Mistborn #01 The Final Empire

grip, no longer struggling. It took all of her energy to simply resist the Lord Ruler’s pressure on her soul.
    After a short time in the tunnel-like stairwell, the Inquisitors carried her out into a large, circular room. And, despite the power of the Lord Ruler’s Soothing, despite her visits to noble keeps, Vin took just a brief moment to stare at her surroundings. They were majestic like none she’d ever seen.
    The room was shaped like a massive, stocky cylinder. The wall—there was only one, running in a wide circle—was made entirely of glass. Lit by fires from behind, the room glowed with spectral light. The glass was colored, though it didn’t depict any specific scene. Instead, it seemed crafted from a single sheet, the colors blown and melded together in long, thin trails. Like . . .
    Like mist, she thought with wonder. Colorful streams of mist, running in a circle around the entire room.
    The Lord Ruler sat in an elevated throne in the very center of the room. He wasn’t the old Lord Ruler—this was the younger version, the handsome man who had killed Kelsier.
    Some kind of impostor? No, I can feel him—just as I could feel the one before. They’re the same man. Can he change how he looks, then? Appearing young when he wishes to put forth a pretty face?
    A small group of gray-robed, eye-tattooed obligators stood conversing on the far side of the room. Seven Inquisitors stood waiting, like a row of shadows with iron eyes. That made nine of them in all, counting the two that had escorted Vin. Her scar-faced captor delivered her to one of the others, who held her with a similarly inescapable grip.
    “Let us be on with this,” said the Lord Ruler.
    A regular obligator stepped forward, bowing. With a chill, she realized that she recognized him.
    Lord Prelan Tevidian, she thought, eyeing the thin balding man. My . . . father.
    “My lord,” Tevidian said, “forgive me, but I do not understand. We have already discussed this matter!”
    “The Inquisitors say they have more to add,” the Lord Ruler said in a tired voice.
    Tevidian eyed Vin, frowning in confusion. He doesn’t know who I am, she thought. He never knew he was a father.
    “My lord,” Tevidian said, turning away from her. “Look outside your window! Do we not have better things to discuss? The entire city is in rebellion! Skaa torches light up the night, and they dare go out into the mists. They blaspheme in riots, attacking the keeps of the nobility!”
    “Let them,” the Lord Ruler said in an uncaring voice. He seemed so . . . worn. He sat strongly on his throne, but there was still a weariness to his posture and his voice.
    “But my lord!” Tevidian said. “The Great Houses are falling!”
    The Lord Ruler waved a dismissive hand. “It is good for them to get purged every century or so. It fosters instability, keeps the aristocracy from growing too confident. Usually, I let them kill each other in one of their foolish wars, but these riots will work.”
    “And . . . if the skaa come to the palace?”
    “Then I will deal with them,” the Lord Ruler said softly. “You will not question this further.”
    “Yes, my lord,” Tevidian said, bowing and backing away.
    “Now,” the Lord Ruler said, turning to the Inquisitors. “What is it you wished to present?”
    The scarred Inquisitor stepped forward. “Lord Ruler, we wish to petition that leadership of your Ministry be taken from these . . . men and granted to the Inquisitors instead.”
    “We have discussed this,” the Lord Ruler said. “You and your brothers are needed for more important tasks. You are too valuable to waste on simple administration.”
    “But,” the Inquisitor said, “by allowing common men to rule your Ministry, you have unwittingly allowed corruption and vice to enter the very heart of your holy palace!”
    “Idle claims!” Tevidian spat. “You say such things often, Kar, but you never offer any proof.”
    Kar turned slowly, his eerie smile lit by the twisting, colored windowlight. Vin shivered. That smile was nearly as unsettling as the Lord Ruler’s Soothing.
    “Proof?” Kar asked. “Why, tell me, Lord Prelan . Do you recognize that girl?”
    “Bah, of course not!” Tevidian said with a wave of his hand. “What does a skaa girl have to do with the government of the Ministry?”
    “Everything,” Kar said, turning to Vin. “Oh, yes . . . everything. Tell the Lord Ruler who your father is, child.”
    Vin tried to squirm, but the Lord