Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1)(117)

“Now that you’re feeling better, we can have you start attending the balls regularly. After a few months, you should have gathered enough contacts to begin ?nding the kind of information we need.”

Vin nodded, sighing. She didn’t seem quite as opposed to the idea of regularly attending balls as she once had, however.

Sazed cleared his throat. “Master Kelsier, I feel that I must mention something. Our table was attended by Lord Elend Venture for most of the evening, though Mistress Vin did ?nd a way to make his attentions less threatening to the court.”

“Yes,” Kelsier said, “so I understand. What did you tell those people, Vin? That Renoux and Venture are friends?”

Vin paled slightly. “How do you know?”

“I’m mysteriously powerful,” Kelsier said with a wave of his hand. “Anyway, everyone thinks that House Renoux and House Venture have had secret business dealings. They probably assume that Venture has been stockpiling weapons.”

Vin frowned. “I didn’t mean it to go that far….”

Kelsier nodded, rubbing the glue from his chin. “That’s the way court is, Vin. Things can get out of hand quickly. However, this isn’t much of a problem—though it does mean that you’re going to have to be very careful when dealing with House Venture, Lord Renoux. We’ll want to see what kind of reaction they have to Vin’s comments.”

Lord Renoux nodded. “Agreed.”

Kelsier yawned. “Now, if there isn’t anything else, playing both nobleman and beggar in one evening has made me dreadfully tired….”

“There is one other thing, Master Kelsier,” Sazed said. “At the end of the evening, Mistress Vin saw Lord Elend Venture leaving the ball with young lords of Houses Lekal and Hasting.”

Kelsier paused, frowning. “That’s an odd combination.”

“So I thought,” Sazed said.

“He’s probably just trying to annoy his father,” Kelsier said musingly. “Fraternizing with the enemy in public…”

“Perhaps,” Sazed said. “But the three did seem to be good friends.”

Kelsier nodded, standing. “Investigate this further, Saze. There’s a chance that Lord Venture and his son are playing us all for fools.”

“Yes, Master Kelsier,” Sazed said.

Kelsier left the room, stretching and handing his mistcloak to a servant. As he walked up the eastern stairway, he heard quick footsteps. He turned to ?nd Vin scooting up behind him, shimmering red dress held up as she climbed the steps.

“Kelsier,” she said quietly. “There was something else. Something I’d like to talk about.”

Kelsier raised an eyebrow. Something she doesn’t even want Sazed to hear? “My room,” he said, and she followed him up the stairs and into the chamber.

“What is this about?” he asked as she shut the door behind her.

“Lord Elend,” Vin said, looking down, seeming a bit embarrassed. “Sazed already doesn’t like him, so I didn’t want to mention this in front of the others. But, I found something strange tonight.”

“What?” Kelsier asked curiously, leaning back against his bureau.

“Elend had a stack of books with him,” Vin said.

First name, Kelsier thought with disapproval. She is falling for the boy.

“He’s known to read a lot,” Vin continued, “but some of these books…well, when he was gone, I picked through them.”

Good girl. The streets gave you at least a few good instincts.

“One of them drew my attention,” she said. “The title said something about the weather, but the words inside spoke about the Final Empire and its ?aws.”

Kelsier raised an eyebrow. “What exactly did it say?”

Vin shrugged. “Something about how since the Lord Ruler is immortal, his empire should be more advanced and peaceful.”



Kelsier smiled. “Book of the False Dawn—any Keeper can quote the entire thing to you. I didn’t think there were any physical copies left. Its author—Deluse Couvre—went on to write some books that were even more damning. Though he didn’t blaspheme against Allomancy, the obligators made an exception in his case and strung him up on a hook anyway.”

“Well,” Vin said, “Elend has a copy. I think one of the other noblewomen was trying to ?nd the book. I saw one of her servants ri?ing through them.”

“Which noblewoman?”

“Shan Elariel.”

Kelsier nodded. “Former ?ancée. She’s probably searching for something to blackmail the Venture boy with.”

“I think she’s an Allomancer, Kelsier.”

Kelsier nodded distractedly, thinking about the information. “She’s a Soother. She probably had the right idea with those books—if the Venture heir is reading a book like False Dawn, not to mention foolish enough to carry it around with him…”

“Is it that dangerous?” Vin asked.

Kelsier shrugged. “Moderately. It’s an older book, and it didn’t actually encourage rebellion, so it might slide.”

Vin frowned. “The book sounded pretty critical of the Lord Ruler. He allows the nobility to read things like that?”

“He doesn’t really ‘allow’ them to do such things,” Kelsier said. “More, he sometimes ignores it when they do. Banning books is tricky business, Vin—the more stink the Ministry makes about a text, the more attention it will draw, and the more people will be tempted to read it. False Dawn is a stuffy volume, and by not forbidding it, the Ministry doomed it to obscurity.”