Whispered Vows (Mistborn x Reader)

Chapter 14

It started raining harder just after we located the coin pouch. It wasn't a hard rain, but it seemed to clear the mist slightly. I shivered, pulling up my hood, crouching beside Kelsier on a rooftop. He didn't pay the weather much heed, so neither did I. A little dampness wouldn't hurt—in fact, it would probably help, as the rainfall would cover the sounds of our approach.

Kredik Shaw lay before us. The peaked spires and sheer towers rose like dark talons in the night. They varied greatly in thickness—some were wide enough to house stairwells and large rooms, but others were simply thin rods of steel jutting up into the sky. The variety gave the mass a twisted, off-center symmetry—an almost-balance. The spikes and towers had a foreboding cast in the damp, misty night—like the ash-blackened bones of a long-weathered carcass.

Looking at them, I thought I felt something...a depression, as if simply being close to the building was enough to suck away my hope.

"Our target is a tunnel complex at the base of one of the far right spires," Kelsier said, his voice barely carrying over the quiet hush of the falling rain. "We're heading for a room at the very center of that complex."

"What's inside?"

"I don't know," Kelsier said. "That's what we're going to find out. Once every three days—and today isn't one of them—the Lord Ruler visits this chamber. He stays for three hours, then leaves. I tried to get in once before. Three years ago."

"The job," I whispered. "The one that..."

"Got me captured," Kelsier said with a nod. "Yes. At the time, we thought that the Lord Ruler stored riches in the room. I don't think that's true, now, but I'm still curious. The way he visits is so regular, so...odd. Something's in that room, Y/n. Something important. Maybe it holds the secret to his power and immortality."

"Why do we need to worry about that?" I asked. "You have the Eleventh Metal to defeat him, right?"

Kelsier frowned slightly. I waited for an answer, but he didn't ever give one.

"I failed to get in last time, Y/n," he said instead. "We got close, but we got there too easily. When we arrived, there were Inquisitors outside the room. Waiting for us."

"Someone told them you were coming?"

Kelsier nodded. "We planned that job for months. We were overconfident, but we had reason to be. Mare and I were the best—the job should have gone flawlessly." Kelsier paused, then he turned to me. "Tonight, I didn't plan at all. We're just going in—we'll quiet anyone who tries to stop us, then break into that room."

I sat quietly, feeling the chill rainwater on my wet hands and damp arms. Then I nodded.

Kelsier smiled slightly. "No objections?"

"I made you take me with you," I said quietly. "It's not my place to object now."

"You can still head back to Renoux's," Kelsier said. "I'm not going to shame you because you're frightened."

"I'm not frightened!" I paused, realizing how childish that had just sounded. "Well...maybe a little bit. But I don't want you to do this alone."

Kelsier studied me. He nodded, then chuckled. "Guess I've been hanging out with Breeze too long. I just don't feel right unless someone tells me I'm crazy."

As I moved on the rooftop, I felt it again—the sense of depression coming from Kredik Shaw.

"There is something, Kelsier," I said. "The palace feels...wrong, somehow."

"That's the Lord Ruler," Kelsier said. "He radiates like an incredibly powerful Soother, smothering the emotions of everyone who gets close to him. Turn on your copper; that will make you immune."