Mistborn #01 The Final Empire

you would rather read than participate,” she said.
    The man sighed, lowering the book again. “Well, see, I’m not exactly the best dancer either.”
    “Ah,” Vin said.
    “But,” he said, raising a finger, “that’s only part of it. You may not realize this yet, but it’s not that hard to get overpartied. Once you attend five or six hundred of these balls, they start to feel a bit repetitive.”
    Vin shrugged. “You’d probably learn to dance better if you practiced.”
    Elend raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to let me get back to my book, are you?”
    “I wasn’t intending to.”
    He sighed, tucking the book back into his jacket pocket—which was beginning to show signs of book-shaped wear. “Well, then. Do you want to go dance instead?”
    Vin froze. Elend smiled nonchalantly.
    Lord! He’s either incredibly smooth or socially incompetent. It was disturbing that she couldn’t determine which.
    “That’s a no, I assume?” Elend said. “Good—I thought I should offer, since we’ve established that I’m a gentleman. However, I doubt the couples below would appreciate us trampling their toes.”
    “Agreed. What were you reading?”
    “Dilisteni,” Elend said. “ Trials of Monument. Heard of it?”
    Vin shook her head.
    “Ah, well. Not many have.” He leaned over the railing, looking below. “So, what do you think of your first experience at court?”
    “It’s very . . . overwhelming.”
    Elend chuckled. “Say what you will about House Venture—they know how to throw a party.”
    Vin nodded. “You don’t like House Venture, then?” she said. Perhaps this was one of the rivalries Kelsier was watching for.
    “Not particularly, no,” Elend said. “They’re an ostentatious lot, even for high nobility. They can’t just have a party, they have to throw the best party. Never mind that they run their servants ragged setting it up, then beat the poor things in retribution when the hall isn’t perfectly clean the very next morning.”
    Vin cocked her head. Not words I’d expect to hear from a nobleman.
    Elend paused, looking a little embarrassed. “But, well, never mind that. I think your Terrisman is looking for you.”
    Vin started, glancing over the side of the balcony. Sure enough, Sazed’s tall form stood by her now-empty table, speaking to a serving boy.
    Vin yelped quietly. “I’ve got to go,” she said, turning toward the stairwell.
    “Ah, well then,” Elend said, “back to reading it is.” He gave her a half wave of farewell, but he had his book open before she passed the first step.
    Vin reached the bottom out of breath. Sazed saw her immediately.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, chagrined as she approached.
    “Do not apologize to me, Mistress,” Sazed said quietly. “It is both unseemly and unnecessary. Moving about a bit was a good idea, I think. I would have suggested it, had you not seemed so nervous.”
    Vin nodded. “Is it time for us to go, then?”
    “It is a proper time to withdraw, if you wish,” he said, glancing up at the balcony. “May I ask what you were doing up there, Mistress?”
    “I wanted to get a better look at the windows,” Vin said. “But I ended up talking to someone. He seemed interested in me at first, but now I don’t think he ever intended to pay me much attention. It doesn’t matter—he didn’t seem important enough to bother Kelsier with his name.”
    Sazed paused. “Who was it you were speaking to?”
    “The man in the corner there, on the balcony,” Vin said.
    “One of Lord Venture’s friends?”
    Vin froze. “Is one of them named Elend?”
    Sazed paled visibly. “You were chatting with Lord Elend Venture? ”
    “Um . . . yes?”
    “Did he ask you to dance?”
    Vin nodded. “But I don’t think he meant it.”
    “Oh, dear,” Sazed said. “So much for controlled anonymity.”
    “Venture?” Vin asked, frowning. “Like, Keep Venture?”
    “Heir to the house title,” Sazed said.
    “Hum,” Vin said, realizing that she should probably be a bit more intimidated than she felt. “He was a bit annoying—in a pleasant sort of way.”
    “We shouldn’t be discussing this here,” Sazed said. “You’re far, far below his station. Come, let us retire. I shouldn’t have gone away to the dinner. . . .”
    He trailed off, mumbling to himself as he led Vin to the entryway. She got one more glimpse into the main chamber as she retrieved her shawl, and she burned tin, squinting against the light and seeking