Mistborn #01 The Final Empire

Ruler’s Allomancy was so oppressive, the Inquisitor’s hands were so strong. “I don’t know,” she managed to say through gritted teeth.
    The Lord Ruler perked up slightly, turning toward her, leaning forward.
    “You cannot lie to the Lord Ruler, child,” Kar said in a quiet, rasping voice. “He has lived for centuries, and has learned to use Allomancy like no mortal man. He can see things in the way your heart beats, and can read your emotions in your eyes. He can sense the moment when you lie. He knows . . . oh, yes. He knows.”
    “I never knew my father,” Vin said stubbornly. If the Inquisitor wanted to know something, then keeping it a secret seemed like a good idea. “I’m just a street urchin.”
    “A Mistborn street urchin?” Kar asked. “Why, that’s interesting. Isn’t it, Tevidian?”
    The lord prelan paused, his frown deepening. The Lord Ruler stood slowly, walking down the steps of his dais toward Vin.
    “Yes, my lord,” Kar said. “You felt her Allomancy earlier. You know that she is a full Mistborn—an amazingly powerful one. Yet, she claims to have grown up on the street. What noble house would have abandoned such a child? Why, for her to have such strength, she must be of an extremely pure line. At least . . . one of her parents must have been from a very pure line.”
    “What are you implying?” Tevidian demanded, paling.
    The Lord Ruler ignored them both. He strode through the streaming colors of the reflective floor, then stopped right in front of Vin.
    So close, she thought. His Soothing was so strong that she couldn’t even feel terror—all she felt was the deep, overpowering, horrible sorrow.
    The Lord Ruler reached out with delicate hands, taking her by the cheeks, tilting her face up to look into his eyes. “Who is your father, girl?” he asked quietly.
    “I . . .” Despair twisted inside of her. Grief, pain, a desire to die.
    The Lord Ruler held her face close to his own, looking into her eyes. In that moment, she knew the truth. She could see a piece of him; she could sense his power. His . . . godlike power.
    He wasn’t worried about the skaa rebellion. Why would he have to worry? If he wished, he could slaughter every person in the city by himself. Vin knew it to be the truth. It might take him time, but he could kill forever, tirelessly. He need fear no rebellion.
    He’d never needed to. Kelsier had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
    “Your father, child,” the Lord Ruler prompted, his demand like a physical weight upon her soul.
    Vin spoke despite herself. “My . . . brother told me that my father was that man over there. The lord prelan.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, though when the Lord Ruler turned from her, she couldn’t quite remember why she had been crying.
    “It’s a lie, my lord!” Tevidian said, backing away. “What does she know? She’s just a silly child.”
    “Tell me truthfully, Tevidian,” the Lord Ruler said, walking slowly toward the obligator. “Have you ever bedded a skaa woman?”
    The obligator paused. “I followed the law! Each time, I had them slain afterward.”
    “You . . . lie,” the Lord Ruler said, as if surprised. “You’re uncertain.”
    Tevidian was visibly shaking. “I . . . I think I got them all, my lord. There . . . there was one I may have been too lax with. I didn’t know she was skaa at first. The soldier I sent to kill her was too lenient, and he let her go. But I found her, eventually.”
    “Tell me,” the Lord Ruler said. “Did this woman bear any children?”
    The room fell silent.
    “Yes, my lord,” the high prelan said.
    The Lord Ruler closed his eyes, sighing. He turned back toward his throne. “He is yours,” he said to the Inquisitors.
    Immediately, six Inquisitors dashed across the room, howling in joy, pulling obsidian knives from sheaths beneath their robes. Tevidian raised his arms, crying out as the Inquisitors fell on him, exulting in their brutality. Blood flew as they plunged their daggers over and over again into the dying man. The other obligators backed away, looking on in horror.
    Kar remained behind, smiling as he watched the massacre, as did the Inquisitor who was Vin’s captor. One other Inquisitor remained back as well, though Vin didn’t know why.
    “Your point is proven, Kar,” the Lord Ruler said, sitting wearily on his throne. “It seems that I have trusted too much in the . . . obedience of mankind. I did not make a mistake. I have never made a