The Well of Ascension (Mistborn 2)

Elend held out an arm for Vin, leading her to the table. Spook took up position near the stairwell, his Tineye's ears listening for danger. Ham led their ten men to a position from which they could watch the only entrances to the room—the entry from the stairs and the door the serving staff used.

Cett ignored the soldiers. He had a group of his own bodyguards standing near the wall on the other side of the room, but he seemed unconcerned that Ham's troop had them slightly outnumbered. His son—the young man who had attended him at the Assembly meeting—stood at his side, waiting quietly.

One of the two has to be Mistborn, Vin thought. And I still think it is Cett.

Elend seated her, then took a chair next to her, both of them sitting directly across from Cett. He barely paused in his eating as the servers brought Vin's and Elend's dishes.

Drumsticks, Vin thought, and vegetables in gravy. He wants this to be a messy meal—he wants to make Elend uncomfortable.

Elend didn't start on his food immediately. He sat, watching Cett, his expression thoughtful.

"Damn," Cett said. "This is good food. You have no idea how hard it is to get proper meals when traveling!"

"Why did you want to speak with me?" Elend asked. "You know I won't be convinced to vote for you."

Cett shrugged. "I thought it might be interesting."

"Is this about your daughter?" Elend asked.

"Lord Ruler, no!" Cett said with a laugh. "Keep the silly thing, if you want. The day she ran off was one of the few joys I've had this last month."

"And if I threaten to harm her?" Elend asked.

"You won't," Cett said.

"You're certain?"

Cett smiled through his thick beard, leaning toward Elend. "I know you, Venture. I'd been watching you, studying you, for months. And then, you were kind enough to send one of your friends to spy on me. I learned a lot about you from him!"

Elend looked troubled.

Cett laughed. "Honestly, you didn't think I'd recognize one of the Survivor's own crewmembers? You Luthadel noblemen must assume that everyone outside the city is a damn fool!"

"And yet, you listened to Breeze," Elend said. "You let him join you, listened to his advice. And then, you only chased him away when you found him being intimate with your daughter—the one you claim to have no affection for."

"Is that why he told you he left the camp?" Cett asked, laughing. "Because I caught him with Allrianne? Goodness, what do I care if the girl seduced him?"

"You think she seduced him?" Vin asked.

"Of course," Cett said. "Honestly, I only spent a few weeks with him, and even I know how useless he is with women."

Elend was taking all this in stride. He watched Cett with narrow, discerning eyes. "So why did you chase him away?"

Cett leaned back. "I tried to turn him. He refused. I figured killing him would be preferable to letting him return to you. But, he's remarkably agile for a man his size."

If Cett really is Mistborn, there's no way Breeze got away without Cett letting him, Vin thought.

"So you see, Venture," Cett said. "I know you. I know you better, perhaps, than you know yourself—for I know what your friends think of you. It takes a pretty extraordinary man to earn the loyalty of a weasel like Breeze."

"So you think I won't harm your daughter," Elend said.

"I know you won't," Cett said. "You're honest—I happen to like that about you. Unfortunately, honesty is very easy to exploit—I knew, for instance, that you'd admit Breeze was Soothing that crowd." Cett shook his head. "Honest men weren't meant to be kings, lad. It's a damn shame, but it's true. That's why I have to take the throne from you."

Elend was silent for a moment. Finally, he looked to Vin. She took his plate, sniffing it with an Allomancer's senses.

Cett laughed. "Think I'd poison you?"

"No, actually," Elend said as Vin set the plate down. She wasn't as good as some, but she'd leaned the obvious scents.

"You wouldn't use poison," Elend said. "That isn't your way. You seem to be a rather honest man yourself."

"I'm just blunt," Cett said. "There's a difference."

"I haven't heard you tell a lie yet."

"That's because you don't know me well enough to discern the lies," Cett said. He held up several grease-stained fingers. "I've already told you three lies tonight, lad. Good luck guessing which ones they were."

Elend paused, studying Cett. "You're playing with me."

"Of course I am!" Cett said. "Don't you see, boy? This is why you shouldn't be king. Leave the job to men who understand their own corruption; don't let it destroy you."

"Why do you care?" Elend asked.

"Because I'd rather not kill you," Cett said.

"Then don't."

Cett shook his head. "That isn't how all this works, lad. If there is an opportunity to stabilize your power, or to get more power, you'd damn well better take it. And I will."

The table fell silent again. Cett eyed Vin. "No comments from the Mistborn?"

"You swear a lot," Vin said. "You're not supposed to do that in front of ladies."

Cett laughed. "That's the funny thing about Luthadel, lass. They're all so concerned about doing what is 'proper' when people can see them—but, at the same time, they find nothing wrong with going and raping a couple skaa women when the party is through. At least I swear to your face."

Elend still hadn't touched his food. "What will happen if you win the vote for the throne?"

Cett shrugged. "Honest answer?"

"Always."

"First thing, I'd have you assassinated," Cett said. "Can't have old kings sticking around."

"And if I step down?" Elend said. "Withdraw from the vote?"

"Step down," Cett said, "vote for me, and then leave town, and I'll let you live."

"And the Assembly?" Elend asked.

"Dissolved," Cett said. "They're a liability. Any time you give a committee power, you just end up with confusion."

"The Assembly gives the people power," Elend said. "That's what a government should provide."

Surprisingly, Cett didn't laugh at that comment. Instead, he leaned in again, setting one arm on the table, discarding a half-eaten drumstick. "That's the thing, boy. Letting the people rule themselves is fine when everything is bright and happy, but what about when you have two armies facing you? What about when there's a band of insane koloss destroying villages on your frontier? Those aren't the times when you can afford to have an Assembly around to depose you." Cett shook his head. "The price is too high. When you can't have both freedom and safety, boy, which do you choose?"

Elend was silent. "I make my own choice," he finally said. "And I leave the others to make their own as well."

Cett smiled, as if he'd expected such a reply. He started in on another drumstick.

"Let's say I leave," Elend said. "And let's say you do get the throne, protect the city, and dissolve the Assembly. What then? What of the people?"

"Why do you care?"

"You need ask?" Elend said. "I thought you 'understood' me."

Cett smiled. "I put the skaa back to work, in the way the Lord Ruler did. No pay, no emancipated peasant class."

"I can't accept that," Elend said.

"Why not?" Cett said. "It's what they want. You gave them a choice—and they chose to throw you out. Now they're going to choose to put me on the throne. They know that the Lord Ruler's way was the best. One group must rule, and another must serve. Someone has to grow the food and work the forges, boy."

"Perhaps," Elend said. "But you're wrong about one thing."

"And what is that?"

"They're not going to vote for you," Elend said, standing. "They're going to choose me. Faced with the choice between freedom and slavery, they will choose freedom. The men of the Assembly are the finest of this city, and they will make the best choice for its people."

Cett paused, then he laughed. "The best thing about you, lad, is that you can say that and sound serious!"

"I'm leaving, Cett," Elend said, nodding to Vin.

"Oh, sit down, Venture," Cett said, waving toward Elend's chair. "Don't act indignant because I'm being honest with you. We still have things to discuss."

"Such as?" Elend asked.

"Atium," Cett said.

Elend stood for a moment, apparently forcing down his annoyance. When Cett didn't speak immediately, Elend finally sat and began to eat. Vin just picked quietly at her food. As she did, however, she studied the faces of Cett's soldiers and servants. There were bound to be Allomancers mixed among them—finding out how many could give Elend an advantage.

"Your people are starving," Cett said. "And, if my spies are worth their coin, you just got another influx of mouths. You can't last much longer under this siege."

"And?" Elend asked.

"I have food," Cett said. "A lot of it—more than my army needs. Canned goods, packed with the new method the Lord Ruler developed. Long-lasting, no spoilage. Really a marvel of technology. I'd be willing to trade you some of them. . .."

Elend paused, fork halfway to his lips. Then he lowered it and laughed. "You still think I have the Lord Ruler's atium?"

"Of course you have it," Cett said, frowning. "Where else would it be?"

Elend shook his head, taking a bite of gravy-drenched potato. "Not here, for certain."

"But. . .the rumors. . ." Cett said.

"Breeze spread those rumors," Elend said. "I thought you'd figured out why he joined your group. He wanted you to come to Luthadel so that you'd stop Straff from taking the city."

"But, Breeze did everything he could to keep me from coming here," Cett said. "He downplayed the rumors, he tried to distract me, he. . ." Cett trailed off, then he bellowed a laugh. "I thought he was just there to spy! It seems we both underestimated each other."

"My people could still use that food," Elend said.

"And they'll have it—assuming I become king."

"They're starving now," Elend said.

"And their suffering will be your burden," Cett said, his face growing hard. "I can see that you have judged me, Elend Venture. You think me a good man. You're wrong. Honesty does not make a man less of a tyrant. I slaughtered thousands to secure my rule. I put burdens on the skaa that make even the Lord Ruler's hand seem pleasant. I made certain that I stayed in power. I will do the same here."

The men fell silent. Elend ate, but Vin only mixed her food around. If she had missed a poison, she wanted one of them to remain alert. She still wanted to find those Allomancers, and there was only one way to be certain. She turned off her copper, then burned bronze.

There was no Coppercloud burning; Cett apparently didn't care if someone recognized his men as Allomancers. Two of his men were burning pewter. Neither, however, were soldiers; both were pretending to be members of the serving staff who were bringing meals. There was also a Tineye pulsing in the other room, listening.