Mistborn #02 The Well of Ascension

and turned toward the figure in the corner. It wasn't Elend. "Zane," she said flatly.
    He stepped forward. It was so easy to see the similarities between him and Elend, now that she knew what to look for. They had the same jaw, the same wavy dark hair. They even had similar builds, now that Elend had been exercising.
    "You sleep too soundly," Zane said.
    "Even a Mistborn's body needs sleep to heal."
    "You shouldn't have been hurt in the first place," Zane said. "You should have been able to kill those men with ease, but you were distracted by my brother, and by trying to keep the people of the room from harm. This is what he's done to you—he's changed you, so that you no longer see what needs to be done, you just see what he wants you to do."
    Vin raised an eyebrow, quietly feeling beneath her pillow. Her dagger was there, fortunately. He didn't kill me in my sleep , she thought. That has to be a good sign .
    He took another step forward. She tensed. "What is your game, Zane?" she said. "First, you tell me that you've decided not to kill me—then you send a group of assassins. What now? Have you come to finish the job?"
    "We didn't send those assassins, Vin," Zane said quietly.
    Vin snorted.
    "Believe as you wish," Zane said, taking another step forward so that he stood right beside her bed, a tall figure of blackness and solemnity. "But, my father is still terrified of you. Why would he risk retribution by trying to kill Elend?"
    "It was a gamble," Vin said. "He hoped those assassins would kill me."
    "Why use them?" Zane asked. "He has me—why use a bunch of Mistings to attack you in the middle of a crowded room, when he could just have me use atium in the night and kill you?"
    Vin hesitated.
    "Vin," he said, "I watched the corpses being carried away from the Assembly Hall, and I recognized some of them from Cett's entourage."
    That's it ! Vin thought. That's where I saw that Thug whose face I smashed! He was at Keep Hasting, peeking out from the kitchen while we ate with Cett, pretending to be a servant .
    "But, the assassins attacked Cett too. . ." Vin trailed off. It was basic thieving strategy: if you had a front that you wanted to escape suspicion as you burgled the shops around it, you made certain to "steal" from yourself as well.
    "The assassins who attacked Cett were all normal men," Vin said. "No Allomancers. I wonder what he told them—that they'd be allowed to 'surrender' once the battle turned? But why fake an attack in the first place? He was favored for the throne."
    Zane shook his head. "Penrod made a deal with my father, Vin. Straff offered the Assembly wealth beyond anything Cett could provide. That's why the merchants changed their votes. Cett must have gotten wind of their betrayal. He has spies enough in the city."
    Vin sat, dumbfounded. Of course ! "And the only way that Cett could see to win. . ."
    "Was to send the assassins," Zane said with a nod. "They were to attack all three candidates, killing Penrod and Elend, but leaving Cett alive. The Assembly would assume that they'd been betrayed by Straff, and Cett would become king."
    Vin gripped her knife with a shaking hand. She was growing tired of games. Elend had almost died. She had almost failed.
    Part of her, a burning part, wanted to do what she'd first been inclined to. To go out and kill Cett and Straff, to remove the danger the most efficient way possible.
    No , she told herself forcefully. No, that was Kelsier's way. It's not my way. It's not. . .Elend's way .
    Zane turned away, facing toward her window, staring at the small waterfall-like flow of mist spilling through. "I should have arrived sooner to the fight. I was outside, with the crowds that came too late to get a seat. I didn't even know what was happening until the people started piling out."
    Vin raised an eyebrow. "You almost sound sincere, Zane."
    "I have no wish to see you dead," he said, turning. "And I certainly don't want to see harm befall Elend."
    "Oh?" Vin asked. "Even though he's the one who had all the privileges, while you were despised and kept locked away?"
    Zane shook his head. "It isn't like that. Elend is. . .pure. Sometimes—when I hear him speak—I wonder if I would have become like him, if my childhood had been different."
    He met her eyes in the dark room. "I'm. . .broken, Vin. Maddened. I can never be like Elend. But, killing him wouldn't change me. It's probably best that he and I were raised apart—it's far better that he doesn't know about