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I wonder what Beldre would think if she saw this, he thought The et about how I droned on about how useless I was

Perhaps the visits to the bars had been fatiguing si It was silly--she was his captive He'd betrayed her trust She was obviously just waro Yet, he couldn't help thinking back to their conversation, going over it again and again in his s he'd said, she'd laid her hand on his arht?" Durn asked, leaning in "That's your tenth ht"

"I' a little distant there"

"I have a lot on , but didn't say anything s about his conversation with Beldre bothered Spook, even more than his own stupid cos that her brother had done When Spook himself was in poould she see hiood thing? She already said they were si

He looked up, glancing at the people of the bar as they cheered hiain, just as the men had in the other bars Kelsier had been able to handle adulation like this If Spook wanted to be like Kelsier, then he'd have to deal with it as well, right?

Wasn't it a good thing to be liked? To have people willing to follow him? He could finally break away fro that boy, the one so insignificant and easily forgotten He could leave that child behind, and become a man as respected And why shouldn't he be respected? He wasn't that boy any his ht to see Some even said that anywhere that fire burned, Spook could see

"They love you," Kelsier whispered "You deserve it"

Spook smiled That was all the confir his arms before the crowd They cheered in response

It had been a long ti And it felt all the sweeter for the wait

Preservation's desire to create sentient life hat eventually broke the staleht, Preservation knew that he would have to give up part of himselfâ"is own soulâ"o dithin mankind This would leave him just a tiny bit weaker than his opposite, Ruin

That tiny bit seemed inconsequential, compared with their total vast sums of power However, over aeons, this tiny flaould allow Ruin to overco an end to the world

This, then, was their bargain Preservation got mankind, the only creations that had more Preservation than Ruin in them, rather than a balance Independent life that could think and feel In exchange, Ruin was given a pro an end to all they had created together It was the pact

And Preservation eventually broke it

54

WHEN VIN AWOKE, she was not surprised to find herself bound She was surprised to feel that she earingshe didâ"ven before she opened her eyesâ"as reach inside for her metals With steel and iron, perhaps she could use the manacles as weapons With pewter

Hernot to display the panic she felt, thinking through what had happened She'd been in the cavern, trapped with Ruin Elend's friend had coiven her the wine, and she'd taken it Ga had it been since she'd fallen unconscious?

"Your breathing has changed," a voice reported "You are obviously awake"

Vin cursed herself quietly There was a very easy way to take away an Allo theh for theht about it, heroff the effects of extended sleep, she realized this hat must have happened to her

The silence continued Finally, Vin opened her eyes She expected to see cell bars Instead, she saw a sparsely furnished, utilitarian room She lay on a bench, head cushioned by a hard pillow Her , which was in turn locked to the base of the bench She tugged on the chain carefully, and determined that it was very well affixed

The uards who stood beside the bench They ju her warily Vin smiled to herself; part of her was proud that she could evoke such a response even when chained andof a problem" The voice ca over the bench's armrest On the other side of the rooure in robes stood with his back to her He stared out a large , facing west, and the setting sun was a violent crimson blaze around his silhouette

"What do I do?" Yole flake of steel, and you could slaughter uards with their own buttons A taste of pewter, and you could lift that bench and s to do would be to gag you, keep you drugged at all times, or kill you"

Vin opened her h She ithen her body The lack offurther and growing dizzy, she found herself craving the ined that she ever would Allomancy wasn't supposed to be addictive, not like certain herbs or poisons However, at that moment, she could have sworn that all the scientists and philosophers were flat-out wrong

Yo fro a cup for Vin She eyed it uncertainly

"If I wanted to poison you, Lady Venture," Youile"

Good point, Vin thought wryly, accepting the cup and drinking the water it contained

"Water," Yomen said "Collected from rain, then strained and purified You will find no trace metals in it to burn I specifically ordered it kept in wooden containers only"