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"What?" Elend asked "Vin, I've seen death before I was forced to attend the Lord Ruler's executions, remember?" He paused "Not that what you did was like that, of course"

Of course

"You were aht now if you hadn't stopped those Allomancers--and it's likely that Penrod and the other Assemblymen would have fared the same You saved the Central Dominance"

We always have to be the knives

Elend s to the side of the room "This is cold, but Sazed said you should eat it when you awoke" He returned with a bowl of broth

"Sazed sent it?" Vin asked skeptically "Drugged, then?"

Elend smiled "He warned h sedatives to knock me out for a month It takes a lot to affect you pewter burners"

He set the bowl on the bedstand Vin eyed it through narrowed eyes Sazed was probably worried that, despite her wounds, she'd go out and prowl the city if she were left on her own He was probably right With a sigh, Vin accepted the bowl and began to sip at it

Elend s you s I need to do"

Vin nodded, and he left, pulling the door shut behind him

When Vin next awoke, she saw that Elend was still there He stood in the shadoatching her It was still dark outside The shutters to her ere open, and mist coated the floor of the room

The shutters were open

Vin sat upright and turned toward the figure in the corner It wasn't Elend "Zane," she said flatly

He stepped forward It was so easy to see the similarities between him and Elend, now that she knehat to look for They had the same jaw, the same wavy dark hair They even had si

"You sleep too soundly," Zane said

"Even a Mistborn's body needs sleep to heal"

"You shouldn't have been hurt in the first place," Zane said "You should have been able to kill those men with ease, but you were distracted byto keep the people of the rooed you, so that you no longer see what needs to be done, you just see what he wants you to do"

Vin raised an eyebrow, quietly feeling beneath her pillow Her dagger was there, fortunately He didn't kill n

He took another step forward She tensed "What is your game, Zane?" she said "First, you tell roup of assassins What now? Have you come to finish the job?"

"We didn't send those assassins, Vin," Zane said quietly

Vin snorted

"Believe as you wish," Zane said, taking another step forward so that he stood right beside her bed, a tall figure of blackness and solemnity "But, my father is still terrified of you Why would he risk retribution by trying to kill Elend?"

"It was a gamble," Vin said "He hoped those assassins would kill me"

"Why use thes to attack you in the middle of a crowded rooht and kill you?"

Vin hesitated

"Vin," he said, "I watched the corpses being carried away fronized soe"

That's it! Vin thought That's where I saw that Thug whose face I s out fro to be a servant

"But, the assassins attacked Cett too" Vin trailed off It was basic thieving strategy: if you had a front that you wanted to escape suspicion as you burgled the shops around it, you made certain to "steal" from yourself as well

"The assassins who attacked Cett were all normal men," Vin said "No Allomancers I wonder what he told them--that they'd be allowed to 'surrender' once the battle turned? But why fake an attack in the first place? He was favored for the throne"

Zane shook his head "Penrod made a deal with my father, Vin Straff offered the Asse Cett could provide That's why the otten wind of their betrayal He has spies enough in the city"

Vin sat, dumbfounded Of course! "And the only way that Cett could see to win"

"Was to send the assassins," Zane said with a nod "They were to attack all three candidates, killing Penrod and Elend, but leaving Cett alive The Assembly would assume that they'd been betrayed by Straff, and Cett would beco hand She was growing tired of games Elend had almost died She had al part, wanted to do what she'd first been inclined to To go out and kill Cett and Straff, to reer the most efficient way possible

No, she told herself forcefully No, that was Kelsier's way It's not my way It's notElend's way

Zane turned away, facing toward her , staring at the sh "I should have arrived sooner to the fight I was outside, with the crowds that caet a seat I didn't even knoas happening until the people started piling out"

Vin raised an eyebrow "You almost sound sincere, Zane"