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Demoux seemed a bit confused, but spoke no further Elend eyed his desk, considering so, but found it hard to motivate himself in the chill room Instead, he pushed open the door and strode out into the hallway His guards followed

He stopped hi toward Vin's rooood to have hi in every half hour to check on her So instead he turned to wander down a different passageway

The back hallways of Keep Venture were tight, dark, stone constructions of labyrinthine coes, but he felt at home in their dark, secluded confines They had been the perfect place for a young man who didn't really care to be found Now he used them for another reason; the corridors provided a perfect place for extended walking He didn't point hi out his frustration to the beating of his own footsteps

I can't fix the city's problems, he told himself I have to let Penrod handle that--he's the one the people want

That should have s easier for Elend It let him focus on his own survival, not tohis relationship with Vin She, however, seemed different lately Elend tried to tell hi deeper So in the way she reacted to his affection And, despite hied

He was no longer king

Vin was not shallow She had shown hiether And yet, how could she not react--even if unconsciously--to his colossal failure? During the assassination atteht, for the first ti she was She wasn't just a warrior, and she wasn't just an Allomancer She was a force, like thunder or wind The way she had killed that lasthis head with her own

How could she love a ht I couldn't even hold my throne I wrote the very laws that deposedto walk He felt like he should be scraure out a way to convince Vin that he orthy of her But that would justpast mistakes, especially since he could see no real "mistakes" he had made He had done the best he could, and that had proven insufficient

He paused at an intersection Once, a relaxing dip into a book would have been enough to calm him Now he felt nervous Tense A littlelike he assumed Vin usually felt

Maybe I could learn froht What would Vin do in my situation? She certainly wouldn't just wander around, brooding and feeling sorry for herself Elend frowned, looking down a hallway lighted by flickering oil la with a determined stride toward a particular set of rooot no response Finally, he poked his head in Sazed and Tindwyl sat quietly before a desk piled high with scraps of paper and ledgers They both sat staring, as if at nothing, their eyes bearing the glazedover look of someone who had been stunned Sazed's hand rested on the table Tindwyl's rested on top of it

Sazed shook hiard Elend "Lord Venture! I aht, Saze," Elend said, walking into the room As he did, Tindwyl shook awake as well, and she removed her hand from Sazed's Elend nodded to De that they should remain outside, then closed the door

"Elend," Tindwyl said, her voice laced with its typical undercurrent of displeasure "What is your purpose in bothering us? You have already proven your incompetence quite soundly--I see no need for further discussion"

"This is still ain, and you will find yourself ejected from the premises"

Tindwyl raised an eyebrow

Sazed paled "Lord Venture," he said quickly, "I don't think that Tindwyl ht, Sazed," Elend said, raising a hand "She was just testing to see if I had reverted back to ged "I have heard reports of your h the palace hallways like a lost child"

"Those reports are true," Elend said "But that doesn't one"

"Good," Tindwyl said, nodding to a chair "Seat yourself, if you wish"

Elend nodded, pulling the chair over before the two and sitting "I need advice"

"I've given you what I can already," Tindwyl said "In fact, I've perhaps given you toosides"

"I' anymore," Elend said "Therefore, I have no side I' truth"

Tindwyl smiled "Ask your questions, then"

Sazed watched the exchange with obvious interest

I know, Elend thought, I'm not sure I understand our relationship either "Here is my problem," he said "I lost the throne, essentially, because I wasn't willing to lie"

"Explain," Tindwyl said

"I had a chance to obscure a piece of the law," Elend said "At the lastInstead, I gave them a bit of infor me the throne"

"I'm not surprised," Tindwyl said

"I doubted that you would be," Elend said "Now, do you think I was foolish to do as I did?"

"Yes"

Elend nodded

"But," Tindwyl said, "that moment isn't what cost you the throne, Elend Venture That , far too sie-scale failure You lost the throne because you wouldn't comiving the Assembly too much freedom, and because you don't employ assassins or other forms of pressure In short, Elend Venture, you lost the throne because you are a good man"

Elend shook his head "Can you not be both a , then?"

Tindwyl frowned in thought

"You ask an age-old question, Elend," Sazed said quietly "A question that monarchs, priests, and humble men of destiny have always asked I do not know that there is an answer"

"Should I have told the lie, Sazed?" Elend asked