Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson [330]
“I will be once you pour me something to drink,” Spook said as Clubs grunted, taking a slurp from his own cup. The old general then reached over, sliding two of the coins off the railing and pocketing them.
“Hey, that’s right!” Spook said. “You owe me, El. Pay up.”
Elend lowered his cup. “I never agreed to the bet.”
“You paid Uncle Irritable. Why not me?”
Elend paused, then sighed, pulling out a ten-boxing coin and setting it beside Spook’s. The boy smiled, plucking both up in a smooth street-thief gesture. “Thanks for winning the bout, Vin,” he said with a wink.
Vin frowned at Elend. “You bet against me?”
Elend laughed, leaning across the railing to kiss her. “I didn’t mean it. Clubs bullied me.”
Clubs snorted at that comment, downed the rest of his juice, then held out his cup for a refill. When Vin didn’t respond, he turned to Spook and gave the boy a telling scowl. Finally, Spook sighed, picking up the jug to refill the cup.
Vin was still regarding Elend with dissatisfaction.
“I’d be careful, Elend,” Ham said with a chuckle. “She can hit pretty hard….”
Elend nodded. “I should know better than to antagonize her when there are weapons lying around, eh?”
“Tell me about it,” Ham said.
Vin sniffed at that comment, rounding the railing so that she could stand next to Elend. Elend put his arm around her, and as he did, he caught a bare flash of envy in Spook’s eyes. Elend suspected that the boy’d had a crush on Vin for some time—but, well, Elend couldn’t really blame him for that.
Spook shook his head. “I’ve got to find myself a woman.”
“Well, that beard isn’t going to help,” Vin said.
“It’s just a disguise, Vin,” Spook said. “El, I don’t suppose you could give me a title or something?”
Elend smiled. “I don’t think that will matter, Spook.”
“It worked for you.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Elend said. “Somehow, I think Vin fell in love with me despite my title, rather than because of it.”
“But you had others before her,” Spook said. “Noble girls.”
“A couple,” Elend admitted.
“Though Vin has a habit of killing off her competition,” Ham quipped.
Elend laughed. “Now, see, she only did that once. And I think Shan deserved it—she was, after all, trying to assassinate me at the time.” He looked down fondly, eyeing Vin. “Though, I do have to admit, Vin is a bit hard on other women. With her around, everybody else looks bland by comparison.”
Spook rolled his eyes. “It’s more interesting when she kills them off.”
Ham chuckled, letting Spook pour him some more juice. “Lord Ruler only knows what she’d do to you if you ever tried to leave her, Elend.”
Vin stiffened immediately, pulling him a little tighter. She’d been abandoned far too many times. Even after what they’d been through, even after his proposal of marriage, Elend had to keep promising Vin that he wasn’t going to leave her.
Time to change the topic, Elend thought, the joviality of the moment fading. “Well,” he said, “I think I’m going to go visit the kitchens and get something to eat. You coming, Vin?”
Vin glanced at the sky—likely checking to see how soon it would grow dark. Finally, she nodded.
“I’ll come,” Spook said.
“No you won’t,” Clubs said, grabbing the boy by the back of the neck. “You’re going to stay right here and explain exactly where you got one of my soldiers’ uniforms.”
Elend chuckled, leading Vin away. Truth be told, even with the slightly sour end of conversation, he felt better for having come to watch the sparring. It was strange how the members of Kelsier’s crew could laugh and make light, even during the most terrible of situations. They had a way of making him forget about his problems. Perhaps that was a holdover from the Survivor. Kelsier had, apparently, insisted on laughing, no matter how bad the situation. It had been a form of rebellion to him.
None of that made the problems go away. They still faced an army several times larger than their own, in a city