t know what it was.”
“So he’s a fool,” Zane said.
“When we spoke later,” Vin continued, not looking at Zane, “I was cold to him. I think he knew that I was trying to decide whether to stay with him or not. And … he told me that he trusted my judgment. He’d support me if I chose to leave him.”
“So he’s also unappreciative,” Zane said.
Vin shook her head. “No. He just loves me.”
“I love you.”
Vin paused, looking at Zane. He looked angry. Desperate, even. “I believe you. I still can’t go with you.”
“But why?”
“Because it would require leaving Elend,” she said. “Even if I can’t share his ideals, I can respect them. Even if I don’t deserve him, I can be near him. I’m staying, Zane.”
Zane stood quietly for a moment, mist falling around his shoulders. “I’ve failed, then.”
Vin turned away from him. “No. It isn’t that you’ve failed. You aren’t flawed simply because I—”
He slammed into her, throwing her toward the mist-covered floor. Vin turned her head, shocked, as she crashed into the wooden floor, the breath going out of her.
Zane loomed above her, his face dark. “You were supposed to save me,” he hissed.
Vin flared every metal she had in a sudden jolt. She shoved Zane backward and Pulled herself against the door hinges. She flew backward and hit the door hard, the wood cracking slightly, but she was too tense—too shocked—to feel anything but the thud.
Zane rose quietly, standing tall, dark. Vin rolled forward into a crouch. Zane was attacking her. Attacking her for real.
But … he …
“OreSeur!” Vin said, ignoring her mind’s objections, whipping out her daggers. “Run away!”
The code given, she charged, trying to distract Zane’s attention from the wolfhound. Zane sidestepped her attacks with a casual grace. Vin whipped a dagger toward his neck. It barely missed as Zane tipped his head backward. She struck at his side, at his arm, at his chest. Each strike missed.
She’d known he’d burn atium. She’d expected that. She skidded to a stop, looking at him. He hadn’t even bothered to pull out his own weapons. He stood before her, face dark, mist a growing lake at his feet. “Why didn’t you listen to me, Vin?” he asked. “Why force me to keep being Straff’s tool? We both know where that must lead.”
Vin ignored him. Gritting her teeth, she launched into an attack. Zane backhanded her indifferently, and she Pushed slightly against the deskmounts behind him—tossing herself backward, as if thrown by the force of his blow. She slammed into the wall, then slumped to the ground.
Directly beside the startled OreSeur.
He hadn’t opened his shoulder to give her the atium. Hadn’t he understood the code? “The atium I gave you,” Vin hissed. “I need it. Now.”
“Kandra,” Zane said. “Come to me.”
OreSeur met her eyes, and she saw something within them. Shame. He glanced away, then padded across the floor, mist up to his knees, as he joined Zane in the center of the room.
“No …” Vin whispered. “OreSeur—”
“You will no longer obey her commands, TenSoon,” Zane said.
OreSeur bowed his head.
“The Contract, OreSeur!” Vin said, climbing to her knees. “You must obey my orders!”
“My servant, Vin,” Zane said. “My Contract. My orders.”
My servant. …
And suddenly, it clicked. She’d suspected everyone—Dockson, Breeze, even Elend—but she’d never connected the spy to the one person that made the most sense. There had been a kandra in the palace all along. And he had been at her side.
“I’m sorry, Mistress,” OreSeur whispered.
“How long?” Vin asked, bowing her head.
“Since you gave my predecessor—the real OreSeur—the dog’s body,” the kandra said. “I killed him that day and took his place, wearing the body of a dog. You never saw him as a wolfhound.”
What easier way to mask the transformation? Vin thought. “But, the bones we discovered in the palace,” she said. “You were with me on the wall when they appeared. They—”